Marketing Mosses and Lichens
Answered by: Richard Alan Miller
Question from: Pam Diana
Posted on: October 29, 2005

I am on social security disability and live in the high mountains of northern Washington. Right in the middle of tons of mosses and lichens. Is there actually a market for any of these many many wild things that grow all around us? It seems that there should be, but with everyone turning to foreign countries for things, I wasn’t sure. We are just looking for a supplement to our income. We have quite a large acreage with many different things here. I hope you can help me get an idea on the reality of marketing any of the wild stores we have here. Every time I take lichen off firewood it puts me in mind of the lichen people BUY for model railroading and I think there must be a way to sell this.

There IS markets for all of these crops, primarily to the floral trade. Most lichens sell for around $6.00/lb, while the mosses are around $0.50-0.60/lb. Mosses also must be cleaned of any wood bark left from the tree it was stripped. This means a larger facility to clean and repack moss from the field.

I’ve written extensively on these in my book "Native Plants of Commercial Importance." You can buy that directly from my website, using PayPal. I publish it under OAK and is $20, plus postage. My website is www.nwbotanicals.org.

You may also send me samples for my help in marketing these, if you wish. I work as a broker and take 10% of all sales. I do all billing and collections for this fee. If I make a sale, you are garneted of payment.

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