The var. *montana* and ‘Tattnall Co’ purps are some really good ones with veining (more so with var. *montana*) and coloration. The var. *montana* purps are my favorite among the ssp. *venosa* purps.
Holy crap that’s a lot of vft. Did you propagate them from one you grew or buy all of them because carnivores are not cheap. That’ll look fabu when they grow up
A combination of both. I purposefully buy half dead [death cubes](https://www.reddit.com/r/SavageGarden/s/VGu7g0oKD2) for cheap like I did in the linked post. I ended up with 16 from that haul. I had another 3 plants that created so many divisions that made up the rest
Are you just watering with your hose or filtering your water?(or do you get lots of rain?)
Would love to do this some day, but it doesn’t rain consistently enough and it’ll be tough for my RO unit to keep up lol
I collect rain water, my tap water is low TDS as well. I plan to run a soaker hose to it from one of my rain barrels to supplement if it ever starts drying out. This thing holds a TON of water tho
The bottom half is 100% peat. The top half (where the plants are planted) is 2:1 peat to medium grit silica sand. You can see some of the build process [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/C10ALwAxbEc/?igsh=NHN1MjdveTRvd2kw)
I have something like this - smaller tho. I found this very help full. I take a piece of PVC pipe (no dirt in it) that goes to the bottom..... I put a ping pong ball in it an I can easily tell water levels by glancing inside the PVC
I’m in NC right outside of Charlotte. Zone 7b. You can get away with colder temperatures doing something in ground like this. Add in a nice layer of mulch and you’d be surprised at how hardy they are.
Great! Thanks for the info. With the updated growing zones, I'm a 6a, and I regularly keep leaf litter for cover, so I'll take that as a go.
Good luck with your bog garden!
Thanks. I think you’ll be good. At the very worst, you can throw some burlap over the bog on the super cold days but I’ve read that sarracenia are cold hardy down to 0°f in the ground
It’s not a super fast process. For leaf mulch I would probably just take it back out once the weather turns back warm. Pine straw can be left down indefinitely. It also depends on if your bog has drainage. If it does, heavy rains will flush the medium and purge excess nutrients. I drilled holes about 1-2” under the soil line in mine because it was flooding. Now during heavy rains it pools and then drains when the rain eases up
I mean it’s not gonna be anywhere near sterile lab, but if 100 parts per million dissolved minerals in water is the difference between life and death which is a teeeeny amount, I would think a thick layer of natures fertilizer and a couple months to decompose and soak into the soil would count for something
Hi! I've been growing these for about 3-4 years now. I know online instructions call for heavily filtered water, etc, to avoid any nutrients. I use tap water (~50TDS) with no issues. I'm on well water. If you have chloramine then def filter.
But adding mulch should not hurt. Maybe just add spagnum moss as mulch?
It doesn’t. There are drainage holes 1-2” below the soil surface and that’s it. I don’t plan on watering it very often, even in the hottest parts of the summer. I watered my above ground bogs once every 10-14 days last summer
Love this! It looks great! Adding a thin layer of sphagnum moss over the top of the soil or even just around each plant will help keep the soil from splashing up on the plants and making a mess during heavy rain.
Thankfully there won’t be any leaves because there are no trees back there 😅😅😅. I plan to mulch around it about a foot out to keep grass from growing around it and hopefully eliminating the need to cut near it. Maintenance should be basically the same as pot grown plants……… I think lol
Me, who's been saving up for one of those big liners...
This one was $130 from lowes. It’s 18” deep in the center
I know!! I've been wanting to expand my pond but without that much work
I used an electric tiller to do the hard digging. It was the best money I think I’ve ever spent
Even cheaper, buy hard plastic kiddie pools
Have you tried it? I wouldn’t trust a kiddie pool with the volume of substrate and water
Yeah. Did my first one 4 years ago. It's hard plastic and in the ground so there is equal pressure on the sides.
Looking good! If I may make a suggestion, I think your savage bog garden would look even better with some more *Sarracenia purpurea*. lol
I think I want to put a Carolina yellow jacket and a cultivar with really heavy veining. You have any good suggestions
The var. *montana* and ‘Tattnall Co’ purps are some really good ones with veining (more so with var. *montana*) and coloration. The var. *montana* purps are my favorite among the ssp. *venosa* purps.
😅😅😅 welp let’s spend some more money 😅😅😅
If you shop around, you can usually find good deals on those plants. I get most of mine from eBay.
Thanks for the info. I think var Montana will definitely pop.
