This is something I read about last year, but have yet to try it since I have access to all the moss I could ever need.
mix moss( either dry or wet) and milk or yogurt together in a blender until it's the consistency of paste and paint it on a brick. in about 6 weeks moss will start to grow. Usually mold will appear first. that's normal so don't throw it away. Keep it moist by lightly spraying the surface and keep it in a shaded area.

Thanks a lot for that info. I was wondering how one can make it.

Hey, Lance...great topic! Thanks for sharing!
Is the moss you are referring to any type of moss taken from the wild? I wonder if it will grow as thick as it does in the wild?

Did you know one can actually buy *moss spores*? It comes in a little round container with a screw-on lid and you just sprinkle it over the surface of your bonsai soil. It grows a thin, dense layer of moss. One has to be careful not to get it on the tree or to breath it in because *spores* very easily become air-borne.

Wouldn't this be great for a sci-fi novel where people are breathing in this mysterious, air-borne, moss spore and moss starts growing on their faces and bodies? Eeewwww! :sick:

Yes, it is creepy. And it is only a few species away from happening...

WARNING Don't click the link unless you really, really want to creep yourself out. It's a National Geographic article about a "zombie fungus", a fungus that infects insects and turns them into zombies.

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03...bugs-science-brazil/

You can click on the different images to see-if you have a stomach of steel.

hope that doesnt mutate.all we need now are brainless people with gray antlers doing a fungus's bidding.

leslie, i think the old b/w twilight zone show did something like that :woohoo:

as for the moss thing i have found that parking lots usually have moss around the edges that is almost indestructable.it seems to be the first thing to grow on old ashfalt.it forms a very low dark green carpet and it loves direct sun.every other moss i have collected dies in the first week of it.ive that the milk thing works,my freind used it to seed the cracks in a stone walkway.it stunk for a while but it works.the brick idea is a smart one

I scrape moss off rocks at camp. that stuff will live through anything.
Manofthetrees,
The next time you have dead moss....try this recipe with the dead moss.

Hi All,

Hannah...now "that" was CREEPY! :blink: Ugghhh!

Keith...luv you warped sense of humour! I read a novel when I was about 15...the people were in a boat at night and came upon a mysterious fog...a hideous fungus began growing on their skin. I had nighmares for two weeks! LOL! Thanks for the parking lot tip.

Lance...thanks for the recipe! If I ever try it, I hope I don't forget what I'm doing and lick my finger! :ohmy: Talk about nightmares!!! Thanks too for the link; I've saved it as a favourite!

I always use moss that's growing between the stones at the street. They will always grow good because you've picked them from that area. If you pick moss from another area to yours, it could be it dies because of different weather etc. But keep the moss away of the trunk, moss absorbs water and after a long time the trunk keeps wet because of the moss and the trunk will start to rot away.

You can also mix alive or dead spores from the moss with beer. But thats abit of a waste...

Youri, that's a good point you raised about trunks with moss on them and how they can eventually rot. Do you have a link I could share with another member who is having a problem with moss growing all over the bonsai's trunk? It think it would be very helpful. Thanks!

Jon, hahaha...oh come on...surely there's another beer to replace that one. Seriously tho, do you know if it is the yeast, hopps or what in beer that makes the moss grow?