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Due to an ever expanding collection and not enough space on the deck that gets full sun all day, I went ahead and built a recirculating water table for the outdoor plants. The main source of inspiration came from a well put together build thread (http://sarracenia.proboards.com/thread/ ... able-build) and some other sources. To keep this short the table is 6' x 4', it is lined with pond liner that was cut down to fit, the center drain is 1", and the reservoir is a 40 gallon LDPE stock tank. The drain has a thread PVC adapter (or whatever it is called) to keep the water level at a constant 2", and if it is removed the water level drops to roughly 1/2". I intentionally built this table larger than necessary to fit plants that are acclimating to full sun and lots of Sarracenia seedlings that will go in there next year.

I plan on adding a section with a second, small, pond pump submerged in the top part to grow Darlingtonia californica with water flowing through the media. Thankfully I did not have to add much water to the table (only 10 gallons), the large amount of rain we got the past few days filled it with 4-5" of water in the top portion. Everything was set up for an easy tear-down in the winter. There is probably more that I will do to this, but it is pretty much done.

Carnivorous Plant Water Table by Adam B., on Flickr

Water Table Return Pipe by Adam B., on Flickr

Water Table Holding Tank by Adam B., on Flickr

Excuse the sad looking plants, there was some large hail the other day that did a good amount of damage to a lot of my plants.
Water Table by Adam B., on Flickr

You built that? Wow! It looks really nice! That looks like a very nice place for you collection. Sorry about what the hail dis to your plants.


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yellowjacket7 wrote:You built that? Wow! It looks really nice! That looks like a very nice place for you collection. Sorry about what the hail dis to your plants.


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Thank you! Yep, it was actually pretty easy to do too. It should be a great spot. Once I get the trees thinned out again it will get full sun all day. Thanks, it is disappointing, but the plants will bounce back .

Nice! I'd build something like that if I didn't have to move my plants around... Maybe once the oak in the yard comes down I'll be able to.

And nice bog in the background, I saw the thread on the Sarracenia Forum, but haven't been frequenting that forum as much. Everything looks good!

katya_dog1 wrote:Nice! I'd build something like that if I didn't have to move my plants around... Maybe once the oak in the yard comes down I'll be able to.

And nice bog in the background, I saw the thread on the Sarracenia Forum, but haven't been frequenting that forum as much. Everything looks good!

Thanks! That cart you built looks like it will do well to get the most out of those nice plants you have.

The bog does look good from afar . Almost all of the pitchers in there are shredded, and just when the S. oreophila pitchers opened up .

That looks great! Awesome job

Thank you, treez!

The best thing I can see is your watering method.

So far this has been working out very well. The rainfall has been keeping the whole system full without a problem. Today was one of the hotter days encountered so far, so I started off the day measuring the temperature. Initially the water temperature was 71.4F, and by 3pm it was up to 85.2F. This was under full sun for that whole time and a high of 96F. I would have continued measuring temps until nightfall, but it rained thus adding cooler water. I also added a 10" net pot for a constant flow section for one Darlingtonia californica. It will be a while before I can comment on how well it works, or doesn't work, in my growing conditions since they seem to take a long to to acclimate to my region.

The overall water depth in the table was also lowered to 1" from 2". I did not see a need for the water depth to be that high, and decided to remove the excess weight. The plants and moss did not seem to mind one way or another.

Recirculating pot, only topped with moss.
Darlingtonia californica by Adam B., on Flickr

Water Table Overview by Adam B., on Flickr

That's exactly how mine is setup .
Nice job

god i wish i was smart enough to build one

Im wondering how you managed to get enough water before the rainfall!

That's a fantastic table. I feel like I should look into building something similar as it'll sure be a lot less maintenance than watering multiple water trays and communal pots every day during the summer.

Cory wrote:That's exactly how mine is setup .
Nice job

Thanks, Cory! Nice, how long have you been using yours?

ps3isawesome wrote:god i wish i was smart enough to build one

It really isn't hard to build .

Jellybean1 wrote:Im wondering how you managed to get enough water before the rainfall!

We have had an unusually wet year, so initially it was filled with one rainstorm and 15 gallons, or so, of R.O. water. It was nice that I didn't have to keep hauling 5 gallon jugs from my R.O. system.

nimbulan wrote:That's a fantastic table. I feel like I should look into building something similar as it'll sure be a lot less maintenance than watering multiple water trays and communal pots every day during the summer.

Thank you! For that alone it is worth it. It is nice to keep things somewhat consistent and not have to check on water levels every day. Just makes for more time to enjoy the plants . Though I still think I should switch to a larger stock tank next year for a larger reserve.

On and off for 2-3 years