Making a mini bog

[AndrewLuton]

Hi All,

Am toying with the idea of making a mini bog in a large plastic tub having got the idea off a web site. My plan is to put 3 of my hardy(ish) pitcher plants into the bog rather than having them grow in seperate pots as they are now. Have any other members had success with similar ideas? Have also read that the container must be water tight which kind of goes against the normal way of standing them in water. Any ideas would be gratefully received. :o

[cgarry]

Hi Andrew,

There are some details of one of my mini-bogs in this thread:

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9097

Could be of help for you.

Cheers,

[Bob H]

I have had a Sarra. flava and Drosera rotundifolia, binata dichotoma and a VFT in an 18inch square tub for a year or so. They are all growing but much slower than in the greenhouse.

I did have a purp in there as well but it got too large and now has its own large pot.

[AndrewLuton]

Cheers guys. I did like your display Chris.

Think I will risk growing one as it will be good to keep them all together. Hopefully get one that will fit inside a cold frame during really cold spells.

UPDATE, Just seen your barrel in Homebase so I may borrow your great idea. Out of intrest do sundews do well outside, what with the rain, given the texture of the leaves and does it need water everyday?

[cgarry]

At this time of year the Capensis plant doesn't grow as well outside as inside, but once the warm summer months arrive it grows just as well. It doesn't seem to mind the rain much, if anything the rain washes away digested insects leaving it looking better.

I gave mine a good watering each weekend last year (I was away Monday to Friday), and the plants grew fine.

At the start of this year I dug out the soil and placed a small plastic bowl with lots of small holes drilled in it upside-down at the bottom of the soil. The idea of this is to create a reservoir of water at the bottom of the barrel, as I wasn’t sure that just top watering was getting water right to the bottom. A pipe going from this bowl to the surface for watering might also have been a good idea, but I didn’t think of that until afterwards. I'll add that next spring I expect.

I'll second Bob's warning about planting a purp in the mini-bog, they soon crowd out the plants around them, though if you do give them enough space they look excellent.

And one more tip, keep an eye out for aphids, the plants in my barrel were attacked several times last year - a downside to being outside all the time I guess.