Post by billredlionpa on Aug 28, 2014 12:27:11 GMT -5
Hello everyone! I've always wanted to grow carnivorous plants, and decided to finally take the plunge this summer. I live in Red Lion, PA and decided that I would like to overwinter my plants outside, so a small bog garden seemed like a good way to start. If I'm successful with this project, I'd like to expand in the coming years and put together something much larger. There are too many plants that I'd to have!!
My bog garden container, 'MacCourt Ponds PP2615 Plantainer, 20 Gallon.'
1/2" pvc pipe for bottom watering, glued together with holes drilled:
Watering piping in place:
This part of my backyard is about to get more interesting:
This turned into actual work; how do you guys put together 100+ gallon bog gardens!?
'Plantainer' in place! Upon close inspection, I found that the container I ordered from Amazon had a flaw - part of the sidewall was stretched thin in the manuracturing process and was fragile. I had the day set aside for getting everything done, and didn't have time for returns. I ran out to the local hardware store.... and purchased a pool repair kit. If you look closely, you can see the patch:
Finally done! Did a 50:50 peat moss sand mix (had to go to a construction supply store to get sand blasting silica sand) and topdressed with sphagnum moss:
second view:
A month later:
Can't see them too well yet, but in the front half I have some drosera filiformis var. filiformis and d. rotundifolia growing, along with two VFTs, var. 'Ginormous' and 'B-52.' Sarracenias from left to right: S. 'Judith Hindle,' S. Leucophylla 'Garcon Point,' S. Flava var. Ornata 'Improved Black Veins,' S. 'Ladies in Waiting,' and S. Purpurea in the foreground. I use distilled water, syphoned with silicon aquarium tubing into the fill tube. My wife and I have wanted a RO home filtration system for a while now, so soon I'll be using RO water instead of buying gallons of distilled water from the grocery store.
The only remaining challenge is setting it up later in the fall for overwintering. I've read that pine needle straw works well as an insulator and doesn't quickly decompose and generate unwanted heat, so I may be using that along with burlap. I'd be interested if anyone here uses other types of mulch to insulate their plants over the winter. I'd like to sow some different types of drosera seed late winter in hopes of spring germination, but I'm worried that the pine needle straw might surpress germination. Thanks for checking out my bog garden!
My bog garden container, 'MacCourt Ponds PP2615 Plantainer, 20 Gallon.'
1/2" pvc pipe for bottom watering, glued together with holes drilled:
Watering piping in place:
This part of my backyard is about to get more interesting:
This turned into actual work; how do you guys put together 100+ gallon bog gardens!?
'Plantainer' in place! Upon close inspection, I found that the container I ordered from Amazon had a flaw - part of the sidewall was stretched thin in the manuracturing process and was fragile. I had the day set aside for getting everything done, and didn't have time for returns. I ran out to the local hardware store.... and purchased a pool repair kit. If you look closely, you can see the patch:
Finally done! Did a 50:50 peat moss sand mix (had to go to a construction supply store to get sand blasting silica sand) and topdressed with sphagnum moss:
second view:
A month later:
Can't see them too well yet, but in the front half I have some drosera filiformis var. filiformis and d. rotundifolia growing, along with two VFTs, var. 'Ginormous' and 'B-52.' Sarracenias from left to right: S. 'Judith Hindle,' S. Leucophylla 'Garcon Point,' S. Flava var. Ornata 'Improved Black Veins,' S. 'Ladies in Waiting,' and S. Purpurea in the foreground. I use distilled water, syphoned with silicon aquarium tubing into the fill tube. My wife and I have wanted a RO home filtration system for a while now, so soon I'll be using RO water instead of buying gallons of distilled water from the grocery store.
The only remaining challenge is setting it up later in the fall for overwintering. I've read that pine needle straw works well as an insulator and doesn't quickly decompose and generate unwanted heat, so I may be using that along with burlap. I'd be interested if anyone here uses other types of mulch to insulate their plants over the winter. I'd like to sow some different types of drosera seed late winter in hopes of spring germination, but I'm worried that the pine needle straw might surpress germination. Thanks for checking out my bog garden!