WE NOW OFFER TRUE, LONG STRANDED SPHAGNUM MOSS AT EASTERN PLANT FOR ALL YOUR GARDEN NEEDS. THIS IS VERY HARD TO GET

TO ORDER OUR TRUE, LONG FIBERED SPHAGNUM MOSS JUST EMAIL US: easternplant@juno.com

GREAT FOR YOUR GARDEN   SEED STARTING    ORCHIDS    WATER RETENTION   ROOTING CUTTINGS   HELPS ANY PLANT GET ESTABLISHED AND LOTS OF OTHER THINGS

AVAILABLE NOW FROM EASTERN PLANT

SO, WHAT IS TRUE, LONG FIBERED SPHAGNUM MOSS AND WHY IS THIS BETTER THAN COMMON PEAT MOSS? READ ON!

This is the real thing–live and green…almost impossible to find anywhere else. We get this from our property in only small amounts …always leaving enough living moss so it regenerates in a year not the thousands of years it can take in large, commercial peat mining. The commercial peat moss sold everywhere is part of destructive process that hurts natural bogs. This is the moss that grows in bogs, damp woodlands and acidic forests and is actually what long ago you bought as peat moss. HOWEVER, what we sell is live peat moss, which is far superior to what is sold NOW as peat moss. What is now sold as peat moss is NOTHING like the peat moss of olden times. The  stuf you buy now is the lower layer in swamps, mostly decomposed and having little of the water retaining and anti fungal properties of live sphagnum. (ever try wetting dried “peat” from bales…ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!) Until 1950 or so when you bough baled peat moss it was live or partly alive- green and amber, long strand as they called it. NOW, unless you live in Ireland  it is nearly impossible to get.

WHEN YOU BUY PEAT MOSS, THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE GETTTING

BUT SADLY

The peat moss you buy now, frankly, is junk….it’s not the long fiber peat of ages gone by–which was the upper layers of peat. What is sold today is from way down in the bog, and that material has little of the beneficial properties of true sphagnum. What we offer is the real thing. If you start seeds indoors of any sort, this will improve your growth and for OUTDOOR PLANTS it is especially good for woodland plants and anything in the rhodo family. If you truly want to help your plants this is what you want, not the decomposed, lifeless powder in bales and bags now sold everywhere. 

TRUE, LONG FIBERED SPHAGNUM that we offer could almost  be considered natures miracle plant and I don’t like using phrases like that loosely.

TRUE SPHAGNUM THAT WE PROVIDE IS VERY USEFUL IN  ANY GARDEN

SEED STARTING, WATER RETENTION, ROOTING CUTTINGS

HELPS ANY PLANT GET ESTABLISHED BY ADDING IT TO THE ROOT ZONE OF THE PLANT YOU ARE PLANTING

SPHAGNUM HAS NATURAL ANTI FUNGAL PROPERTIES, BOTH FOR PLANTS AND MAN..SEE STORY BELOW

CREATE YOUR OWN SPHAGNUM GARDEN IN PARTLY SHADED AREAS. MANY PLANTS WILL “SELF SOW” IN MOSS

BELOW: LONG FIBERED SPHAGNUM–THE GOOD STUFF THAT WE SELL. This is the layer just under the green sphagnum, still alive.

WHAT IS SPHAGNUM AND WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Most people don’t know what peat moss is or is even what it should be used for, even professionals. Some spread it on their lawn: NO NO NO! Many gardeners use peat moss as a mulch to put on top of the soil. NO NO NO! That is NOT the way to use it

THE PEAT MOSS YOU NORMALLY BUY CAN DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

HERE IS WHY-THROW AWAY WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT PEAT

Peat moss (that is commonly sold) is the decomposed remains of formerly living sphagnum moss from bogs.  Because it’s nearly impossible to rewet once it’s dried, it repels water and makes a terrible surface mulch.  As a soil amendment, which is what the baled product is mostly sold for, peat moss is also a poor choice.  It breaks down too fast, compressing and squeezing air out of the soil, creating an unhealthy condition for plant roots. Peat moss CAN be a useful growing medium for containers, however, when lightened with a drainage material like perlite.

Peat moss is mined, a destructive process which involves scraping off the top layer of living sphagnum moss. The sphagnum peat bog above the mined product is a habitat for plants like sundews, butterwort and bog rosemary, as well as rare and endangered animals like dragonflies, frogs and birds, not to mention the living moss itself. Like all precious wetlands, peat bogs purify fresh air and even mitigate flood damage.

In the acidic moss below the living layer, wooden artifacts of people who lived long ago survive, even the remains of the people themselves.

Gardeners often buy the “bad” peat moss I’m talking about, baled or bagged just as they do a supposed needed thing, like their favorite food.  SADLY most of that peat moss is just wasted and thus hurts the peat bogs from where it came for no real reason …except profit.

TO ORDER OUR TRUE, LONG FIBERED SPHAGNUM MOSS JUST EMAIL US: easternplant@juno.com

8 ounces- enough to mix into the soil medium for 3-4 flats inside or help a few plants outside when planting. $6.95    1 pound $9.95    2 pounds $17.95    3 pounds $22.95   Inquire for larger quantities-we can supply it at certain rimes of the year.

PITCHER PLANTS AND SPHAGNUM MOSS  The pitcher plants we sell thrive in natural sphagnum. If you don’t have a natural bog and most people don’t- this will greatly help your pitchers. PLEASE SEE OUR ONGOING SALE FOR BLOG READERS, which offers Pitcher Plants at a great price-see October archives.

PITCHER PLANTS GROWING IN SPHAGNUM MOSS

OTHER MOSSES

We can also supply sheet moss for use between stepping stones or for creating a moss garden. These are not the same as the sphagnum moss but serve a different role. Moss gardens are actually quite easy if you have shade, and peaty acid soil. When you visit us you will see our spectacular cliffs covered in moss. Moss can be used between stones as an accent or in larger areas as a “softening” ultimate groundcover. If you have woodland plants the addition of moss makes a great contrast. INQUIRE

PHOTO BELOW FROM WW 2  WORKERS PROCESSING SPHAGNUM MOSS FOR MEDICAL USE

Delegates to a three-day gathering heard how sphagnum moss was harvested from UK wetlands for wound dressings during World War One. Other war-time uses included using peat as bedding for the army’s horses and as an alternative fuel source. There is evidence that the potential medical applications of sphagnum was known to prehistoric people, its use was rediscovered in the 1800s.

When a soldier had been injured. It took a week to take him to the nearest available medical facility, so they packed the wound with sphagnum and when they had taken the dressing off, the wound had healed,” he told BBC News. Doctors during this pre-antibiotic time were surprised, as a severe wound generally meant the loss of a limb or death.