That's interesting.

I think, unfortunately, I agree with the wiki bonsaitalk article in its assessment that you cannot grow moss indoors. You can grow it in a greenhouse, but not in a house. I have tried to grow it indoors myself, and I finally gave up. Moss is just simply not a "house plant."

If there was a way to grow moss indoors, it would demand so much staging of artificial conditions as to be unworthy of the effort, and possibly cost-prohibitive. If you like moss, you might consider growing Spike-moss (Selaginella). Like moss, Selaginella is one of the fern allies, as it too reproduces via spores. It is not difficult to grow indoors, and it is a very attractive plant.

I think that if you have a yard, growing moss outside would be a more satisfying gardening project you could undertake with moss. Satisfying, because your efforts could produce results. That's where the book I recommended to you before would really come in handy ("Moss Gardening" by George Schenk).

The other option is that instead of growing moss on the ground outside, you could grow it in containers. There is a real mossman on Gardenweb, "terrestrial_man" - he grows moss (mini-"bogs") in containers, and I think he is very good at it, and knowledgeable on the subject.

I'm wondering what the major factors are indoors that makes it hard to grow moss indoors...Humidity?

Thanks Treehaus for your comments!!! Appreciate them but
even though I have had one bryology class in college and am
growing different species of moss outside plus a couple of species in my greenhouse I do not consider myself expert yet!
When I can know what to do, when to do it, and have success at most such efforts then maybe I would qualify!!?

But the folks at the bonsai site do not know anything about moss only about the use of it for showing purposes and its impact upon their plants and the fact that it could be a threat to their plants if left unchecked. Actually if moss grows over the surface of a pot of any potted plant especially bonsai then it means the soil is no longer suitable for that plant and the moss's excellent growth is a sign of this. The moss is not the threat but only an indication that the culture of the plant needs addressing.

Mosses can be grown inside but not without being grown in some kind of container. Many folk are doing this with moderate degrees of success. I will be approaching this very topic in an experiment on identifying those conditions that should be used to help moss grow successfully for anyone inside a terrarium/vivarium at http://www.vivariumforum.com/

but even without the use of a terrarium moss can be grown in a home if you spend the time to find a place that is cool for it (temperatures in 50sF to 60sF), that has moderate light (300 foot candles), and you mist it regularly during each day (maybe two or three times). You can use a deep container with about one half inch of a bark
mulch, such as cypress mulch available at pet shops used as substrate for herps, topped with an inch or two of coir, also available at pet shops and then the moss. Currently I am using ZipLoc Snap'n Seal XS Bowls to cultivate mosses.
I have been punching holes in the bottom of these plastic bowls but will be switching to around the bottom side of the bowls for adequate drainage.

For additional information on what I am doing here is a link to my moss journal. It is only really just starting. I just the past couple of days have FINALLY gotten around to rescuing my mosses from neglect! Have made some images of some and will do some will all and create journal pages on all and on their culture. No timetable on this as I am currently working on a web journal on Selaginella-North American species which is going to be a very interesting journal.

And in reference to Selaginella, I am sure Treehaus is talking about those Selaginella that are the flattish stems species such as the common S. kraussiana. These are in the sub genus of Stachysgynandrum and are completely different from the ones my journal will be focusing on: the species of the sub genus Tetragonostachys!

Also I am posting a series of links to sites on different aspects of mosses-images, scientific treatments, how to grow, sources, etc at Dave's Garden Web. Here is the section in case you want to visit.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/fronds/all/
So far only 2 links: one on California mosses, and one with images on North American mosses. I am posting a new link every other day. Got alot!!!

Cheers. And if you have not seen my journal on the moss understory in a pot of Selaginella sanguinolenta compressa the link below will take you to the front page of the journal. Click on link to Selaginella at bottom of page. Mosses are cool. Just being small makes them overlooked!! Enjoy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moss journal

Dear "Hooray," as you can see, I was right to recommend "terrestrial_man" for the job!

Terrestrialman, as always, thank you for sharing all of this information with us. I am looking forward to getting around to some of these links you have provided, and I truly look forward to seeing your future journal pages devoted to moss cultivation.

Well I got some more moss from under 2ft of snow.

{{gwi:599079}}

I got a tupperware container and a spray bottle, and I'm going to lay some coco coir under the moss (not going to chop it up, just sod style), mixed with a little bit of dirt, and I'm going to open the tupperware once a day to keep good air in there. maybe twice. we'll see if it works.

i just set it up, and am covering it after misting it. it is going next to the window because it's warm in here, maybe 70 degrees, so the window is a little cooler since its really cold outside. i think ill open it 2 times a day. im worried mold will grow in it though during the night when there is no light. we'll see what happens. the brown stuff you see is moistened coconut coir.
{{gwi:599080}}

Hey Hoorayfororganic!
Here is some advice on what you are doing:
Do not seal shut the container the mosses are in.
How cold does the room get at night?
If in the 50s then leave the lid off that would protect against mold. return the lip in the day and do not seal just lay it on top. Got a cooler room in the house? Covered and enclosed back porch?
You might even try refrigerating the moss in the frig at night and taking out in the day just to see what happens.

Definitely recommend that you make and keep a log on what you are doing!! Memory fails!!! Logs do not unless you forget where you put it!!!!

Moving from the icy cold outside to the hot inside may doom the moss. You may try moving the outside ones to next to the house in a sheltered spot. Got any plexiglass or fiberglass or old window panes or heavy mil (6mil plastic) that you could lean against the house and put the moss under.
I guess like a cold frame. If your mosses fail in the house I would try this as an alternative.

