Do any of you use Spanish moss in your compost piles?

Holy cow - composting a tillandsia?! That's blasphemy! I grow the stuff and drape it all over my orchids, bromeliads, (other) tillandsia, and staghorn ferns. It actually serves a purpose (I think?) other than just looking nice.

Believe me Ken, I have morrrrrre than enough to go around. In fact, at present, there is too, too much on a Redbud tree & some pecan trees that I need to get off of them. that's why I was wondering about putting it in the compost pile.

I have a neighbor that has a Crepe Myrtle tree that is covered in Spanish moss…The poor tree has not bloomed in years because of that! In fact, the tree is looking like it may be dying…Is it possible that the Spanish moss could kill this tree?

Okay, the question is do we put the Spanish Moss in our compost piles.

Short answer - yes.
Longer answer - it takes quite a while to break down, maybe over 7-8 months even in an active/hot compost pile. It will also add some acid but that part is easily remedied.

Since where I live the alternative would be putting it out to the curb and the city composts it for me. So I put some into my long term compost pile and the rest I give to the city.

My answer was kind of tongue-in-cheek. I know Spanish moss can get out of hand, but here, in NE Mississippi, Spanish moss is very seldom seen. I grow it as a novelty and also because I was told I could not grow it. I like to experiment! But it does look good on my mounted plants. You should see one of my vandas, who's roots have absolutely taken up residence in a mass of Spanish moss. Really unusual. Also I find that when I drap Spanish moss around/over other, non-tillandsia epiphytes, and the moss grows well, it seems to indicate that (whatever the mounted plants are), the plants do well. Not scientific by any means, but something I have seen over and over.

For those who think Spanish moss is a perasite, it is not. Epiphtes are not parasitic. What damages a tree with overgrowth of Spanish moss is the fact the the moss reduces available light to the leaves, nothing more. Other tillandsias in S. FL and central and S. American also causes damage to trees due to overgrowth.

I agree that in a compost pile, living Spanish moss would break down very slowly. It could possibly still grow on that compost pile for months before finally dying. Even then, dead Spanish moss has really tough filaments that might never break down.

Thanks y'all. I didn't know how long it might take it to break down so that's what I was aiming for in my question. Long term compost pile it is then. Fibers I could use to improve both the sand & the clay (I have both in different areas) & acid is useful with the sand for sure.

Tara, I'm glad your question got answered in the process. I knew it will not in & of itself kill a tree but the damage lies in shading it out too much. This is why I need to get some (a lot) off the redbud. the former owners planted it directly beneath a huge oak ~~~ a veritable invitation for the moss to transfer to the redbud. The redbud is too large to move at this point (at least by us) so I need to get moss off of it. The pecan trees obviously will not set fruit where it's draped with moss so that's a no brainer.

I actually "seeded" my oaks with Spanish moss several years ago, moss collected along the coast of Mississippi. I wanted to prove my fellow Master Gardeners wrong. I was told it would be impossible to grow the stuff up here. It will be interesting to see if it all survives our horrible, horrible cold that we are experiencing. Gosh we are not even into our "cold" months and we have already had 12 nights in the mid to lower 20's and a couple more are predicted this coming week!

Because I grow so many tropical plants, and afterall, the Spanish moss IS a tillandsia, when I water and fertilize my plants that are outside (hundreds of them) in the spring-fall, the Spanish moss gets the same treatment. Don't laugh. I know no one has probably ever heard of someone actually watering and fertilizing their Spanish moss.

I don't feritilize, but I do water it.

Hey, Jay. I lived in Nederland way back in the early-fifties. My mom was the dietitian for the school system there. Spray a little diluted fertilizer onour Spanish moss every few months (spring/summer) and your moss will actually bloom. The blooms are not much (tiny)but kind of neat to see.

Thanks Ken. I have been wanting to photograph the blooms for my website, but have never seen them. I'll give that a try.

You will need a really good, super-macro lense to capture those blooms. But when you do, and you certainly want to post the pictures and then put the best in the data-base, people will see what they have never seen before.

P. S. I don't know why I never photographed mine in bloom. Just never thought about it. Hey, I may have some in bloom right now. I need to check.

They shouldn't be blooming now. I'm afraid you'll most likely have to wait till spring.

Perhaps so, but I have quite a bit draped over numerous mounted tropical plants in my GH's, so there's a chance I have fooled Mother Nature.

I think using a dust mask when handling this stuff is a good idea.

Nothing comes off them when handling. They are live plants, moist and supple.

Ken,
I have to agree w/you.. Why waste S.moss when you can use it. I I have been growing some of my Tillys in wire hanging baskets. the moss makes a great nesting place in the baskets. and the birds like in the spring too.
















and you can always use it as a back door curtain!









cliff

I like that idea Cliff!! Wonder if you could stuff a bunch in a box and ship?? Maybe in the spring?

There you go - waste not-want not. Orchids seem to love having this tillandsia grow adjacent to it as well as mounted, staghorn ferns.