Isn't this just neat?
Did you know sphagnum moss produces enough iodine that water squeezed from it is safe to drink?
I happened to be working out a technique to use a microwave in place of a pressure cooker when I learned that fact. So, as it happened, I had some pint jars which had reached about 50% colonization and gone heavily bacterial. Well, since the only other option was to throw it out, I thought, why not test this fact.
So I went to the park, picked some sphagnum moss off the ground, went home, opened a bacterial jar, fit the moss down over the substrate, and tossed it next to the plants close to the grow light but not directly under it.
I misted now and then (another huge benefit to this technique is that the moss will show the moisture level in the jar. The moss in the picture up there looks recently watered. As the substrate dries, the moss gets all skinny and starts to look like a tangle of threads).
Lo and behold when a couple weeks later I saw pins pushing up through the sides. That first terribly bacterial jar continued to pump out nice little beauties for over 2 months afterwards with no food besides the straight corn it was grown on.
Some species work better than others, and if you want to produce any decent amount, you'll have to use a lot more than a single pint jar like shown up above if you're going to do something like oysters or reishiis.
That's all for now folks, hope you enjoyed it!
Follow for more and I'd love to hear any questions or ideas ;)