FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey guys. New here. Anyways I live in New Orleans and was thinking of making a bog garden. Going to use a large pot at least 24 inches deep, and planning on putting Venus flytraps, maybe some sarrencia, and drosera capensis in there. Now I know the sundews like it almost soggy, whereas the flytraps don’t.

My question is, do you think a higher line of lava rock at the bottom on the side I plant the vft’s Will allow better drainage and help them live happier? Thoughts on using different ratios of perlite, peat, and long fibered Sphagnum moss on different sides of the pot.

With all the soil being in the same pot, unless you physically separate the two sets of media or plant the Sarracenia in plugs of Sphagnum the media will be substantially the same moisture content throughout if you mix it together. Having said that I wouldn't worry too much, I grow all those plants together in bogs outside in the uk, in the same media, with no real problems, capensis grows quite literally everywhere wet or drier.
24" is well deep enough for Sarracenia with their long roots, and if you have a say a 6" water level in the bottom, everything will grow OK. Have three or four drain points up the pot to about 2/3 rds height, with one at the very bottom of the pot, to allow for occasional inundation and draining and you can then play with the water levels to suit. You can remove the bottom one in winter to keep the soil damp rather than wet.
As far as the media composition goes use whatever is your usual mix, you could plant the Sarracenia in Sphagnum plugs to keep them wetter if you want but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Cheers
Steve

I agree with the above. Just use one soil mix and they should all be fine. I have a big container bog that's about 2 feet deep and although there are no capensis in it there are other sundews. I keep the whole bog flooded. The water level is only about 3-4 inches below the top of the soil. VFTs sundews and sarrs grow just fine in waterlogged conditions for me. Although many growers say you shouldn't keep them this wet it works for my location which is pretty similar to your area. And the capensis may die back during the winter since they are tropical plants but most of the time they will regrow from the roots in spring.