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The industry of Spanish moss

Making It Grow Radio Minute
Provided
/
SC Public Radio
Making It Grow, with host Amanda McNulty

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Apparently, some people think Spanish moss hurts their trees or don’t like the way it looks and pay companies to remove it – it probably will come back since it’s a flowering plant and the seeds get blown all over. In times past, many Southerners made a living collecting Spanish moss and selling it! It was cured, which means the grayish cells protecting the black hair-like interior were removed. I’ve slept on a mattress filled with Spanish moss which was noticeably cooler in the summer. Henry Ford used it in for car seats in automobiles. In World War II, almost the entire crop was used in car seats for the military. Now it is mostly sold in craft stores. I keep some in a dead dogwood tree at home to use in flower arrangements.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.