FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey Everybody,

It's been a while. I've been busy and distracted with other things. I decided back in October that I was most likely going to let the plants ride bareback through the winter. So far is seems like a good decision. This fall has been pretty mild overall...and still is up to this point. The last 3 falls/winters have been quite treacherous for this area, so it was a judgement call that seems to have panned out well.

So far I have not been using the fill/drain setup. Just been pumping water out of the reservoir and from the planter area into the reservoir....helps reduce TDS in the res, mainly, I think, from the mosquito dunk. We'll see how it all plays out when things warm up next year. The tds in the bottom of the self-watering pots stays below 20 ppm these days (coir/sand) and below ~10 ppm for the peat/sand.

Still things that I need/want to do for my own convenience....like install float switches.

I was planning on doing a lot more in prep for winter. Maybe I will do some next year, but for now it's just going to ride it out as pictured earlier. If things turn really bad....then I'll need to scramble around a bit.

Alan81 wrote:It looks great! thanks for share it with us
What is the composition of the substrate you are using for VFT? Do you use peat? or just sand? or a mixture of both?
Cheers!

Some are 50/50 peat/sand, some are 12/5 coir/sand (Eco Earth).

Steve_D wrote:The project looks great, the plants look very healthy and happy, and that Korean Melody Shark Venus Flytrap surely colored up nicely. Great job, naja002!

Thanx, Steve. I agree on the KMS...I was surprised when I first noticed it. They should all get plenty of sun during the growing season....some indirect for an hour+ in the mornings and some dappled starting mid-evening. I am hoping that they pull through the winter well and take off this growing season!

steve booth wrote:I like many others have been following this thread, hanging on every word and waiting with anticipation for the next installment.
Well now its done it looks marvellous and obviously does a great job. I am pleased for you and thank you for the ideas it must have put into many peoples heads.
Cheers
Steve

Not a problem, Steve. I appreciate your interest and just glad that I could share with you and others. The project isn't necessarily "done", but it is done for now. I'm a bit burned out on it, so I just need to maintain it while I get away from it for a while.

jwbates26 wrote:This is a very interesting project. Thank you for the detailed updates with pictures can't wait to see the end results. It would be nice to have all the tools and means to take on projects like this. Keep up the great work.

Many Thanx! I am fortunate enough to have a few tools, a few $$$ and a place to do this kind of stuff. If I was unable to tinker around with things...I think I would go bat-shat crazy! But taking pix and sharing online is half the fun!

Daniel_G wrote:Looking good!

Thanx!

Eric wrote:Hm... May I suggest that rather than use mosquito dunks you plant aquatic carnivores in the water? Seems pretty cool to me.

That's an idea that I had not considered. Not sure if I will pursue it, but it is on the block. The main goal is to prevent the mosquito larvae from maturing, so what would I use for that....???

Alan wrote:Your bog is absolutely incredible and your plants are equally impressive and beautiful! Good luck with the rest of project, I'm sure it'll turn out great!

Many Thanx! As stated earlier...it's done for now, but not necessarily done!

swat007j wrote:So how many b-52 you have? nice i love VFT none of mine have that Red color in the mouth yet i cant wait i see some pink tho

I think I have ~13, maybe a few more the way Matt and Steve toss in extras!

that-smith-kid wrote:Cool daddy long leg kill!

That's just one. Seems like the daddy long legs is going to be a staple part of their diet. No idea where they all came from, but there is plenty of them!

Here here!

This is a neat project! Hope it ends up great!
Thanks for sharing this, ill be keeping an eye on this post

bombsboy wrote:This is a neat project! Hope it ends up great!
Thanks for sharing this, ill be keeping an eye on this post

Things are looking good, so far. It's been a very mild winter here...which, Thankfully, has worked out perfect. The biggest issue for me is the rain/wetness. I am using self-watering pots, so I have to keep any rain accumulation below the intake of those. We'll see how it all turns out, but up to this point...things are OK.


