# spanish moss



## crosscut tree (Mar 6, 2003)

any one ever spray for spanish moss? last news ive had was there was some control spray for ball moss. but none for spanish moss had at least 3 customers swear that they had a guy spray for the spanish moss with excellent results. got me curios as im sure gettin tired of pulling it out by hand lol.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Mar 6, 2003)

A number of fungicides are labled for it. I've read that Bordeaux mix will work to. Probably the most benign product on the market.


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## crosscut tree (Mar 6, 2003)

excellent jp dunno why the lightbulb didnt click on to do a web search first. ive just always heard it only controlled ball moss and required two applications to do that too. this old dog seems to be learning new tricks all the time. thanks


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## treeclimber165 (Mar 6, 2003)

I'm not 100% positive, but I think they sprayed copper something (sulfate?) for moss when I was at Davey. Problem is that dead black moss looks worse than live grey moss.


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## crosscut tree (Mar 6, 2003)

yes copper has many uses always known it worked on the ball moss. but bordeaux is a combination of copper 10 percent, lime 10 percent, rest water. one thing i havent found any info on and witch is a concern is affects on surrounding plants such as bromeliads under the tree


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## treeclimber165 (Mar 6, 2003)

I can tell you that spray drift from copper can have lots of negative effects on customer's vehicles, houses, concrete, etc. Need a very good spray tech on a calm day to use it at any height. Otherwise everything downwind will be covered in a rust colored stain that will not wash off.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Mar 7, 2003)

Look to see if there are any zinc based products out there. I know that zinc will work on moss and lichens on roofs. It is allso the active ingredient in dandruff shampoos, because many skin problems are caused by fungi or fungal-like organisms.

Many times changing the pH will kill many types of moss.


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## Reed (Mar 7, 2003)

There's a few options - JPS mentioned ZN, zink sulfate can be used, Kocide 101 or copper sulfate, watch for drift and stain and Baking Soda -(BiCarbonate) dissicates all the epiphites, but lead to high salt levels in the drip zone. We control ball moss with the baking soda, but dead clusters are unsightly and end-up having to pick anyway. 

Moss isn't pathogenic nor parasitic to the oak but extremely high infestations can host insect disease vectors, shade problems and rotting organisms due to moisture retention, etc. Hand pickin' is good climbing work, good pay, and think about training a monkey to do it - good publicity and economically possible.


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## crosscut tree (Mar 9, 2003)

hand picking is great pay i do primarily bucket work but lots of my customers somehow end up as friends too. im always looking for alternatives to help them out. really bothers me to charge the same for spending two days removing moss out of a tree as it would only take a day to remove completely including stump grinding. here in florida every thing grows like wildfire few believe me when i say moss is there because the tree is old or stressed out why should it be stressed out when they paid a million or more for there house sheesh tree should just be happy they built the house there and added 2 foot of fill to that old dang swamp it was in . i admit few of that type of people end up as true friends. but honesty truly does work well for me maybe not with everyone but the ones it does. sure makes the differance to me and my business besides ants eat me up alive not sure of the correlation between the moss, mistletoe factor but sure seems to me a lot of either sure leads to me getting chewed up by them alot never sprayed myself yet but thinking more and more that it is a good idea if i can do a beter job much easier. sure do appreciate the advice though thanks friends


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## TREETX (Mar 16, 2003)

OW hit right on about the Kocide 101 or baking soada.

Not sure about spanish moss but with ball moss, the stuff is still in there dead. Dead ball moss is a great moist environment for new ball moss to grow.

With ball moss, generally a good deadwood removal will get most of it. If the tree is infested, I push for manual removal. Then it is gone.

The Kocide can burn landscape plants.

For manual removal price usually equals pruning/cleaning x 2. Never guarantee 100%. Some customers will call you 3 weeks later to pull off one little piece they with their binoculars spotted 40ft up.


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## treeclimber165 (Mar 16, 2003)

I've always bid 75%-80% moss removal, then remove 90% or more. That way nobody complains.


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