FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi guys. I'm often away in the summer and plants all my vfts in 6 inch pots on a windowsill with big aqua-globes to keep the water supply going. This method have worked extremely well. However, I was rather hoping I'd be able to plant my vfts in 1 big minibog next spring because my collection is much bigger this year and I have no more suitable windowsills left. If you guys have any good suggestions or links to other websites about how to build a minibog please post it here . Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi ST

It is an easy thing to achieve with plastic, pots, troughs, or even buckets. i post a link here, but if you resarch on the web you will get a lot of information, stick to what the majority have to say in common, and you shouldnt go far wrong. I would tend to ignore the reference to terracotta pots in the link and stick to plastic.
If you want any specific queries answered once you know your container, location etc, give us a post, and there will be answers a plenty I'm sure.
http://www.carnivorousplantpatch.com/gr ... ation.html

Cheers
Steve

Thanks Steve . I'm thinking of making a undrained minibog because I want it to hold a lot of water over the summer and I don't think any water trays will do.

Shall I fill the pot with peat only because A: I want the bog to hold more water and B: I want to plant some sphagnum as topdressing? I found that unless you flood the pot 1cm above the soil line permanently when it is placed on peat + perlite, sphagnum grows a lot less faster than on pure peat. It's also a lot more easier to get 25 litres of peat than 25 litres of CP mix.

I have no experience with mini bogs but I would think not letting a closed system drain is an open invitation to anaerobic bacteria and therefore dead plants. I could be wrong but circulation of water to some degree is vital, letting it go completely stagnant at the bottom of a pot sounds like a bad idea. Not to mention the build-up of salts and other minerals that wouldn't be able to leech away.

I would kind of understand the impetus behind this 'undrained' idea if you lived in the middle of the desert but you live in the UK. You get PLENTY of rain so there's very little risk of the bog drying out if left unattended.

If I'm wrong someone correct me.

bigbowlowrong wrote:but you live in the UK. You get PLENTY of rain so there's very little risk of the bog drying out if left unattended.

It's hard to say. The summers are long and dry this year with little rain so I had to keep my plants indoors to prevent drying out.

bigbowlowrong wrote: letting a closed system drain is an open invitation to anaerobic bacteria and therefore dead plants.

I'm no expert in the field of microorganisms and I didn't find anything on the net but could you tell me what the symptoms of infected plants would be? Thanks for the advice though, I'll keep an eye on stagnant water in my water tray.

I'm no expert in microbiology either, but you don't have to be to know not having a hole at the bottom of the container your plants are in is an extremely bad idea. To demonstrate this, stick your healthiest, strongest, most vigorous plant in a glass bowl and water as you normally would. Within a week or two, max, the plant will be dead.

Why? For carnivorous plants, several reasons. One, they are averse to dissolved minerals in water. Every media, even peat moss contains these minerals to some extent, as does even distilled water in minute quantities. If the water cannot leak through the bottom of the container, it will slowly evaporate from the top, leaving the minerals in the peat and accumulating over time. Pretty soon these minerals will reach the roots and rhizomes of your plant, killing them immediately. This is why a lot of people using the tray method occasionally 'top water', to flush those minerals out.

Two, bacteria. Plant roots of any kind are great food for the type of anaerobic bacteria found in stagnant water. Colonies of bacteria will form at the bottom of a closed container, and will either slowly spread upward through capillary action or through a heavier than normal watering. Once the stagnant water reaches the roots, bang, dead plants.

Finally, oxygen. All carnivorous plants require some oxygen dispersed through the media, this is why we put sand, perlite and LFS into our mixes. If water cannot leak out of your container, the water level will inevitably rise to your plants' roots. This will suffocate them and they'll quickly die from root rot. Stagnant water is very, very low in oxygen.

I could go on but you get the point. Just get a very large pot with holes on the bottom and put some LFS with your peat moss so it retains more water. Again, you live in the UK, which has a temperate oceanic climate, you'll get more than enough rain to tide your plants over whilst you're away.

Edit: and it's probably not a good idea to use peat moss only when creating your mini bog. Without some sand or perlite in it, the peat will gradually compress at the bottom of the pot (yes, even if it has drainage holes), again impeding water drainage and fomenting bacteria. You have to splash out on some coarse propogating sand or perlite I'm afraid. Luckily they're both cheap.

I keep about half of my sarrs and flytraps in un drained pots, and they are some of my helthiest plants. Also, you live in the UK, one of the prime places for cp's to grow. So many amazing plants have been delvelpoed and grown in the UK. Grow your plants outside, it will definitly benifit them.

