Jax1108
Newly Registered
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 10:33 pm

Decorative Moss

Hi there!
So I am the girl with the blighted bonsai (working hard to salvage!) I received another very small, young juniper bonsai as a gift. It has decorative moss on top of the soil. I know with some plants it is better to take it off, and from the experience of keeping my other Juniper too moist and resulting in fungus, I am wondering - should I take it off or leave it? I read that the "glued on rocks" they usually put on top of bonsai soil too is not healthy and so I just removed those off of my other bonsai just now, so thought it might be the same concept.

Thanks in advance!

tomc
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2661
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:52 am
Location: SE-OH USA Zone 6-A

Moss has a place for my trees. Were I about to exhibit at say a county fair, a month or two prior I might grind up one part each saw dust and moss and dust the top with the mix, to seed the pot with a lawn-looking green.

After the exhibition I would mostly remove it, because it interferes with watering and how well soil breathes.

I have likened moss to acne, it won't kill you, but it never quite goes away.

If there is a little growing in the corners, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Moss doesn't stay put either, I end up tweezing it off tree trunks and dead wood I want the tree to show, as representative of its perceived age.



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