Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 19:45:07 -0800 From: Ron Schlosser <rons@earthworld.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg168$foo@default> Subject: Re: Sarracenia growth habits in the wild
On 11-Jan-98, Zachary Kaufman wrote:
>Hi.
>For those of you that have seen Sarracenia growing in the wild[Carl,
>Tom, Dave, Peter, etc.], can you tell me how often their roots penetrate
>down into the waterline?
>I am looking at using a Rubbermaid 150 gallon plastic livestock
>watering trough as a giant pot/bog. The watering trough is oval at
>the top roughly 5 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet deep. Currently I grow all
>my Sarracenias in pots sitting in standing water. They have
>flourished under these conditions despite our low [as compared to
>their native habitat] humidity in the summer. I am concerned that if
>I transplant the Sarracenia into the watering trough, I will not be
>able to safely raise the waterline to the plants's roots. [Having
>a foot or more of peat constantly submerged underwater would lead to
>anaerobic conditions.] As it stands now, in the summer the waterline
>drops substantially during the course of a day on the Sarracenia pots.
>By the evening most of the potting media is getting oxygen. This
>sharp daily waterline fluctuation would not occur with the watering
>trough setup I envision. The volume of water stored is just too
>great.
Zach, I am using a Rubbermaid 150 gallon stock tank to grow my Darlingtonias
in since this spring. I buried the whole thing in the ground intending that
the surrounding soil act as an insulator. I took the advice found in the CP
books I have and put a "small" 1/2 inch hole in the drain plug. To keep the
hole from being plugged by the media, I hot glued a piece of filter fabric
over the larger hole on the inside and another over the smaller hole in the
plug. I filled the container with a mix of Manatoba coarse peat moss and
pumice at about a 4 to 1 ration peat/pumice. The mix stays damp quite a long
time and still has drainage, there is about a 2" deep area at the bottom of
the tank that never drains. The peat does tend to shrink and pull away from
the sides of the container, but that can be filled in. I might try one using
coconut coir in place of the peat, same water holding and wicking properties
with out as much shrinkage.
I also have several large 45 gallon pots also set into the ground with small
holes in the bottom for drainage. These I've had "planted" for several years
now and the plants winter over just fine. I live in Oregon and our humidity
is not high here eather. When I have had to move the plants because they are
filling the containers, the root system is quite extensive and penitrates
almost all the way down.
>Thanks a lot,
>--Zachary--
>e-mail: zkaufman@hotmail.com
>P.S. The watering trough is designed to sit entirely above ground.
> It would basically be a massive pot.
>
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