CULT: Sphagnum Moss: properties
- Subject: CULT: Sphagnum Moss: properties
- From: D* &* M* M*
- Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 15:19:34 -0500
September 30 Patrick Orr wrote:
<I have also heard that spagnum moss has some antiseptic
properties as well, but this could be just a myth. I would be
interested to hear if anyone knows any more about this.>
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Patrick,
The freshly dried green actively growing top layer of sphagnum
moss was used as a substitute for cotton wound dressing material
during WWII because of a shortage of cotton. Sphagnum moss is
much more absorbent than cotton, and more antiseptic. First
Nations peoples in Canada historically used sphagnum moss for
absorbent throw away diaper material. People have been found
buried in sphagnum bogs in Sweden for thousands of years with
much less deterioration than arid climate mummies
Mold doesn't seem grow on sphagnum moss. My wife has much less
damp off problems starting bedding plant seedlings in sphagnum
moss (in this case the processed brown peat from beneath moss)
based potting soil. I use damp sphagnum moss and plastic
bags for packing with the roots of Versicolors and daylilies to be
sent through the mail because I'm confident no mold will grow.
Once when first starting to garden I dug a little deeper and
buried clumps of sphagnum moss below each cabbage I transplanted
into a row. The cabbages grew well. When I dug the garden that
fall each cabbage had sunk and spread most of their roots into and
throughout the buried clumps of sphagnum moss.
Iris Versicolor does well growing in sphagnum bogs which take up
much of the land around us here in NW Ontario, Canada. Versis are
found in small clumps throughout the bogs, and in greater
concentrations on the banks of bog lakes. But Versicolors do well
cultivated in garden soil which is much less acid, as well.
Dan Mason zone 3, NW ON CA
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