Outsidepride Irish Moss Ground Cover Seeds - 10000 Pcs Perennial Low Growing, Mat-Forming Lawn Alternative, Outdoor Ground Cover Seeds with Shade Tolerance, Ideal for Pathways and Rock Gardens

This is one of several seed packets I got from this company this year, and I’ve had excellent luck with all of them. I definitely plan to purchase more Irish moss of these ones! (Go to bottom for growing tips.) I had bought one Irish moss plant from a local nursery a couple years back and realized it’s strongly perennial in my growing zone (8b), perfect for a shady east-facing area I have that only gets morning sunlight, and it even happily thrived through periods of snow cover in winter and an entire summer of neglect. Instead of dying, the neglected moss just stopped spreading so I hadn’t realized what an adorable ground cover it can be until this year. Plants are too expensive, so I’ve been starting everything from seed this year. I knew I’d have an easy time with pumpkins and sunflowers, but Irish moss??? The seeds are minuscule specks—you need a steady hand or a very tiny spoon or something to mete them out into peat pots. And definitely don’t sneeze! After they arrived and I really got a look at them, I decided there was zero chance this was going to work, and even if they germinated, there was NO way I could keep them alive long enough to grow and get established before winter. However, the germination rate on these seeds is high, and I actually find the seedlings MUCH easier to care for than, say, your average windowsill herb kit. The compact height makes everything a cinch: there’s no risk of them getting leggy and tipping over, or needing a deeper planter for their root system, so you can stick a peat pot of moss into just about anything—a plastic cup, bonsai planter, yogurt container. I now have several plugs of moss thriving, and several more growing in intermediary pots. I also made a bunch of mistakes and killed some other moss plugs, so I compiled a list of tips. Hope it helps! =========== Growing tips: TL;DR: Start indoors in high-humidity setup, preferably with a lid. Once you have seedlings, let them get more air circulation. After planting, you may need to water multiple times a week, possibly daily. Keeping them in pots for a few weeks helps them get more established before putting them in the ground. No hot afternoon sun, ever. Water next to the plant, not directly on it—your garden hose can easily demolish a baby moss. Huge temperature fluctuations (40-50 degrees F) seem fine, but could stunt the already slow growth of young plants, so consider keeping them indoors longer if you can. - For germinating: Make your life easy and start them indoors in a plastic growing tray with a clear lid (to keep in humidity) and a grow light. I scheduled my grow light to be on 14 hours a day and had it at a moderate distance (pendant light hanging 2.5 feet above the tray). I’m sure a sunny windowsill would work for people with bright living spaces, but my apartment is dark. You can probably also use a lot of other setups with common household items to avoid buying a Jiffy tray/peat pot kit. An old aquarium would work, and even a storage bin or plastic lunch tray with thin layer of peat moss or coir and loose saran wrap cover might work. If you do use peat pellets, keep in mind that I noticed the off-brand ones mold over QUICKLY (within a day) if you leave the humidity lid or cover on for even a little bit too long. Also, don’t try growing larger plants in the same tray/batch with the moss—even lupine and poppies will sprout and shoot up extremely fast by comparison. You’ll need to remove the lid for them to continue gaining height, while the moss might have preferred an extra day or two with higher humidity of the lid. They love moisture, but if you just add extra water to the drip tray to the point of them being water-logged and having standing water, it forms algae quickly. There’s a balance of keeping them damp but not soaked—you’ll figure it out. If you’re afraid of overwatering the tray and can’t drain it easily, get out a squirt bottle and start misting. Once you have sprouts, keep the lid off permanently as long as they’re situated in a place without drafts. (If you use a windowsill but then have the window open for ventilation at night, I’d consider putting the seedlings in a bathtub overnight.) - For getting new plants established: Mature plants are hardy, young ones are fragile. Seems obvious, but it’s more true of these little guys than others. Even with daily watering, misting, and lovingly putting mulch around them, 80% of my moss plugs died or diminished over several weeks when I had rushed to plant them. The summer heat was just drying out seedlings too quickly, despite the location being out of direct light. Instead, I started putting the seedlings into intermediate pots/containers with potting soil and setting them on my front porch for a few weeks before planting. They’re still exposed to heat, wind, cold nights, etc. and are just a few feet away from where the other ones died, but they can retain moisture much better in a little pot. I do not go through a hardening process with them, they just go outside and are fine as long as you don’t skip a day watering. Oh, and one day out in direct sun? They’re dead. I had put a very healthy plant in a container with some pumpkins and false shamrock—as long as the leaves of other plants shaded the moss and I watered that container daily, it thrived, even in extreme heat. The second I rotated the container to move it out of a walkway… The moss was exposed to direct sunlight and it was brown and dead within a day. Likewise, I tried breaking off clumps of my established plant, hoping to hasten the spread. Instead, most of my clumps died. They’re simply too fragile to break apart and stick back in the ground, even in the right conditions. It seemed infuriating that the established plant is SO sturdy by comparison, but it is what it is. Another issue was watering the young plants with a stream of water that was too strong (again, NOT an issue with the mature plant—that thing could be pressure washed and be fine). The garden hose pulverized a few moss plugs, even on a gentle “Shower” setting. Only use “Mist”. Even the watering can was too harsh. I started a new system of planting around a flat rock, then watering only the rock. Let the water run off in all directions to get the soil wet. For containers, only water the dirt around the edge of the pot. From now on, I will keep growing the young plants indoors with the grow light for another month or two. Because I wanted reclaim my kitchen space and rushed the first batch outdoors, I had worse results. Now I’ve got a system down and look forward to the moss takeover of my neighborhood… ===========

