FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with self watering planters? I did a search and most self watering planters I see that were talked about for VFTs are the ones from Walmart that has a small lip at the bottom to put water in. I'm not terribly crazy on the looks of those. I'm specifically looking at one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Lechuza-Balconer ... ds=lechuza

My VFTs are still very small but when I started buying them, my ultimate goal is to get 2 or 3 different cultivars (I have 3 right now) and let them grow out to fill a big pot each. I really like how Matt has his mother plants setups with one cultivar per pot. The problem with that is, we live in an apartment and I have to supplement lighting with T5HOs since our balcony only gets about 3 to 4 hours of direct sunlight. The other problem is the sheer size of each pot. We don't have room for 3 big pots like those that Matt have. Also, the cost of long fiber sphagnum moss to fill each one of those will add up and make re-pottings costly. Especially right now that my plants are still small.

I don't want to mix the 3 cultivars in one big pot but it seems like a trough style planter is more space and cost efficient compared to having 3 separate pots. That particular one that I linked above will also fit perfectly under my T5HO light fixture. It's not as deep as I want it to be but I think it should be deep enough. The total height dimension is 7" which would give me about 5" to 5.5" inside depth after taking into account the water reservoir underneath. It seems like all the deep self watering pot only comes in big sizes. My question is, how do pots such as this perform in keeping the soil moist? This particular brand includes porous substrate to regulate the water transfer between the reservoir and the potting mix. I'm thinking of not using this included substrate and instead filling the bottom part (where it touches the water) with LFSM, followed by a few inches of peat/perlite mix (to save some space on LFSM cost) and filling the rest of the way with LFSM.

I might still get the really big pots later on once we get a house and have more space, but for now, I really like how this self watering planter looks.

Here is another option: https://www.amazon.com/Lechuza-Classico ... ssico&th=1

This way, I can keep the cultivars separate. One thing that is worrying me about the trough style planter is once it's overgrown with the flytraps, it might be a real pain when it comes time to repotting.

That pot is interesting!!!! Has anyone tried it yet??

I've used an EarthBox and it did really well for keeping the media damp. I put down a layer of LFS on the bottom and packed it into the reservoirs for wicking. I filled the rest with a peat/sand/perlite mixture with just peat and sand on the top layer to try to keep the perlite down when it rains. I also extended some LFS from the wicking reservoirs up through the middle of the peat like veins (probably not necessary).

A few caveats are:

• Depth. Like you mention, that's not a lot of depth. Additional depth is usually helpful in getting the best growth out of your flytraps.
• Most flytraps aren't as prolific as it sounds like you might think and won't divide so rapidly they'll just fill up an entire planter, though it can happen. G14 rosetted has covered the most ground for me. To get the most growth out of your flytraps, though, more depth is usually helpful.
• More volume and surface area means more water. It will take more water to keep that much media moist and you'll have a lot more evaporation coming out of that large surface. So economically speaking you need to have a lot of plants in the planter for it to make sense. Maybe you could do like a mulch cover with holes cut out where the VFTs are to conserve water, but I don't know if that might keep it too wet.
• It can be easier to forget to water them since you have to do it less often.

If you're OK with all those, it should work great!

I'm so tempted to just get one of those bigger Classico, put all 3 of my VFTs in one pot and be done with it. They have 2 medium sizes, a 10" diameter and a 13" diameter. The 10" has 7" of growing depth and the 13" has a 9" of growing depth. I know depth is important but there has to be a point of diminishing returns. Is 9" really much better than 7"? With such a limited space and lighting constraints that we have now, I might just go with one pot for now and just worry about separating them later on.

I wouldn't mind having a sparse looking pot in the meantime. I know it will take some time and I'm willing to wait a few years.

I prefer to use LFSM but as I mentioned in the original post, I will put LFSM at the very bottom to wick the water. I will then put a few inches of peat/perlite in the middle and then top off the rest with LFSM. I know that LFSM will absorb water as much as it can until it is fully saturated. This might not give water a chance to pool within the reservoir unless the top is already really wet. I think having a few inches of peat/perlite in the middle might better regulate the wicking and prevent the LFSM on the top from becoming too wet too quickly.

Really, the only thing I'm concerned about going with a pot so large with small plants is the cost of LFSM. I know it is recommended to re-pot every 1 or 2 years. If my plant to media ratio is so low, is this re-potting schedule still true or would it be safe for me to go a little longer?

When you did your's, how often were you filling the water reservoir?

7" is a good depth and gives your plant lots of room to grow. LFS gets kind of old, less airy, and it can get slimy after a couple years. So I don't think the plant to media ratio would really change that. With peat moss, I'm not really sure why repotting so frequently is recommended. I haven't noticed a change in it over years and years. Maybe just for the sake of renewing micronutrients that VFTs may take up from their roots.

I was adding about 3/4 - 1 gallon to mine every couple days in the summers. Most of the time I didn't fill it all the way or let it dry all the way.

Thank you for the input. After much thought and as much as I want a big pot now, I have decided to go with the HydroFarm 6"x6" square plastic pots that are 8" high. With the lack of space and light, I will just concentrate on growing them out in space efficient pots for now and maybe later reconsider the bigger "display" pots.

francisfaustino wrote:Thank you for the input. After much thought and as much as I want a big pot now, I have decided to go with the HydroFarm 6"x6" square plastic pots that are 8" high. With the lack of space and light, I will just concentrate on growing them out in space efficient pots for now and maybe later reconsider the bigger "display" pots.

Those will work well! I use the 5x5x7s (which may have been discontinued.) The 6x6s will require more media to fill, obviously, but will fit more plants more easily.

I think Maria (carnivore girl) has used self watering planters.

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I received the new pots on Friday. I kinda like the utilitarian appearance to go along with the wire shelf. The top is wide enough to accommodate a few years' worth of growth and enough depth to support roots for that upcoming growth. I don't know yet how much I need to water, but from my estimation, without using the water trays, the moss can hold about 5 days worth of water without saturating the top part where the rhizome is.