I've also sorted out an auto-siphon, so I can quit playing the pump it out, pump it in game. I haven't set it up, but once I get it installed....all I will need to do is pump water from the planter area into the reservoir...then the reservoir will auto-siphon out and maintain it's own level.

Just checked the ppm in the reservoir and some pots:

Reservoir: 16 ppm
50/50 sand/peat: 2-3 ppm (good sand)
70/30 coir/sand: 11-12 ppm (quickrete)

Seems as though the rain has been flushing the pots out well. Not sure I'm going to repot anything...I'll just have to wait and see.

Much/most of the foliage is blackened from the mild freezes, but there is still plenty of life at the rhizomes. So far so good!

I've not incorporated the auto-drain yet. Need to see what supplies I have and if I need to pick anything up.

Going to get geared up for this coming season. Getting ready to order some coir here in a few minutes and get it going in the soak station.

Sounds pretty good
I'm sure it will look great in the new growing season!

Thanks for the update, Naja002. Please post more updates as the season progresses (the days are already getting longer; the new season will start in just weeks).

Daniel_G wrote:Sounds pretty good
I'm sure it will look great in the new growing season!

Well, the plants will hopefully look good, but, I do admit that the planter bog itself is a monstrosity!

Steve_D wrote:Thanks for the update, Naja002. Please post more updates as the season progresses (the days are already getting longer; the new season will start in just weeks).

Looking forward to this coming season, Steve, and I certainly appreciate your encouragement! I've got the 2 different coir in hand (Procoir and Eco Earth), so I will start working on those as soon as this last batch is out of the soak station. Been drying out used coffee grounds...which I think is going to be somewhat of a focus:

50/50 well washed peat/good sand
50/25/25 well washed peat/good sand/perlite
70/30 Procoir/good sand
70/30 Eco Earth/good sand

Plus all of the above with 10% used coffee grounds replacing peat/Procoir/Eco Earth.

That's 8 pots, so I am going to need 50-80 plants. Can you guys hook me up???

Any other ideas on medias?


A quick update:

I managed to get the auto-drain setup. The reservoir level is ~3" lower than I want it...I've been using the 14 ppm water for the soak station...so I am not able to complete it 100%. I am going to have to wait for 1 or more rains in order to get the water level up to were I want it. Not a problem, just a delay. Actually seems like the height of the over-flow tube (1 1/4") is about where I want it, so it may not need any further modification...I'll just have to wait and see. Here's some pix:

Basically, I just made a 3/4" pvc siphon tube:




Mounted a 1 1/4" over-flow tube...which maintains the siphon and establishes the drian level...or the level in the reservoir:




Seems to work as well as expected...except, when I went to put the top back on the reservoir...it wouldn't sit flush. Soooo, I had to modify the siphon tube a bit. Luckily, I had the pieces on hand to do it with:






Just a shot with the top on:




Once I get this set the way that I want...I'm going to yank it apart and spray it with the tan paint that I used on the electrical conduit...just as some camouflage.

Well, it's been rainy and raining, so I've managed to collect barely enough water to get this setup correctly.

I made a slight modification, so that this will be a bit more useful. Considering all of the media preperation that I have, am and still need to do...why waste that perfectly good reservoir water?

So, I added a 1 1/4" x 3/4" tee to the over-flow:




For those of you who understand how this auto-siphon works...I made a quick temporary plug for when I need to fill the over-flow in order to re-create the siphon:




Plug up the outflow-port, fill up the overflow tube, re-establish the siphon, remove temporary plug:






I then added an unglued/removable 3/4" pipe to direct the over-flow into a bucket or other container:




Like I said--I've gotten --just enough--rain, so far, to get this setup...barely enough:




But, this drain point leaves me with a good water level and an inch or so to spare:




Here's a short video of it running out. Once I get more rain...I'll see about posting a video with better flow...it will over-flow faster...just a bit short on water atm:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SreRs6BvRU[/youtube]

Very interesting, Naja002. Thanks for continuing to post updates and photos of the project. I guess this year will be its first full growing season.

Super cool project! Very impressive.

