To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 09:48:21 MET-1
Subject: Re: moss culture
Dear Jaan,
You bring up a difficult problem - of course, bryophytes have many
interactions with soil organisms (fungi, bacteria, etc); but is not
easily predictable what the effect of steaming the soil will be. As a
student I have been cultivating bryophytes on several substrates,
including garden soil and steamed garden soil; on both these two
substrates establisment of a range of species went well, although at
a later stage all plants died due to fungal infections. However, I
seem to remember that some experiments with seedlings grown on
steamed soil were unsuccessful because the seedlings died; at that
time I assumed that steaming caused some chemical changes releasing a
toxic substance - but I have no evidence for that. For the next time,
you might consider to use steamed clean sand with a nutrient solution
- this substrate dries out faster, unfortunately, but I have never
had any problems growing bryophytes on it.
Good luck! Heinjo During
H.J. During
Dept. of Plant Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Section of Vegetation Ecology
P.O. Box 800.84, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
tel. +31 30 2536847
fax +31 30 2518366
email H.J.During@boev.biol.ruu.nl
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