Caring for ochre bogmoss:

20/11/23 I was able to collect a sample of the ochre bogmoss from the university today! I am really excited as I've been looking forward to having my own since I visited Astarey and I want to see how it can liven my collection! Before you go out and seek your own however, it is important to note that the Ochre Bogmoss is extremely aggressive and readily outcompetes most other mosses (well, those not native to Astarey that is). As such, I created a separate tank for my sample, and I've been sure to give it plenty of space from my other mosses, especially the more frail ones. Also don't touch it with your skin. While it is supposed to only be a hallucinogen when consumed, it's better to be safe than sorry. Other than that, its needs are similar to most Sphagnum species. I'll let you know if I find anything particular to help it acclimate to the tank.

03/12/23 To say introducing the ochre bogmoss to my collection was hard would be an understatement. I've had to fully move the specimen to a different room after I found traces of it in the tank for my Wilson's pillowmoss (luckily it has rebounded since). While caring for the moss itself is fine enough, having to balance it with my other specimens is extremely draining, and I feel like I'm raising an extremely spoiled child who can't get along at school. At least it looks pretty! I've invested in a new tank with better specifications so hopefully I will be able to move it back to my collection soon.

07/02/24 After a few months with the ochre bogmoss I've learned quite a lot!

1. Water it twice the amount you would Sphagnum Rubra. They might be similar but this species is much more needy!
2. It needs its own room. It will get into your other moss if you let it mingle!
3. It needs you to sing. I don't know of any other plant that responds so well to vocalization, but this one does. It really likes it.
4. Make sure it's getting indirect light. This species, more than most, really doesn't like the sun. I don't know if it's just poorly adapted to it? Normally red mosses can handle a lot more than this does.

03/03/24 I moved the moss to my room to keep it out of the sun because it was drying out. It seems a lot happier here, and it can't try to colonize my other tanks so that's a plus! I've really come around on this guy, and I am really liking looking at it first thing when I wake up. I find it a lot easier to tell apart from the other red mosses now, its got such a distinct hue and I really think people don't recognize how different it is under the surface. If you really take the time to look at it and learn about it you'll see. I think this moss is worth the trouble at the end of the day.

25/04/24 Things are a lot less cheery than my last update. The moss has really struggled I think. It's lost the glow and it's growth has really slowed (despite it being a much nicer environment!) I worry about it all the time, way more than any of my other specimens. I water it enough, I sing to it all night. I give it the sunlight it asks for (and no more!), and its still needing more from me! I'll consult some friends from overseas but I am really struggling to figure out how to fix this situation!

1/5/24 There's something infuriating about problems like these. You can't ask for help, this is supposed to be your thing, everyone knows you as the expert on this thing. But you can't always figure it out! I know that's typical, and the moss just gives me those sad eyes and lets me know that it'll be ok. But I don't feel ok. I'm gonna do a lot to get it back. I've been reading on how the ancient Astarese cared for it and I've bought some things the book recommended so hopefully that helps. I don't know. I don't want to fail it. I think that would be very sad.

22/5/24 I woke up earlier this today to find the moss was doing better! While the change is sudden I am mostly relieved that the thing made it through. I don't know what was going on with it but it's growing a lot more and I can imagine its voice singing with me now, happy and healthy. I think the secret was adding some volcanic rocks to the tank? I hadn't changed anything else. Regardless, it's happy, I'm happy.

23/5/24I think i made a mistake

7 I was sick. I said sorry so many times. I was sick. it just didnt understand at all. I feel so bad. I am really sorry. i cant

12 Cleaning doesn't work nothing seems to work i cant get it out and it just keeps asking for more and i've given it so much? I don't know I dont know I dont know how could i know? i cant know i could never know but it always knew it was waiting and lurking and waiting and knowing when i would be weak and it could offer something in exchange for all of me and i cant give it my all i dont think it would want that i dont think im worthy for it and i dont know i dont know i dont know but it does it says it does it really does doesnt it? I cant stop it.

i think its inside of me which is weird cause it doesnt ask for that it just asks for offerings more and more and more and thats ok but i really dont like if it grew inside me. my other mosses hide from me they know im a carrier a host a disease and a failure a blight on this earth and i walk in their room acting like i deserve to be there like they need to fix me and how is that fair to them and i cant get them to come out anymore and i dont know what to do anymore i stopped knowing a long time ago and its not fair is it i just wanted a complete collection and this shouldve just been any other one but its not its not like the others it couldnt be could it i just want out i just want out i just want out i want normal back i want my life back but i think weeks have passed without the sun because the moss doesnt want her now it wants me my computer screen says its august under the red but i only remember june please just let me wake up

10/12/24 I went to the store today to get those tiny little bandages with those Miotian cats on them. I wanted them this time, something other than moss right?
Anyway I ran into Kobiyama from the liminology lab on the way home and he found me even though i hid myself away. He asked where I had been. i wanted to talk. deep down i did. but how do you tell him theres moss on your walls? on the floors? probably in your lungs and eyes and ears and blood? Not that i needed to tell him when he could see it growing on my skin and in my hair and covering the clothes i covered myself with to hide from the sun. How do you tell your friend you gave up your bedroom to the a silly plant in order to keep as an apeasment for its appetite? It asked for a living room. I think it knows I can't say no. I dont know, its red is no longer beautiful. its the same. its the same as the walls. the carpet. the sky that i see in my dreams. unending and alien.

I told him I was sick.

10/15/24 Dr. Inokura came by and took the moss back to the lab. Apparently they have some new genetic tests to run on it. I thought I'd be sad to see it go, to hear it crying as it was ripped from the home it had built, but I wasn't. I don't think I could be. It's still here, coating the walls, under the floorboards. Dr. Inokura didn't see its velvet when he walked through my apartment. he said there was no moss outside the tank. Its everywhere. I think its hiding in the entire world. it told me it's blood is ours, that we never had it before there was moss. Im beginning to think that is true.

10/20/24 I feel a lot better since Dr. Inokura visited. My other mosses are doing better too. No Asterregnum. It vanished one night. I dont know where it all could've gone but I woke up and it was gone, my apartment was clean, and my skin no longer burned. I don't recommend this one. I think theres a lot more to it than I expected. I still think its here too. I just can't see it anymore.