FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

P.S. I'm not knocking your half barrel bog, dude. It looks really nice.

xr280xr wrote:P.S. I'm not knocking your half barrel bog, dude. It looks really nice.

Haha, no, I didn't take it that way.

If you get them on-sale that's awesome. I would prefer the actual thing myself, I like the reservoir better.

I used containers I had though I see them on sale at lowes for around $8 all the time. This is my third year using the same storage tote but I don't doubt that the UV damage it would get in Texas is WAY more than what I get in north Florida. I used styrofoam for my base, 6 pieces on the bottom in a criss cross pattern like an extended pound sign. Then on top of that a piece of styrofoam cut to fit and laid down on top of the supports. I cut a circle in the corner and use a pot tall enough to reach the bottom and be flush with the styrofoam base, this is my wick area. I use a reamer to put a ton of holes in the styrofoam for oxygen exchange. PVC to fill and weed block to keep the roots from growing into the water. It holds up perfectly though I change out the styrofoam every year so I don't know how it would last longer than that.

What do you grow? I do tomatoes in the large tote and peppers in the buckets.

Is this the terra cotta one? Ive been looking into something like this and Im glad you posted this. The one im looking at is the earth box junior, they make it in green and white. I figured the white one would be good since I live in texas and it gets super hot during the summer. But as far as the first layer, Id prolly use a layer of lfs. But how much medium did you have to use all together?

Wow, Parker, good ideas.

What do you grow?

Over the last year, in no particular order, I've grown tomatoes (roma & beefsteak), potatoes, grapes, pineapple, bell peppers, yellow peruvian peppers, ghost peppers, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, cucumbers, eggplant, artichoke (no bloom yet), figs, strawberries, peas, green beans, carrots, onions, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, blueberries, moon & stars watermelon, basil, and have 2 avocado, 2 mango, and a dwarf banana tree going now, that may or may not ever give fruit. We did the green beans & tomatoes in the buckets last spring. Tried a pumpkin in one of the storage bins last fall, but it didn't make it.

Is this the terra cotta one?

Yep. I didn't actually measure how much I put in, but it's supposed to hold 2 cubic feet (60 dry quarts) of soil, which seems about right. The junior's a lot smaller (half the size). I just got one of the white juniors for my mom for Christmas. It's nice. I don't know if it's deep enough for VFTs or not. Maybe. The thing about the big one is you have to pack it full of plants to be economical in a dry climate like ours. Otherwise it's so much soil and will evaporate so much water per day, it's kind of a waste. I may try to cover some of the bare areas with plastic or something until I get it full.

Ive been wanting to plant a whole bunch of my vfts together and add some pitchers and sundews. I think this is a really cool idea and yeah youre right about packing it full of plants. Maybe the small one might work for a few, but I think I have enough vfts for a larger one. All I need are some pitchers and sundews and the right mixture to plant them all in. I dont think ill do it all at once but Ill probably get the earth box first and wait till next spring to plant them all together

That's what I'm still going for too. So far, my sundews have liked really wet soil though so not sure how they'll take to the move, whenever I get to it. The S. pupurea (in the back corner of the pic) has really taken off. All the sudden it just decided to put up 3 new pitchers and is now working on #s 4 & 5.

xr280xr wrote:That's what I'm still going for too. So far, my sundews have liked really wet soil though so not sure how they'll take to the move, whenever I get to it. The S. pupurea (in the back corner of the pic) has really taken off. All the sudden it just decided to put up 3 new pitchers and is now working on #s 4 & 5.

Thats awesome! Ill be checking for updates and good luck with your plants! Im sure they are gonna look really good and healthy once they get acclimated to the new conditions.

Where did you get yellow Peruvian peppers?

My wife is Peruvian and we often use the jarred blended peppers.

parker679 wrote:My wife is Peruvian and we often use the jarred blended peppers.

Weird, mine too! (Did you notice my Nazca lines pots behind my orchid?) So you would've understood if I put Aji Amarillo. We got those and the ghost pepper seeds from http://www.tradewindsfruit.com. They took a long time to grow peppers (probably our fault) but finally gave a lot of really large ones. The plants also grew about 4' tall so be ready for that if you get some.

xr280xr wrote:

parker679 wrote:My wife is Peruvian and we often use the jarred blended peppers.

Weird, mine too! (Did you notice my Nazca lines pots behind my orchid?) So you would've understood if I put Aji Amarillo. We got those and the ghost pepper seeds from http://www.tradewindsfruit.com. They took a long time to grow peppers (probably our fault) but finally gave a lot of really large ones. The plants also grew about 4' tall so be ready for that if you get some.

LoL, what a coincidence. I was going put aji amarillo in my reply but didn't know if you'd know what I meant.

We're both from Miami originally and our families still lives down there. So every time my mother in law comes to visit she brings all the various Peruvian products we're running low on. I've never tried the fresh peppers though, we've always used the jars of aji.

Thanks for the link, I just ordered some amarillo, panca, and rojo seeds.