Steve_D wrote:Very interesting, Naja002. Thanks for continuing to post updates and photos of the project. I guess this year will be its first full growing season.

Yep. Started this monstrosity last August. In ways I regret not going a simpler route, but in ways I don't regret doing this at all. It's here now though....so we're gunna stick with it for a while!

CPgrower wrote:Super cool project! Very impressive.

Thanx! Glad you like it. Getting ready for some media experiments, growing season is coming up. So far I have 12 pots to fill this year.....ummmm, so far! I still have to hit a 3rd walmart to see what they have in stock.


Just a minor update:


The previous auto-drain/siphon setup worked well...it just would not keep up with the pump that pumps from the planter area into the reservoir. So, I decided to upgrade the components to a larger size: The siphon tube is now 1" and the overflow tube is now 1 1/2". Unfortunately, it really does not seem to work any better at this point. However, I need to reset the siphon (may be a little air trapped inside), and possibly lower the overflow another 1" or so.
Here's a pic of the new setup--looks just like the other one with a bit bigger pipe:




Here a ~1 min video of it in action...covers a 15 minute time frame. Basically, I turn on the pump to pump water from the planter area into the reservoir. As the water in the reservoir rises above the "set point" established by the auto-drain overflow....water starts draining out of the system. As the water rises above the set point, the flow increases. Once the pump shuts off, flow decreases as the set point is reached. This 1 min video only shows the increase in outflow:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddx_VXMkGkI[/youtube]



If all of my rain water containers are full, then I can just let the excess water fall to the ground. However, with all of the media prep that I am doing....I can and do store ~75 gal. extra separate from the reservoir.

Very techy! I'm no good with auto-siphons and pumps and what not. I just use me cake-hole to start a siphon

Very good work! Keep it up!

Daniel_G wrote:Very techy! I'm no good with auto-siphons and pumps and what not. I just use me cake-hole to start a siphon

Very good work! Keep it up!

Well, having to use the cake-hole defeats the entire "Auto" part...which defeats the pursuit of laziness, forgetfulness, carelessness....you know-->all of my finer qualities! I have an idea for an auto-circulation setup, but right now I don't think I am going to get it worked out. Maybe. We'll see...


Well, looks like I hit the motherload at the 3rd walmart yesterday. Not only did they have the 13 pots that I needed in order to completely fill the planter bog...they had them in the lighter cream color that I have been wanting.



The 13 from yesterday (shown), plus the 8 from the other 2 stores = 21 + the 14 that I already have = 35 = what the planter bog will hold....without expansion.

However, ^^^^that said, I still have to fill up these 21 pots. I am currently putting together an 8 pot media experiment. I've been working on the various media components for a while now (documented here: Coir Soak Station). As can be partially seen in the pic above...I am currently drying out some sand and extra Procoir:



So, that will still leave 17 pots to fill before the planter bog is full. The plants should be here about Thursday, so I still have to get enough of this sand dried out and ready to go. Thankfully, I have some sunny days ahead starting this morning. The sand above is ~75% of what I cleaned up in the Super Soak Station...and only ~38% of what I bought. I have that much Procoir ready to go...and that much or more that still needs to be finished. <--So, I'll have plenty of extra ready to go.



One of the benefits of getting all of the pots in hand is that I will not have to butcher this piece of plywood any further...I can just remove it entirely:




The pots are purchased, the sand is purchased, the soak stations are built, probably all of the media is purchased, except for another bale of peat...which is ~$10. So, after that, I should be able to focus $$$ on the plants themselves.

Ok, well, I've been putzing around the last few days getting somethings in order for a media experiment that I am going to start a separate thread on. I've been preparing a lot of media as has been mentioned. I've been doing quite a bit of planting lately. Arraigned some of the pots. Here's what it looks like now:




Aside from the media experiment plants, which I'll cover in the other thread, I also managed to plant some:

A2, Dentate, Royal Reds and Crested Petioles:




Etna and Low Giants:




And these are the leftovers from the media experiment--Vigorous, Maroon Monsters, Red Piranhas: