This mossarium has been a work in progress over the past four years, with various disasters, including The Great Drying Event of Late 2025 (oops).
The photos work back in time to the 3/4 renovation in November last year.
The box is just smaller than an A4 sheet of paper and has a LED grow light covering more than half of the lid. The lid is propped open various angles depending on condensation and daily temperature.
The substrate is well-rotted wood with a little soil (simply this is where the first moss came from) and it is highly absorbent. Early failures taught me the importance of a thick absorbent substrate to maintain moisture levels.
I water with rainwater, keeping the substrate under the moss completely waterlogged and also misting regularly on top. I'm erring towards more air flow AND more misting and waterlogging than trying to find a balance. I stare at it while eating my meals so regular care is easy.
When I put moss in I expect most of it to die off or seriously sulk, then new green tips grow through. It is at a point now since the November renovation that there are far more types of moss in there than I originally put in and new tips are rapidly growing and forking. So much to see in such a tiny space!
The Cladonia/pixie cups are new. I now see everywhere that keeping lichen alive in captivity is near impossible. However, there is a branching lichen in the centre that has been in there for longer than I remember and is very much alive, so maybe there is hope.
The birdnest fungi went in as capped 'babies' and immediately went mouldy. They sulked for a while but amazingly came right with regular misting and now the stick is growing new ones. The thin brown strands in another photo are a slime mould that lives inside wood. I hope the stick at the back will put out fresh turkeytails this autumn.
The liverwort would take over the whole thing given a chance. It is easy to carefully prune back with long tweezers. There is also a Nostoc algae growing in a soggy corner, I think. It will be interesting to see how that develops.
by Alepidotus
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