Soils and layers
Dried long-fibre sphagnum moss
Long dried moss strands that hold a lot of water. Keeps soil out of the drainage.
What the simulation uses
- Holds water
- 55 % by volume
- Water it keeps after draining; the rest runs down to the drainage.
- Pore space
- 93.5 % by volume
- Room for air and water between grains; low means roots suffocate when wet.
- Weight
- 40 g/L
- How heavy a litre is.
- pH
- 3.5 to 5 pH
- How acid it keeps the soil.
- Mould risk
- low
- How much fresh food it gives white mould; high-risk soils fuzz over in the first weeks.
- Breaks down in
- 1 to 3 years
- How long it lasts before rotting down to fine soil.
- Nutrients
- low
- Plant food it brings.
- Presses down to
- 40 % of its loose depth
- How far pressing can pack it, keeping its weight.
Description
Whole dried strands that hold about twenty times their weight in water and contain natural compounds that slow mould. They make soil a little more acid. Over one to three years the layer compacts and browns, sooner with Chilean grade than New Zealand.
Also called long fibre sphagnum, New Zealand sphagnum, Chilean sphagnum.
Estimated, where sources were thin: bulk density and decomposition rate estimated.