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sphagnum peat moss

corncrest64

corncrest64

New member
I went to a Home Depot recently to get some sphagnum moss for egg laying but only saw sphagnum peat moss. Is it alright to use that? Also, they did not have vermiculite but did have perlite, but was the Miracle grow kind enriched with plant food. I am guessing it is bad to use it for incubation because of the plant food in it, but am not sure. Are these alright to use? If not, what kind should I get?
 
I guess the sphagnum peat moss would be ok for laying,
probably a wee bit more messy but should do the job.As
for the perlite with the chemicals in it,give it a
wide birth. If have found vermiculite here in the UK
in building merchants as they use it to line
chimneys.
 
Ask them for long fiber sphagnum. If they look at you with blank eyes, ask for the manager and tell them to get it for you and call the manager every two days until they do. Peat moss refers to a group of bog plants from the genus Sphagnum. Sphagnum peat is generally the shredded variety. Sphagnum moss is the milled, longer fibered variety. There are other subtle differences from region to region, and from supplier to supplier. Also, the plant food enriched perlite is a bad idea. Think of the eggs as little sponges. Any chemicals will be absorbed by the egg and into the yolk, and that means dead eggs. Good luck....

Chris
 
I get my sphagnum special ordered at a local garden store. They usually stock small bags though (but I need BIG bags, lol!) I have also seen small bags (small pillow size) in the garden section of Wal Mart.

I just tried the sphagnum peat for laying boxes, but not for incubation (ran out of my usual sphagnum moss). It is very messy and dense. It works, but I would not buy it again.

I also use vermiculite (for incubation, not nest boxes - too messy for that), but be sure it is the coarse, not the fine, size. You may have to special order that too.
 
Look for sphagnum moss where they keep the supplies for orchids. I just bought some a couple of days ago at Walmart and they had 2 "types" of basically the same thing. The regular sphagnum moss I usually get, and smaller, yet more expensive bags labeled "orchid moss". That stuff looked to be a better quality so I ended up with some of each.
 
The best stuff you can get is New Zealand Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss. Don't buy the green moss crap from Walmart. I did that last year---it was full of twigs and dirt.
 
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