Moss in soil, is it harmful?

[Andrew Farrell]

Hi all, I've been growing some Espostoa hylaea seeds using the bag method and since this is my first time I must have messed something up. Some type of moss or algae is growing on the soil where my little seedlings are planted. Is this something I should worry about or is it not harmful? It doesn't look anything like mold, it looks exactly like your typical green moss you'd see on trees.

[Aiko]

The moss itself is not harmful. I have much moss growing in the pots of my winter active plants. But the reason behind why there is moss should be a bit more warning: too much moist for too long. For winter active plants during winter even hardly a big problem (winter active plants can cope much better with excessive moist than winter dormant plants), but for an Espostoa you might like to keep the soil much dryer. Allow the pots of the seedlings to dry out completely between waterings.

[Andrew Farrell]

The moss itself is not harmful. I have much moss growing in the pots of my winter active plants. But the reason behind why there is moss should be a bit more warning: too much moist for too long. For winter active plants during winter even hardly a big problem (winter active plants can cope much better with excessive moist than winter dormant plants), but for an Espostoa you might like to keep the soil much dryer. Allow the pots of the seedlings to dry out completely between waterings.

I'm using a growing method in which you keep them in an enclosed bag where the soil stays moist and the air is humid since that's low maintenance. Because the water never leaves the bag, you don't have to water. Should I open the bag and dry it out then water occasionally like the rest of my plants? The seedlings are still quite small. They are just now growing their hairs and spines.

[teo]

Green algae is fairly common to occur in a closed environment like that - it's hard to really sterilize the soil before closing the bag, even the water has to be sterilized. I don't think it is harmful - at least not for seedlings that has grown a bit. I usually remove tha bag at this point and the algae will dry up fairly quickly.

[greenknight]

I've had algae, moss, liverworts - unless your seedlings are buried in them, they're no problem.