Growing Spanish Moss in the NC Piedmont

[knikfar]

On 5/20/2021 at 11:26 PM, courmike said:

I live in Atlanta proper and I have Spanish moss growing well. I have about 6 huge Camellia bushes that are tree sized(14ft). I put the moss in them. The birds can't land on the limbs because the are too soft and it is doing great after two years. Atlanta is actually 8b though. We don't get snow and ice often at all...don't know why people keep saying that. Pretty close to Atlanta's northern borders in the foothills is where it gets colder.

Atlanta, and its metro area, are located in zones 7b and 8a, per the USDA hardiness zone map. You can look it up here: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/. This is why people keep saying that. I lived in Atlanta from 2002 until 2009 and during that time, there was atleast one snow and/or ice event each winter. It was never a lot of ice/snow but it doesn't take much ice or snow to damage plants. 

[Cupguy]

There is Spanish moss growing wild in Landsford Canal State Park in S.C. about 35 miles south of Charlotte.  I saw some about 7 or 8 years ago growing on a large pine limb which had broken off beside the river.  A couple of years later I noticed some more growing in a small area in the woods on the opposite side of the trail from the river.  I asked the park ranger about it and he said they believe hurricane Hugo may have brought it in back in 1989.

[NCFM]

Update:

Unfortunately the birds took about 75% of the original spanish moss I put out last year.  What was left survived the winter no problem, though.  Today I replenished the crape myrtle with some more moss that I collected recently in Savannah, GA,  but this time I used larger clumps and zip ties to secure them to the tree.  Hopefully that will prevent the birds from taking as much of it this time around. 

 

[CrazyAsianLady]

Question: do I have too"winterize" my Spanish moss? I live in northeastern NC. My Spanish moss is from Florida, but it's been growing great. Also, it's in a tree that will be losing it's leaves in the winter. Will this be a problem? Thank you

[Chris Anderson]

From my yard in Western NY… two pictures of moss in a red maple and also my perennial basjoo bananas that come up every year with NO winter protection! Zone 5 😲

[SeanK]

Spanish moss needs to be watered. Where it grows naturally, there is high RH and the plant gets moisture every night.

[Chris Anderson]

We get heavy dew each night. Plus even in Florida the RH is low in winter in many places. It’s doing well… 

[knikfar]

On 5/25/2023 at 7:55 AM, SeanK said:

Spanish moss needs to be watered. Where it grows naturally, there is high RH and the plant gets moisture every night.

I'm in Raleigh, NC. Probably similar humidity to Atlanta. I've been growing lots of spanish moss in my trees for the past three years. I'll point the hose at some of the clumps if I happen to be watering something nearby. But for the most part, they live, and seem to thrive, on rain water and humidity in the air. 

[Muslim Gardener]

On 6/1/2020 at 9:07 AM, knikfar said:

Good morning! I live in Raleigh and I love spanish moss. I collected some from Washington NC last fall, along the banks of the Pamlico River, put it up in my trees at that time and it made it through the winter just fine. The birds took a little bit of it earlier in the spring but have left it alone for the most part. I actually just went back to Washington last week and collected more. I've read spanish moss can survive up to about 100 miles outside of its natural range.  But you also have to collect it from an area where it grows naturally that is as close to your own climate as possible. So you can't collect spanish moss from Savannah or Charleston and expect it to survive winter in NC. But the climate in Washington isn't that different than Raleigh. And Greensboro isn't that different than Raleigh. So my advice is, if yours doesn't make it through the winter, go to Washington or maybe even somewhere north of there, collect it and bring it back. And that should survive in your yard with no problem at all. 

My sister who lives in the Fayetteville area is begging me to ask you to send some extra Washington Spanish Moss to her address if it did well and you have plenty now. I wanted to tell her not to give her address to strangers online or that there's no way someone will pay money for stamps and mail free stuff to strangers in this economy. But she wanted me to atleast try and ask if I can DM you about it. 

[knikfar]

On 5/24/2025 at 2:15 PM, Muslim Gardener said:

My sister who lives in the Fayetteville area is begging me to ask you to send some extra Washington Spanish Moss to her address if it did well and you have plenty now. I wanted to tell her not to give her address to strangers online or that there's no way someone will pay money for stamps and mail free stuff to strangers in this economy. But she wanted me to atleast try and ask if I can DM you about it. 

I'm sorry. Definitely not going to do that. She can go to Washington and collect plenty for herself. Its plentiful. 

[Toddmin]

 

On 5/24/2025 at 2:15 PM, Muslim Gardener said:

My sister who lives in the Fayetteville area is begging me to ask you to send some extra Washington Spanish Moss to her address if it did well and you have plenty now. I wanted to tell her not to give her address to strangers online or that there's no way someone will pay money for stamps and mail free stuff to strangers in this economy. But she wanted me to atleast try and ask if I can DM you about it. 

It's usually available for sale on eBay!

[Muslim Gardener]

On 6/3/2025 at 10:11 AM, knikfar said:

I'm sorry. Definitely not going to do that. She can go to Washington and collect plenty for herself. Its plentiful. 

She is not able to leave the city my family is not very well off. I understand if you can't send her any though. Thanks for your response.