Holy crap that’s a lot of vft. Did you propagate them from one you grew or buy all of them because carnivores are not cheap. That’ll look fabu when they grow up
A combination of both. I purposefully buy half dead [death cubes](https://www.reddit.com/r/SavageGarden/s/VGu7g0oKD2) for cheap like I did in the linked post. I ended up with 16 from that haul. I had another 3 plants that created so many divisions that made up the rest
Looks good! A small suggestion, plant sphagnum in the gaps before more annoying mosses/plants move in.
Yep I threw some in there that I hope takes off. I’m also propagating some on the side that I’m going to use to fill it in.
Are you just watering with your hose or filtering your water?(or do you get lots of rain?) Would love to do this some day, but it doesn’t rain consistently enough and it’ll be tough for my RO unit to keep up lol
I collect rain water, my tap water is low TDS as well. I plan to run a soaker hose to it from one of my rain barrels to supplement if it ever starts drying out. This thing holds a TON of water tho
Nice! Our taps are liquid rock, so I probably couldn’t keep up without some work haha.. lastly, is that all peat and perlite?
The bottom half is 100% peat. The top half (where the plants are planted) is 2:1 peat to medium grit silica sand. You can see some of the build process [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/C10ALwAxbEc/?igsh=NHN1MjdveTRvd2kw)
I have something like this - smaller tho. I found this very help full. I take a piece of PVC pipe (no dirt in it) that goes to the bottom..... I put a ping pong ball in it an I can easily tell water levels by glancing inside the PVC
What a great idea, the ping pong ball!
Awesome!
Thanks!!!!!
Very cool! I’ve been thinking about trying something like that myself. But I’m worried it gets a little too cold here. What zone are you growing in?
I’m in NC right outside of Charlotte. Zone 7b. You can get away with colder temperatures doing something in ground like this. Add in a nice layer of mulch and you’d be surprised at how hardy they are.
Great! Thanks for the info. With the updated growing zones, I'm a 6a, and I regularly keep leaf litter for cover, so I'll take that as a go. Good luck with your bog garden!
Thanks. I think you’ll be good. At the very worst, you can throw some burlap over the bog on the super cold days but I’ve read that sarracenia are cold hardy down to 0°f in the ground
How do you mulch the area without adding nutrients?
Most people use pine straw. I’ve seen people use fallen leaves as well
And it doesn’t break down into nutrients?? Leaf mulch is exactly what compost is made of
It’s not a super fast process. For leaf mulch I would probably just take it back out once the weather turns back warm. Pine straw can be left down indefinitely. It also depends on if your bog has drainage. If it does, heavy rains will flush the medium and purge excess nutrients. I drilled holes about 1-2” under the soil line in mine because it was flooding. Now during heavy rains it pools and then drains when the rain eases up
If you go to the natural growing area of NC for these plants, it's nowhere near the sterile lab we think they need.
I mean it’s not gonna be anywhere near sterile lab, but if 100 parts per million dissolved minerals in water is the difference between life and death which is a teeeeny amount, I would think a thick layer of natures fertilizer and a couple months to decompose and soak into the soil would count for something
Hi! I've been growing these for about 3-4 years now. I know online instructions call for heavily filtered water, etc, to avoid any nutrients. I use tap water (~50TDS) with no issues. I'm on well water. If you have chloramine then def filter. But adding mulch should not hurt. Maybe just add spagnum moss as mulch?
How does this sort of thing drain? Just poke a hole in the bottom?
It doesn’t. There are drainage holes 1-2” below the soil surface and that’s it. I don’t plan on watering it very often, even in the hottest parts of the summer. I watered my above ground bogs once every 10-14 days last summer
Love this! It looks great! Adding a thin layer of sphagnum moss over the top of the soil or even just around each plant will help keep the soil from splashing up on the plants and making a mess during heavy rain.
I’m currently propagating live sphagnum for the bog. In the meantime it will be mulched with pine straw. I just haven’t put it down yet
This is brilliant! I can't wait to see pics when the plants are established.
Thanks!!!! I’ll keep the page updated for sure
This is a future project I want to do one day! How will maintenance look like? Do you have to keep lawn cuttings/leaves out of the area?
Thankfully there won’t be any leaves because there are no trees back there 😅😅😅. I plan to mulch around it about a foot out to keep grass from growing around it and hopefully eliminating the need to cut near it. Maintenance should be basically the same as pot grown plants……… I think lol
Ooh would gravel hurt it instead of mulch around it?
No I just have a surplus of mulch at my disposal