When bonsai exhibits come around, bonsai enthusiasts love moss. They drive around town with their eyes on gutters and puddles in hopes of finding patches that can be scraped up and used as top dressing for their trees. But when moss grows into pine bark, the story changes. The goal is to find a way to stop moss from deteriorating delicate bark found on pines, spruce, cedars and the like.
Too much moss on the trunk – the bark is in jeopardy
On a recent visit to California, Akio Kondo made a suggestion for stopping moss – dish soap. He suggested mixing one part dish soap with 10 parts water and brushing it directly onto the moss.
Soapy water
Will the soap hurt the tree? Will it discolor the bark? I don’t know.  Does it actually kill the moss? Yes. I gave it a try using a fairly mild dish soap. The 1:10 mixture I used browned a bit of the moss but not the thicker patches. I found I needed a stronger mixture to kill more of the moss.
Painting soapy water on mossy pine bark
A thick patch of moss – this bit proved stubborn
Like so many things in life, prevention is key. Stopping moss before it takes hold is far easier than stopping moss that has covered the bark. A lot of moss grew on my trees this spring and summer when it was cool and cloudy, but the moss has slowed down a lot in the past couple of months as the sun finally came out. As the days get shorter, I’ll be sure to keep some soap close at hand.
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