FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I started to make a mini bog from an old window box and was fully sure of what I was doing until halfway through I put a doubt in my own mind. I took lots of pics so I'll just post them here and maybe someone can tell me if what I've done is wrong

I had to cut it to make it smaller only because of where it will spend the winter. I live in zone 7 so maybe it's okay outside for most of the year but there's a high chance that I'll need to take it in at some stage. Last winter had more than a week at constant temp of -16C. If it gets very cold again it'll goto this window in the bathroom, the coldest place in the flat To be able to water from the bottom I decided to cut a 5cm pipe in a way that would allow water through easily and also provided a measure so I could easily see how much water is at the bottom. These plastic wings are 2cm from the bottom of the box. I stopped here because I remembered seeing someone make something similar but with a different watering system. It had an "L" pipe that ran along the bottom of the box with lots of holes so the bottom could be watered evenly. I plan to put a good layer of perlite on the bottom so water can quickly cover the bottom then get absorbed through the bottom, however now I remember that perlite floats and am afraid this whole thing could be a mistake. What do you think??

Or maybe someone can recommend some other types of stones that are safe to put in with carnivorous plants?

You can use hydroton grow stones. But my bigger concern would be the lighting. If that is where you plan to place your planter box bog it's not nearly enough light...

It will go here probably for maximum 1 month during the worst of winter. The other 11 months it'll be outside.
Would grow stones not leech anything harmful?? I can get "expanded clay" here.

Yes now I noticed that you plan to keep it outside. And yes expanded clay pellets are the same thing. They are totally inert and won't leech anything into the medium. I usually rinse mine first because they are dusty.

hollyhock wrote:Yes now I noticed that you plan to keep it outside. And yes expanded clay pellets are the same thing. They are totally inert and won't leech anything into the medium. I usually rinse mine first because they are dusty.

Oh that's good news, thanks!

You could also use quartz. You might want to add a couple drain holes that can be plugged or have a valve so that you can prevent it from flooding and overflowing in a heavy rain. As long as it doesn't flood really badly, I think perlite would work fine in the bottom.

xr280xr wrote:You might want to add a couple drain holes that can be plugged or have a valve so that you can prevent it from flooding and overflowing in a heavy rain.

Whoops! Forgot about that. Thanks!

Actually yea, if I drill a few holes about 2 inches from the bottom then it's not possible for the perlite to float up further than that! Thanks for the help

Darsh85 wrote:Actually yea, if I drill a few holes about 2 inches from the bottom then it's not possible for the perlite to float up further than that! Thanks for the help

Yeah, I just came back to say you can also add overflow holes above a designated max-fill height. You're welcome!