Only one of the 10,000 (doubt this is even correct) seeds sprouted. One... The quality is so horrendously inconsistent, and the cost for these seeds is so high. It's really disappointing. The seller also has it set that you have to return the item for a refund (you can disable this as a seller). They are just hoping enough friction is created by Amazon on their behalf so there is no return. You cannot exactly pickup each seed from the ground and return it. Either way, steer clear, this seller 'acts' like they are a small independent business, but clearly, the independence they have is from the money they take from us. Reviews seem to validate this, the consistency is all over. So, this may be due to poorly stored seeds (who knows how they're kept), really cheap seeds, etc...

The one draw-back to planting is that the seeds are TINY.... like hair shavings. Tiny. To plant I gentle raked the soil around a bit to make a more penetrable surface for the seeds, then got the soil thoroughly wet... then VERY carefully spread the seeds by putting my finger into the tiny wax paper bag (inside the packaging, seeds are packaged again in a wax paper bag about 1 inch x 1 inch), allowing a few seeds, some times more, to stick to my finger,I then dusted the seeds on to the moist, roughed up soil. I do not press the seeds in or water after for a day or so. Honestly, I was worried I would wash away the seeds. Every little patch I have done is sprouting up and looks great. If you DO NOT have a green thumb and cannot purchase live plants for whatever reason I would suggest buying a jiffy greenhouse tray (with the potting soil disks) and starting your plants inside. The greenhouses are great because you pour water in the bottom (between the dehydrated soil disks) and put the lid on. The soil says moist but not soggy because the clear plastic lid drips the condensation back down into the plants. I have order this product at least 3 times, a couple packets each time, and while - because the seeds are so very very small- I cannot say whether 80% or 100% germinated, but I absolutely feels I've gotten my money's worth. THIS IS TIME CONSUMING. If you do not want to be bothered with planting, you can find live/mature plants at nurseries in spring but they go quickly and one 3" pot runs about $6 in Washington, DC, where I am.

That's what I say every time I check on my planting. Now in all fairness, my thumb is far from that magical shade of green so maybe it's something I did or did not do, but the stuff never grew for me. Shopper beware, it says 5,000 and I do not question the quantity, however I do challenge you to try to count them. You can fit 397 on the head of a pin (it took me 7-weeks, but I did it), so they're very hard to plant, I mean, you just know you're putting hundreds of them in the same spot, but you can't avoid this, unless you get a big fan and throw them into the blades. That'll spread them, but you really wouldn't need them if you stooped to this method. So, I've done a good job of validating my cluelessness about planting (and even formulating coherent sentences), so take my 3-stars with 1,367 grains of salt (add fresh juice for variety). I do find the illustration a bit inaccurate, based on my experience you will need 259,000 seeds to get it to look like that, and don't forget the fan!