The Kimoto Carnivorous Plant Blog

Once I obtained the minibog materials, including a couple of new Dionaea from Orchard Supply Hardware, I began construction. I should point out that I did my initial construction without consulting any of the CP sites, or the CPUK BBS, as you will see.

I started by standing the cut PVC pipe near the center of the pot and began to mix small lots of sand and peat with distilled water, adding the blend only after all the peat had absorbed water and had been thoroughly mixed with the sand. I continued this procedure until the pot was completely full of the sand/peat soil.

I then began to plant my Dionaea in the soil. Within a few minutes, I had planted all my Dionaea (and one Drosera that came with one of my Dionaea) in the minibog. This all worked very smoothly and the plants seemed happy.

Then I read about the use of an inverted pot at the bottom of the minibog to act as a water reservoir and to make watering easier. This particularly came to mind as I attempted to water the bog overhead–thus doing some hydraulic mining of my minibog and leaving a hole behind. Defininitely not what I had in mind.

After doing some more reading, I began to look for an appropriate pot/vessel to put under the bog. I found a plastic pie-saver which I thought might work, but it cracked as I attempted to cut a hole in the top through which I planned to run my PVC pipe. Back to the drawing board…

Then I found a low-profile plastic pot that I had lying around the shed. The size looked pretty good, but perhaps a little too tall–perhaps nothing that a dremel tool can’t handle?

Coming next: Reservoir construction