BlahandMee Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 I was kind of thinking about setting up a mini-bog some time later on and I wanted to see how other people have set theirs up. Could you guys post some pictures of your bogs so I can have an idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm82792 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Mine are in a large bowel and are doing great. A primiflora,capensis 2x and venusta are great and the ping has been flowering for monthes and grow like mad! The mix is heavy and the bowels water table is fluctuates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenofeden Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Mine are in a large bowel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 At least the plants will always be handy.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obregon562 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Well, heres what i know... First, you need space. generally, the bigger the better. I would recommend a tub (bath tub), a big, long, and wide pot, or any other big thing. It should hold a min. of 25 gallons of peat. First, fill the bottom of your mini-bog with enough plastic to cover the bog, kind like you are wrapping it in platic. i quite sure what this does but every mini-bog i've seen has it. Next, put ~ 3 inches of sand at the bottom. this ways down the plastic and acts as a water control thing. After that, fill the rest with your favorite soil mix, something like 50:50 peat perlite or something like that. If you put in a pocket of LFS, you may even be able to put hardy neps in there! Then fill with plants to your hearts content. the only bad part is the constent watering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommyr Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Mine are in a large bowel LOL! That's got to hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 Heres mine from last year, it looks pretty much the same apart from birds have eaten my venus flytraps, just bought some netting to keep them out today! : http://www.cpukforum.co.uk/uploader/user_uploads/Fullbog.jpg Layed the bricks, covered in pondliner filled with peat and sand 3/1. Unfortunatly its too small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottleroc Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 as I have pointed out in another thread check out the site for very useful guide to setting up a bog. http://www.yeomansexotics.co.uk/ Hope that guide is useful. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrl1265 Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 I used a small childs wading pool, dug a hole to make it flush with the ground, layed river rocks along the outside to cover the plastic, filled with soil. The only draw backs are: I get alot of weeds to pull up, slugs in spring can be a problem, and I put it to close to a tree, so when summer comes theres to much shade. I did the whole thing in one day. Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 These old threads have some photos of my mini bogs: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10317 http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10318 Here a few tips that experience has taught me: * Do not make a mini-bog larger than you can easily move. A half-barrel container is ideal.* Put upturned containers in the bottom with pipes going to them from the surface for water reservoirs. This makes the watering process in the summer so much easier and requires much less water. * Allow lots of room for plants to grow. It amazed me just how quickly my mini-bogs became very crowded.. * Beware that S. purpurea will grow very big very quickly, so give them lots of space. * Protect your mini-bogs with bird netting. A bird attack on your mini-bog can devastate it for an entire season. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlahandMee Posted April 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 How does that second tip work again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilex Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 I use pots or fruit boxes (12 and 20 kilos) on the bottom as water storage, then some netting to keep peat on top. Make sure it's well done or it might collapse. Also keep in mind that peat will settle after time. I advise on putting everything high so you can lower the overflow level later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nepenthes Nut Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 I still dont understand how the water gets out of the boxes and how it stores the water any better than just peat down there does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm82792 Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 A large food bowl 9-10 inches from one side to the other not from the center and it is really nice looking ceramic. I have primuliflora,venusta,capensis2x and lots of drosera seed that I sprinkled on the peat so I hope I will get some small sundews soon They are all in soggy peat that has some lavarock and they like it alot. That would be bad gardenfedin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FredG Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 Thinking about the upturned containers. That will give a void to be filled with water. The edge is not watertight so the surrounding peat will act as a wick. I suppose you will get more water in there each time you water but then the peat will extract it pretty quickly. As for using a container the right way up and covering the top with wire to stop peat dropping in, I see no advantage. Once contact between water and peat ceases the compost will start to dry out. You'll have dry peat with stagnant water below it Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 Once contact between water and peat ceases the compost will start to dry out.You'll have dry peat with stagnant water below itFred The upturned container shold not be as wide as the mini-bog so the water will always be in cantact with the peat. This system really does require the pipe going down to the reservoir to work well. Anyone who has tried to get water into a mini-bog by flooding the surface with water will realise that this is a slow, inefficient and time consuming way to water a mini-bog. With the method you can get several litres of water right to the base of the soil in a few seconds. With a water reservoir my mini-bogs only need watering once per week, before I used this method they needed watering at least every couple of days. Also the bogs need less peat so are cheaper to construct. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlahandMee Posted May 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 Ok. I'm still really confused. Heres what I'm seeing right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 2, 2007 Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 Okay time to show off my artistic skills! This is more what I had in mind: Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm82792 Posted May 2, 2007 Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 That is a good idea,I realy want to have a large bog garden inside of a coldframe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilex Posted May 2, 2007 Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 Okay time to show off my artistic skills!This is more what I had in mind: Cheers, That's it exactly. Less peat, easy to water, less watering, holds more water. I use fruit boxes which have holes, these need netting so peat doesn't fall into the box (and then the bog collapses). Peat + water on top the reservoir will be heavy, so use something that won't collapse under the weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petesredtraps Posted May 2, 2007 Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 Here we are... Don't forget what used to be the bottom of the bowl should be riddled with fine holes & slits, this allows air to get out of the reservoir and prevents substrate getting in.That's an extra large plastic wash bowl,I found a supplier on Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FredG Posted May 2, 2007 Report Share Posted May 2, 2007 Yes, we agreed on this method being faster to water. It's the one with the water recepticle the right way up with the netting over that is puzzling. Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlahandMee Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 So, the water underneath just keeps the peat damp even if it isn't completly touching it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 It's the one with the water recepticle the right way up with the netting over that is puzzling. I didn't see that suggestion, and I can't see how it would work either. So, the water underneath just keeps the peat damp even if it isn't completly touching it? No, the water has to be touching the peat. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petesredtraps Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 I took it one stage further although I don't have a photo. In the first picture you can see I've used washed pebbles to make up some of the volume and create a nice drainage effect, the pebbles are about four inches deep.Then, I decided to make four "Wicks" ,I scraped out the pebbles and placed four square plastic plant pots filled with long fibered sphagnum flush with the bottom of the barrel,these would draw up the water to the substrate,then I of course replaced the pebbles(before you tell me, I know , I should have put the wicks in before the pebbles in the first place ). Finally I make my mix, irish sphagnum peat and silver sand, more peat than sand I prefer, fill the barrel to the very top, and give it a couple of weeks to settle. I purchased the half barrel in january, by the time I prepared it in March, I had a good four inches of rainwater already in it, a good start. It's all planted up now, I'll take a couple more pics and see what you think of the finished result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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