FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello all. I've been thinking of doing creating a bog garden and am looking for all the information I can get. Been reading a lot on her and googling. Is there a definitive guide to starting one anywhere? Watched YouTube videos and diy stuff . What do you good people recommend? Trying to plan for watering, plant placement, etc... Any info would be appreciated.

How big a bog is it going to be? above ground or below ground or a container? I presume that it will be outside, what are your climatic conditions. They all have their differing requirements for best results. Meadowview do a good video for a bathtub type.
Cheers
Steve

I was thinking of digging a home in my yard about 3x5 feet or so. So below ground .I live in southern California. Not sure of the zone here. I'll look for that video but haven't watched it yet.

Dig it as fdeep as you can say 16" min, place in a pool liner, I put old plastic pots and buckets with holes in upsidedown in the bottom to act as a water reservoir, if you can build in a low point with a drain (i reinforce the liner at the low point, cut a round hole through that and plug it with a cork then have a plastic tube to the surface to get access to the cork and act as a water level to see how deep the water is in the bog) so you can drain the bog in winter, or if it gets too full of water for long periods in other seasons.
Fill with your usual CP mix, water and plant up with plants that will survive your winters, or look to cover it in winter if necessary.
To a large extent digging the hole is the easy bit, ongoing maintenance is necessary to keep it looking good. Divide the plants as necessary, replace the soil if you are growing specimin plants every few years or if 'normal' plants are enough for you, you can save money by reinvigorating the mix every few years as it needs it with sulphur to lower the PH (careful as too low acidity also burns the plants), pine bark to release tannins and acidity and open the soil texture to allow oxygen in. Most bogs degrade/settle over the years so do need re acidifying, turning over and the soil texture opening with some material to let the air into the roots. As the bog looses acidity the peat degrades and releases nutrients to the soil which you can see by the substrate getting more powdery as it degrades, and of course nutrients are not good.
Most plants are lost due to lack of oxygen to the roots, or rot due to being too wet in winter.
That works for me very well but there are of course many variations. , the minimum depth you can get away with is about 9" but you will be watering quite a lot.

Hope that helps
Steve

steve booth wrote:Dig it as fdeep as you can say 16" min, place in a pool liner, I put old plastic pots and buckets with holes in upsidedown in the bottom to act as a water reservoir, if you can build in a low point with a drain (i reinforce the liner at the low point, cut a round hole through that and plug it with a cork then have a plastic tube to the surface to get access to the cork and act as a water level to see how deep the water is in the bog) so you can drain the bog in winter, or if it gets too full of water for long periods in other seasons.
Fill with your usual CP mix, water and plant up with plants that will survive your winters, or look to cover it in winter if necessary.
To a large extent digging the hole is the easy bit, ongoing maintenance is necessary to keep it looking good. Divide the plants as necessary, replace the soil if you are growing specimin plants every few years or if 'normal' plants are enough for you, you can save money by reinvigorating the mix every few years as it needs it with sulphur to lower the PH (careful as too low acidity also burns the plants), pine bark to release tannins and acidity and open the soil texture to allow oxygen in. Most bogs degrade/settle over the years so do need re acidifying, turning over and the soil texture opening with some material to let the air into the roots. As the bog looses acidity the peat degrades and releases nutrients to the soil which you can see by the substrate getting more powdery as it degrades, and of course nutrients are not good.
Most plants are lost due to lack of oxygen to the roots, or rot due to being too wet in winter.
That works for me very well but there are of course many variations. , the minimum depth you can get away with is about 9" but you will be watering quite a lot.

Hope that helps
Steve

Thanks a lot. I absolutely DID help to get your insight. I'm taking notes from anyone willing to give tips. Great idea about the reservoir. Gonna have to look into that.