You do not need to have holes in the bottom, you can keep a drainage hole about 3-6 inches below the top of the pot. Minerals will not kill your plants imediantly, i watered all of my plants with my tap water (495 ppm) for about a month when i ran out of water. I have found that m,y plants in LFS dry out way more quickly then plants in peat. Here is what i do, and recomond.

1) Get a big plastic pot, like a urn, or large gardening bowl.
2) line the inside with some sort of plastic, like a stretched out bag.
3) about 3-6 inches from the top of the pot, drill a couple holes in the pot spaced evenly, these will be your drain holes.
4) FIll the whole thing up with a Peat/perilite or peat/sand mix.
5) Plant your plants, and decerate how you want.

Have fun, these are good ways to grow the plant.

Thanks for the advice everyone . Bigbowlowrong, will the tray method harbor bacteria and water deprived of oxygen if I top it up before it's completely dry? The good news is that I found some algae growing in the water trays, these are an indicator that the water is still good, right? Would the plant benefit from various small water plants (I'm thinking of duckweed) providing oxygen during the day and as an indicator towards bacteria?

bigbowlowrong wrote:Two, bacteria. Plant roots of any kind are great food for the type of anaerobic bacteria found in stagnant water. Colonies of bacteria will form at the bottom of a closed container, and will either slowly spread upward through capillary action or through a heavier than normal watering. Once the stagnant water reaches the roots, bang, dead plants.

There is a compost bin at the bottom of my garden which have collected a lot of water from the rainier seasons. The water should have become too stagnant for plants to grow in yet I still find various weeds and grasses growing. Weird...

Goodkoalie wrote: Also, you live in the UK, one of the prime places for cp's to grow.

More superstitions towards the British weather . Some native ones I suppose. The summers here are too hot and dry while the winters are too cold and wet. Doesn't sound like a good combination if you ask me.

My summers are hot ( in the 100s, 0 humidity), and i have winters are cold (30-40 degrees winters)

Snap Traps wrote:Thanks for the advice everyone . Bigbowlowrong, will the tray method harbor bacteria and water deprived of oxygen if I top it up before it's completely dry? The good news is that I found some algae growing in the water trays, these are an indicator that the water is still good, right? Would the plant benefit from various small water plants (I'm thinking of duckweed) providing oxygen during the day and as an indicator towards bacteria?

Algae in the water isn't such a big deal, but it can spread to the top of the soil pretty quickly. Mostly it's not a problem but it looks gross and in some circumstances can choke the plant. If you're growing algae in your water, wash the tray thoroughly before you refill it.

Snap Traps wrote:There is a compost bin at the bottom of my garden which have collected a lot of water from the rainier seasons. The water should have become too stagnant for plants to grow in yet I still find various weeds and grasses growing. Weird...

All the compost bins I have ever seen are open ended (it's more of a tube than a "bin"). This allows moisture to leech through the bottom into the garden soil below. Also weeds have very different growing requirements to carnivorous plants.

In the end it's up to you. If you want to try constructing a mini-bog with no way for the water to escape you're going against every mini bog tutorial I've ever seen though.

Where in the UK are you? Your definition of a "dry summer" is probably very different to mine.

Just so I can be clear, what do you mean by an "undrained" mini bog, exactly? I'm assuming you mean a large pot with no holes in it but you keep referring to the tray method which in that case would be utterly useless.

bigbowlowrong wrote:Where in the UK are you? Your definition of a "dry summer" is probably very different to mine.

London, Kent-ish. The summers used to be ok until recently when there have been droughts combined with scorching sunlight.

bigbowlowrong wrote:Just so I can be clear, what do you mean by an "undrained" mini bog, exactly?

A large pot with no holes in it...

According to Wikipedia in the middle of summer Kent gets approximately 50mm of rain per calander month. In August the average temperature os just shy of 22oC. This is not exactly a harsh climate. I understand this is an average but even half that amount if rain is more than what I see down here in an Australian summer month. We can go weeks without *any* rain and heat waves that would probably boil half of the UK alive.

But, the plants still do fine. If you are going away for long period just get a family member, friend or neighbour to come and refill your water tray.

It would seem I'm considerably lucky then. I'll think this through and do a plan for summer.

Not to toot my own horn, but check out my minibog I made. I also have fairly detailed instructions how to create your own!

http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/bisni ... 21587.html