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Moss covering soil

#1 · 13th November 2023, 9:55 pm

Hi all!

I'm reaching out with a question about moss. I have a large swath of lawn/meadow that is taken over with thick pads of moss. I believe one of the two varieties is sphagnum moss, though I'm not sure what the other moss is.

The moss has taken over in two sections of turf. One area (approximately 1/4 acre) is where my grandfather used to have an extensive vegetable garden, which was tilled annually and very productive. I haven't had a soil test done to get an accurate composition, but the garden has a lot of clay soil. The area is sunny and southwest facing. The other area is immediately adjacent to the former vegetable garden and was a wildflower meadow with lots of buttercups. The former wildflower meadow gets waterlogged in the spring (I don't think it used to when I was a child). There are no more wildflowers in the meadow. It mostly contains wool grass.

As I'm sure you can see from the leaves in the pictures, there are a few mature oak and maple trees that separate the former garden and meadow areas of moss.

I'd like to establish a fruit orchard in this area, but I don't know if the moss signals a soil problem. What do I need to do to ensure that fruit trees can thrive here? In what used to be a veg garden, I'd like to plant pear, apple, and cherry trees. In the wetter area that used to be meadow, I'd like to plant paw paw trees.

#2 · 14th November 2023, 2:24 pm

Hi @jjacksonforsberg

Thanks for your question. Can you try and readd the photos as they haven’t uploaded. Alternatively email them to me at [email protected] so I can help.

all the best

Lee

#3 · 14th November 2023, 2:46 pm

Just reattached. I'll email as well to be on the safe side. Perhaps they were too large before.

Julie

#4 · 16th November 2023, 11:27 am

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your question about moss covering your soil.

Moss is a wonderful and ancient plant genus. In fact it's one of the first plants ever to evolve.

Moss is a small, non-vascular, green plant that belongs to the division Bryophyta in the plant kingdom. Unlike most plants, mosses do not have true roots, stems, or leaves. Instead, they have simple structures that serve similar functions. They are in my opinion wonderful plants (if they are in the right place). Mosses typically have a simple structure consisting of leaf-like structures arranged around a central stem called a "seta."

They are usually found in damp locations where they can absorb due or moisture via their leaves, remember they have no root system like a regular plant.

However, this leads them to quickly colonise damp and part-shaded spots. Which in your case leads to large areas of moss.

The good news is it's easily removable with a rake or even better a light scarification. You can then compost the moss

Hire a scarifier from a tool station and use the video guide below. For most you only need the rake or very light scarification function to remove it.

With your damp meadow Julie it would be best to plant species that like damo wet conditions. Like Meadowsweet and Ragged robin. The reason the flowers have kind of died out is probably competition from the grass. This is why we always cut a meadow 3 times a year and REMOVE grass cuttings to reduce fertility. More on meadows here.