Also take images every few days to track the progress. What you are doing is novel and new so you are breaking new trail here. About all I can do is hand you a machete!!!

My room at night probably gets to 50-60. Right now I have the cover off 3/4 way.

I realized last night after spraying with tapwater that Calcium is really bad. So this morning I went out and melted some snow and just sprayed with that. I hope the 1st spray didn't kill it already.

I was wondering - should the moss be wet to the touch? Or is the goal to achieve high humidity without making the moss acually damp?

I have the cover off right now and its nice and moist. I hope to spray again later today and further rinse off the tap water.

the room is now colder, maybe 65-60, which my corn sprouts probably don't like but the moss is more important right now.

i dont have any porches or anything,just a small dorm room with 1 window

Hoorayfororganic,
Right you are. Tap water is not for mosses NOR would I recommend it for any plant in a pot especially the lower plants, like Selaginella and Lycopodium.

Remember I recommended a stratified media:
a layer of wood like cypress mulch-if you have any trees with bark that flakes off you can grind up or break up your own.
then the coir
then the moss.

While mosses can handle WET substrate, and some need it, most temperate mosses not found in wet spots need a substrate that is moist. This is a hard judgement to call as what is moist??? Probably if you took some coir and got it wet and then squeeze the daylights of it it might be called damp, moist is when you take a sledge hammer and pound the @#!!&!! out of it then you would have moist!
I presume you have a pump sprayer? Set the spray on the most foggy position you can and just spray a fog on the moss a couple of times, 2 or 3 times a day. This should suffice.
The point of the stratified substrate is to provide a drainage of excess water into the rougher bark bottom fill.

I am curious. You seem to remind me of me when I was attending college at Humboldt State College up in Arcata, California. There I lived in a motel room. It had the main
room with a bed, a can, and a small kitchenette with a metal
two burner sitting on the counter and a small frig. I had
collected a plant of Lycopodiella inundata and was growing it in the kitchen. Temps were generally 50s and 60s anyway.
Dressed warm. That was my first interaction at growing anything of that magnitude and lead to my interest in mosses.

What's your story?

My story is that I'm a junior at UMaine majoring in biology. Fun classes I'm taking now consist of biology &soil science. Bio 2 has been really good and has introduced us to plant diversity, including moss, which officially got me going on the moss fascination and made me love plants even more.

Next year I'll have the chance to take plant physiology, plant biology, soil & organic matter management, intro to entomology, maybe one or two more cool ones but I can't remember.

Classes I don't particularly care for I have to take is right now chemistry 2, next year organic chemistry 1&2, molecular and cellular biology, and one other one I forget

I 've been growing vegetables for a few years and back home I have a decent amount of land to play with. This year I finally have a dorm with sunlight so I'm growing as much as I can and have started going into tropical plants, ferns, and now mosses. I really want to dive into growing mosses but I don't have much space right now. I love plants, not sure if I want to do a carreer with them, but if I did it'd involve growing plants rather than researching them. The hands on growing is the best part to mee. Otherwise it may be a carreer with insects or reptiles or plants and animals. Not sure.

I need desperately to move into an apartment (with lots of sun I hope). I've vowed this is the last semester I'll be in a dorm. Dorms SUCK.

I have a ton of plant growing ahead of me. All I need is more sun and more space. My dream is a house with a greenhouse or a greenroom or both. Plants everywhere, in every room. Maybe a climate-controlled small room or 2 for tropicals. Automatic misters. Garden outside in the summer. Oh man. I can't wait.

I don't have bark so my oly substrate is coco coir, then moss ontop. I hope this works out. Otherwise, all I can add to it is a layer pos potting soil - but I don't know if I should do this.

It's very easy for me to keep misting this moss. I need to control myself, remmeber that outside in maine, this moss isn't going to be in 80% humidity all the time, and cut down on spraying, as to keep the most moist, but not damp, and humidity high, but not too high. Mold is my scariest thought because I tried doing a "moss paste" and in 2 nights it was covered in mold (but that was because I kept it essentially soaked with water...duh!)

Hoorayfororganic,
Thanks for the autobio.
For a junior in college sounds like you really have settled on some basic objectives in the years ahead of you.

Have you gotten to where you are going to focus on any particular aspect of this very broad field of interest.
I have checked out the University of Maine website and
I encourage you to do so as well.

Also the link below is to Google on careers in Botany.
Now is the time to start looking more intensely and narrowing down your perspective in order to allow you to maximize your ability to reach the goals you have in mind.

Time and events have a way of sneaking past a person as well as pushing them into directions not to their liking or preference. Get anchored now and the storms will be no sweat!

Here is a link that might be useful: Careers in botany

This is as far as I've got:

Right now I love growing plants, and would consider a carreer growing them. What I know is I don't want to do research - I don't want to write reports, I don't want to research things, I don't want to do that.

What I would consider is being someone who conducts experiments for the researcher, or who maintains experiments (involving growing plants).

I don't know how possible that is to achieve, and I don't know whether I'll do masters or not. Ideally I don't want to, but I want to get a good job I enjoy and I want to get a decent salary.

I also love reptiles, insects, animals, etc, though. So I'm not sure if I want to go in that direction or not. I'll have to figure out pretty fast though.

What I need to figure out is if I want to do masters or not. I really, really, really, want to finish college and just start working and doing something I love. I'm sick of studying and doing work. At the same time I want a good job opportunity. So it's a tug from both sides.

I need to go talk to the head of the biology dept. to get a better idea of what I should do.