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Post by birdywatcher on May 27, 2008 21:56:23 GMT -5
As some of you know I was thinking of making a terrarium with all the native species of Canada and looking into the price and it looks like some plants may do better outside year round I might be making an bog instead of terrarium and I found this link www.pitcherplant.com/bog_making.htmlthat seem pretty easy to do a bog (without digging the hole!!) and now I have a few questions; they say to put 6 inches of pine needles or oak leaves for zone 6 and colder parts of zone 7, so how much should I put in zone three and would those instructions work?? Thanks for any help!! Birdy
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Post by mabudon on May 28, 2008 10:57:12 GMT -5
Hmmm you're in unfamiliar territory for most of us, I don't know who among us has a bog in much past zone 4-5 (thinkin the Bancroft bog o' Brian might be in the harshest place)
That being said, several inches of pine needles on top is fine, I would say 12" would be about the most you could put before it started getting redundant.
As for plants- I would think that S.purpurea ssp. purpurea , D.rotundifolia and D.anglica and D.filiformis ssp .filiformis, P.vulgaris and probably P.grandiflora would be safe bets.
Any other species I would say you could try them, but I would think most of our native species should be fine overall.
As for construction, in-ground would ceertainly offer the most protection for your plants
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Post by jonnybee7 on May 28, 2008 22:05:54 GMT -5
Sorry, but I dont have an answer to your mulching question, as I too am in zone 3 and just built myself a bog in the past few weeks(though I havent put plants in it yet). So I'll find out next spring how things work out. Reason for my post though, according to the website you found, they say to cut slits in the bottom of the pond liner. I would disagree with that unless you feel like watering your bog more frequently. What I did with mine is put holes in the sides about 6 inches down from the top(leaving me with 1 foot of bog underneath for water capacity) so that everything stays quite moist for along time(I'm lazy , havent watered it in nearly a week and its still nice and wet) Jon
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Post by mabudon on May 29, 2008 8:38:59 GMT -5
heck you can put the holes/slits 2 " below the surface of the medium and it should be okay unless you get rain-forest style rain Good catch Jonnybee!!
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Post by Syble on May 29, 2008 21:17:17 GMT -5
I happen to be fond of no slits. That being said, if its gonna be rainey like it was all winter long, you might want to tent a tarp over it to keep it from being flooded all winter long... been there and done that (also pumped it out in the middle of the bloddy winter). I also recommend that you make it somewhat deep. The bog will hold more water and be able to sustain itself better through out dry spells. inground definately the way to go. Best much bet is pine needles and like mabs said a foot thick. Thanks Sib
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Post by brian on Jun 1, 2008 15:48:14 GMT -5
I'd have to say it doesn't take a lot of mulch to get the 'flatline' of zero degrees thru the winter. In Bancroft / Hastings I let the ambient snowfall do the mulching and most things including VFTs overwinter, but without a little mulch there will be occasional losses or stunted growth. If you want the best survival follow their recommendations for zone 6/7 even though you are in zone 3 and most temperate CPs should be fine. If you are only growing native Ontario stuff I think they would do best with no mulch at all (except for any snow that falls on them)
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