Dactylorhiza and moss

[mark smyth]

yesterady while removing moss from my garden and around my Dacts I found many Dactylorhiza had surface roots running under the moss. This occurred more so under the loose flat moss.

Should I cover the roots with soil?

[Maggi Young]

Yes, tomorrow.
It often happens that plants growing in a substrate with a lot of moss cover will make roots just under the moss  blanket.... but those roots are too vulnerable there and will be safer under some good soil.

[mark smyth]

I thought so. They will be cold tonight without the blanket of moss.

Front garden 90% OK for Saturday. All tomorrow I'll be ffffffreezzing tidying the back garden where the sun doesnt shine at this time of year. This afternoon was so warm in the sun.

[Maggi Young]

I hope all goes well for the garden visits on Saturday.... I hear that Harold's drops are looking good but that he is not too well himself and is confined to the house.

[mark smyth]

Words gets around quick. The power of email I suppose. He's going to Margaret's, lunch and Bob's then going home

[Lesley Cox]

but those roots are too vulnerable there and will be safer under some good soil.

Or a nice leaf mouldy, or humusy covering. Crushed pine fines or chopped bracken and soil. Nothing too dense or hard.

[Hjalmar]

Or a nice leaf mouldy, or humusy covering. Crushed pine fines or chopped bracken and soil. Nothing too dense or hard.

Or why not some moss?

[cohan]

Or a nice leaf mouldy, or humusy covering. Crushed pine fines or chopped bracken and soil. Nothing too dense or hard.

Or why not some moss?

lol...i assume there is a good reason for removing the moss, but what is it? is the moss so vigorous that it overwhelms the plants if left unchecked? here i'd be most likely to encourage moss wherever possible as a lovely woodland groundcover, but i wonder if your (wetter climate) moss is more aggressive?

[Lesley Cox]

Or why not some moss?

Exactly. My garden tends to be very dry just about everywhere so moss isn't a problem. If it were to grow over my Dactylorhizas I would probably leave it or at most "scramble" it with my fingers and then perhaps cover the scramblings lightly with something humusy.

Many people have quite different ideas of what is "moss." Some think of liverwort in that vein. I'd certainly want to remove that and replace it with something less smothering.

[Sinchets]

It amuses me to think that in the wild Dactylorhiza romana grows in mossy patches.