FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I just got my VFTs yesterday from Amazon. I bought them from Joel's Carnivores. I made the mini bog garden out of an old washtub I found laying around the garage, and drilled holes about an inch up from the bottom to allow for a small reservoir. I then started with a layer of LFS, then sphagnum peat moss, then planted each VFT, dressing the top with the remaining LFS I had left over.

What do you think of the setup?

The plants look good. How deep is the container? I'm not sure what I think of the mixed media and reservoir. Usually a reservoir isn't filled with media but hollow. The sphagnum might get pretty mucky down there. I'm also not sure how much the peat will wick water from the sphagnum and again the sphagnum on top from the peat. Personally, I prefer 1 homogeneous media so I can be sure the moisture level is evenly distributed. Not saying it won't work, I just don't know what to expect. It will be an interesting experiment.

Thanks. The container is about 5-6 inches deep, so I believe there is plenty of room for root growth.

Isn't a reservoir supposed to be filled just with water, or just pebbles? I agree with xr, the stagnant lfs can decompose and create icky things. ( like new life forms )

Well, the container is small, so I can just tip it to flush it out. I thought LSF would work because I saw a video on YouTube where a VFT grower did what I did and had prolific growth with his VFTs.

There are a lot of less than ideal growing practices you can make work and this one probaly will. I agree with the others that drainage would be better and less likey to create problems with the media long term.

I read that using pebbles can sometimes cause minerals and such to leech from them and increase the ppm in the water. As an aside, I only used a really thin layer of LFS on the bottom of the planter.

I also noticed a deformed trap when I was checking on how the plants were doing. You can see it in the first picture I posted, but here's a close up shot of it. I'm guessing it'll die off and be replaced without catching anything.

I think it will work as long as you maintain the correct moisture level. My reservations were only about how easy or difficult it would be to do that.

Artchic528 wrote: I also noticed a deformed trap when I was checking on how the plants were doing. You can see it in the first picture I posted, but here's a close up shot of it. I'm guessing it'll die off and be replaced without catching anything.

It looks like it got bumped by a finger or something else while closing.

I wouldn't get too discouraged about your setup, I think it will be fine. I would suggest letting it get flushed every so often to clean out any unwanted build up in the bottom but this is done with most bog containers.

It will work fine, as long as you can keep an eye on the water levels (insert a plastic viewing tube to monitor it) and don't allow the substrate to become anaerobic. You can allow the soil to become just damp before watering to your drainage level, they do like a varying water level, as would happen in nature, the hotter it is the more water they can tolerate.
The top dressing will also be ok, you may find Sphagnum taking over naturally over the next few months in that size container.
The pure peat layer if it is 4 inch or so deep, may get a bit compacted for the roots and would be better mixed with something like sand, Sphagnum or perlite, but that shouldn't happen this year, so can be done, if you need to, next spring.
Give them some sun and they should do well.
Cheers
Steve