6 replies to this topic

[bogman]

I have 2 types of bogs, one is raised type, with sarracenias and hardy droseras, a lot of sphagnum growing in it and a few types of non carnivorous bog plants, and the second is almost pure silica sand, specially adapted for dionaeas, since I saw from the pics on the internet, that dioaeas often grow in almost, if not completely, in pure silica... I am thinking about creating another bog, but this time, it should be suited for darlingtonias... So, I searched through internet, saw a lot of pics of darlings in situ and so on... From what I understood, they are mountain type plants which prefer cool soil, good drainage, and not to be constantly soggy... I had a plan to make this bog more rocky, so it would look something like "wet rock garden"... but I am not sure what substrate to use except peat and perlite, to fill in between the rocks... Would it be ok if I put in some leca? what about live sphagnum? can I put some bog grasses or other plants in it as well?

To cool the soil, I will use ice cubes on top, and I was thinking about making 2-3 holes in peat, where could I put frozen plastic bottles, filled with water, so keeping soil cool will not be a problem...

I prefer keeping plants, mimicking their natural habitat as much as possible... what do you think?

[gardenofeden]

Darlingtonia do really well in Sphagnum mixes, and they do like it wet.  I have some in trays of pure Sphagnum in the greenhouse which gets upto 35C in summer, without any special cooling, I believe that evaporation from the surface of the moss cools the substrate underneath, and they sit on the floor to avoid heat near the top of the greenhouse. Similarly, I have large Sphagnum containers outside where Darlingtonia grow well, but they are a month behind the plants in the greenhouse.

How hot does it get with you in summer? I suspect just growing them in a wet part of the bog with lots of Sphagnum would be fine, you don't need to mess around with ice. If your conditions are really hot, perhaps get a solar powered pump which will trickle water through the substrate...

[bogman]

well, it depends... right now, temperatures are around 25 during a day, and 15 during night... this is a really rainy year, so I suspect summers will not be so hot, as they usually are sometimes... it can be 35 - 37c during peak of the summer, but not fr very long... solar powered pump sounds good! do you know where I could get one, or do I have to make it by myself?

[gardenofeden]

bogman, on 03 June 2012 - 15:06 PM, said:

... solar powered pump sounds good! do you know where I could get one, or do I have to make it by myself?

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item415cec4d40

[bogman]

wow thank you! this is really cheap! I have expected it to be much more expensive! what do you think, would it be even better if I buy 2 of them? the bog will be maybe around 150-200l...

[sojapat]

Hi Bogman , You can go this way or you can buy somehing a bit more beefy ..
I have a larger panel ,solar controller,pump and car battery .
The panel connects to the battery via the solar controller .
The controller does not let the battery overcharge or release all the charge you can also time the pump using the controller .
My darlingtonia are inside the greenhouse and their water is stored outside and pumped in and then returning to outside again.
I am having great sucsess this season after setting this up.. I lost nearly all just by watering manually they got too hot.

[bogman]

do you have some pics of that system of yours? I would like to see it! :)