Spring Sporophytes

I'm not sure which species of moss this is, but I noticed that not all the mosses in my yard put up sporophytes this spring. I guess I don't understand moss well enough, I think technically they all would need to reproduce with sporophytes, but maybe not all put up the really tall stalks with sporangia at the top?

"Sporophytes consist of sporangium-bearing stalks growing from the tips of the gametophytes" (Source)

Moss Rock Transplant Fail

I thought I was so clever, sticking moss I got from a pathway onto a rock. At first it looked really awesome. As long as I kept the moss moist it looked like a lush zen rock just beaming away on my front walk. But then winter happened, and dryness happened.



The moss expanded and contracted as it alternated between warm and cold, moist and dry. Eventually, the blanket of moss broke apart and the wind took off a big chunk. My moss transplant has totally failed. Granted, I did transplant the moss in December - so it's not like the moss was actually growing or clinging to the rock. It was essentially a big green pad that I pressed onto the rock. It just had to fall off one day.

There was a time when I was super optimistic about my moss transplant... but that time has passed.

Will I try it again now that the weather is warmer? I'm not sure, I might try to use the moss lower to the ground where it gets morning dew. Read more about my moss rock attempt here, and check out the inevitable conclusion below...

Moss rock in Spring looking pretty tragic

I came home on a particularly windy day to find this

I decided to scrub the rock clean for a fresh start. Maybe I'll try moss again in warmer months, or maybe I'll just plant little rock garden accent plants around them.

I Just Want A Moss Rock! Trying Both Slurry and Transplanting

I'm dreaming of a moss rock to make my rocky north walk look very zen and peaceful, and to make it look like my rock has been there forever and not just plopped there last summer after finding it in a construction site. Is that too much to ask? After reading a few moss graffiti posts, I got SUPER pumped and excited, and knew this would be my answer! (Spoiler alert: It wasn't).



Have you noticed that there are never any progress photos that really show the moss growing into a lush graffiti word? Everyone starts a post the same way, with the instructions for moss graffiti and a picture of them painting muck on a wall - but nothing showing the actual process of the moss growing in. This post I can definitely relate to after misting my moss twice a day for about 5 weeks straight and getting nothing to grow.

The cynic in my wonders if all those great moss graffiti photos aren't just transplanted moss stuck to the walls and cut into shape!! Either that, or I started my project too late in the fall on October 25.

My moss slurry attempt, starting with this huge bowl full of moss gathered from north slopes in a field.

I mixed it all up in a bowl with water and plain yogurt according to some directions online.

Looks like a chunky milkshake. The egg beater didn't really pulverize the moss, but it broke it down quite a bit.

I started spreading it onto my nice porous rock with a spatula, end switched to just gobbing it on with my hands.

The yogurt helped the slurry stick to the rock, even on the vertical sides. I packed it on good and thick with chunks of moss in it, hoping some would start growing right away.

After a couple days of misting constantly to keep it damp, the contours of the rock started to show through again. It stayed cool and shaded on the north side, and I kept misting it twice a day. It started to smell like rotting yogurt after a couple days.

My "moss rock" looks like a big turd. I found this amazing video explaining the life cycle and reproduction of moss, and I convinced myself that any day I would see a green slime of protonema spreading over the rock. It looked so good in my head!



I even kept my yogurt moss slurry safe from the rain with a little rain coat! I didn't see any results, and I lost hope. I'm not the only one, check out this episode of Man vs. Pin. All of those posts and videos you see about moss graffiti never show the progress photos, they only show these yahoos mixing it up and promising to check back later. Does moss graffiti even work?? In theory yes, you can use slurry to propagate moss in your yard, but it certainly doesn't seem to grow in the perfectly cut out designs you see online.

I decided to pull a Mythbusters and "replicate the results" rather than following the ideal process. I just wanted moss on a rock!

Giving my slurry some TLC to keep it safe from the rain. You can't say I didn't give it my all!

Giving the Transplant Method a Try

I went home to Ohio for Christmas - a lot of time had passed since I started my moss rock project in October. My dad told me about a huge patch of moss on a public pedestrian path between two roads. I went to check it out and saw a huge carpet of very shallow leafy spreading moss apparently growing on just an asphalt path. 

Outline of moss patch I scraped up with my dog to scale. I'd say about 3 square feet of moss. I rolled it up like miniature sod, it had a thin layer of scum on the bottom that was sitting on top of the asphalt. The biggest chunk I got was about 12 inches long on its own!

I brought two freezer bags full of moss back to Indiana with me.

I put it on the rock that night, I couldn't wait. I wet the rock and the moss and pressed the thin layer of scum into the pours of the rock, wetting it and pressing it into the crevices to form to the shape of the rock.

It only took 1 bag to completely cover the rock. I was happy it stayed on, even on the vertical sides. The thin layer of scum was holding it to the rock, hopefully letting it grow into place and hold on.

After a light rain I was optimistic that this moss transplant would hold in place, even though it was already late December! I figured it was winter hardy moss since I found it bright green on the path in the middle of winter.

I had enough left over in bag number 2 to add moss to my backyard rock feature. If I can keep this alive I can use it to patch the rock, or let it grow in the shadow of these rocks looking all cool! I'm a little worried it won't grow on mulch since I found it on a solid path. It might prefer a more solid surface.

Hopefully this takes, it definitely has the look that I've always (for a few months) wanted. It looks like it grew right on the rock, so maybe if it holds tight and grows into place it will be convincing! If it takes off and grows a lot this spring I might take some extra moss and start some other rocks. I really like this look!

Close Up Photos of Moss in My Yard

I have several different kinds of moss in my yard, most of which I've transplanted from sidewalks and fields into my garden because I like the look of moss. Here are some close up photos taken with Canon T5i using narrow depth of field to make them look super cute and small.



To get this tilt-shift appearance, I used a low f-stop number (wide open aperture) and zoom lens on a tripod using what I learned playing with the aperture settings for sunset photos.

I haven't been able to identify the specific species of moss just yet. If you recognize something, feel free to give some input in the comments below! I am just learning the basic types of moss so far and some general identifying characteristics - so I'll do my best! I found the article Knowing your Acrocarp from your Pleurocarp very helpful.

I would love to be able to identify moss just by looking at it, but I'm not quite there yet!

Some type of Acrocarpous clumping moss gathered from the north slope of a field and transplanted to a rock in full sun. It seems to come back to live each time it rains, and the indentation in the rock provides a little pool to collect moisture.

Another clumping Acrocarpous type of moss, this one is bright green in the middle of winter! I found it in the crack on a sidewalk down the street. Transplanted to the shade of a rock garden. 

Here's another bright green bit from the same sidewalk clump as the one above.

This looks to be another Acrocarp - I found this clump growing at the base of a crosswalk signal on campus at IUPUI in Indianapolis. I grabbed a bit and put it in my lunchbox to bring home with me. Not as bright green, but a very thick clump.

A large mat of Pleurocapous moss gathered from a shaded asphalt path by my parents' house in Ohio. It's very slim and dense, but doesn't have the cushion appearance that the Acrocarps do. 

A mat of Pleurocapous fern moss from the same shady path in Ohio. This stuff looks awesome, and it was growing on a thin layer of scum on top of asphalt. I'm hoping it takes in the shade of rocks in my garden. I think this is some type of Thuidium or fern moss based on its appearance, but I'm not really sure! 

This is the only "natural" growing moss in my yard so far. These little tufts cropped up in the damp mulch next to the rocks. It's slow growing, and it's winter right now. Can't quite tell if this will turn into the pin cushion type of continue sprawling in these little bits.