Outdoor growing

[krakatoa]

Good morning all, I've been wondering lately, as everyone here is an outdoor grower, what kind of problems all of you have ran into as we grow outdoors - from pests - 2 legged all the way to 8 legged - to weather problems be it wind or temp extremes. We technically don't have a bog garden, but everyone's outside - I should have posted our pictures here! Here, we get slammed by the wind quite a bit so we've had to use inverted tomato cages to keep our pitchers from getting blown over, which is probably the big heart breaker - spiders, including black widows LOVE to get in between the tubs, which means gloves are mandatory when cleaning up in the summer months and then we go through the summer mos. as well watering, watering, watering. We had a problem with our neighbors kids behind us throwing over sized beach balls that would land on top of our plants in winter - thank God it was early spring and not now. After jumping up on the fence to explain to their parents that they have their children and we have ours - that so far hasn't happened again. Anyway, just curious.

[mrobey]

Hi: I have my home outdoor bog fully protected from pests with old window sash frames. See my photbucket here:
s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/mrobey/MattBog/

The top has netting to keep squirrels and birds out...plants are in 1 gallon pots sitting in 6 inches of water (like Meadowview), base is a rectangle of 6"X6"s with screening on the bottom and black butyl pond liner.

Good luck! Matt

[jfowler]

Hmmm... Where do I start?

A couple of years ago, I had a big problem with the two-legged critters. My front yard bog garden is about eight feet from a fairly busy sidewalk. 99.99% of the people using the sidewalk either just walk by without noticing anything unusual or they make some interesting comments if I am outside tending the garden. It fun to talk to them and explain what the bog garden is all about.

Three separate times, when I was on vacation or just out of town for a few days, someone trashed the garden by pulling up plants and scattering them over the yard. Pure vandalism. So, at great expense, I had a metal fence erected to enclose the entire front yard. That solved the people problem. In addition, my dog can now run at will without being able to go into the street. Oddly enough, he doesn't seem at all to be interested in the contents of the garden.

Now, I'm having problems with gray squirrels and ground squirrels (chipmunks). However, thanks to someone online, I've started using judicious amounts of powdered cayenne pepper, sprinkled between the plants and around the edge of the garden. The bright orange color looks a bit strange, but the powder does keep the squirrels at bay. Of course, after a rain, it is necessary to put out more pepper powder, since its potency is diluted by the rain.

From time to time, I'll see a bird or two pecking around in the garden, but they don't seem to do much damage.

We don't have extreme temperatures for the species I grow. It gets up to 100 degrees F in mid-summer and as low as 15 degrees F in mid-winter. Almost all of my carnivorous plants are native to the state where I live (South Carolina) or adjoining states. In addition, we don't have much severe wind, but we do have an occasional hailstorm. There's not much I can do about that, since I do not have a way of covering my bog garden, and since I'm probably going to be at work or asleep or both ;D when it happens.

It does get dry most summers, so I purchased two 65-gallon rain barrels to suppliment the rainfall or lack thereof. It's amazing that 1/10 of an inch of rain on my roof will fill up a 65-gallon rain barrel. I guess I have a large roof surface -- but still, that fact amazed me!

It would be nice to know where you live -- maybe you could share that with us.

Hope this helps, some...

[stevebooth]

Ahhhh the joys of bog gardening.

Generally the excitement begins in January wondering whether the plants are going to make it through another -12 C frost, why oh why didn't I put more protection on the more tender plants?

Then into early spring, the fun of watching the birds scratting through the sphagnum moss and carrying it away for nest material, along with countless sundews, pings and last years self seeded sars that showed a lot of promise.

Then into late spring, to marvel at the incalculable number of assorted green and black fly, that appear from nowhere and attach themselves in a most belligerent manner to the softest most tender shoots, rendering them twisted and misshapen.

Ahh the glory days of summer now, removing footballs and sundry neighbors toys from the bed, trying to straighten the broken pitchers and resurrect the flattened sundews. The constant watering chores and despite your best calculations still being too short of stored rain water.

Now the glory of autumn when your late pitchers (or those that have made it thus far) should be at their magnificent best, early frosts, heavy rainfall, layers of leaves, very pretty red and yellow Autumn leaves over the smaller plants depriving them of sunlight, air and smothering them.

Its only because I enjoy the challenge that I do it!! ;D ;D

[jfowler]

Lol! It is a passion... it has to be, or we would find something else to keep us anxious and frustrated...

[krakatoa]

Alright guys - I live in California (Sacramento) and I'm wincing as I'm writing this, imagining a chorus of "Ah shutup!" LOL!! I really do love hearing others struggles with growing these plants as most people - everyone here knows what I'm talking about - look at you like you graduated from the Jeffrey Dahmer Botanical School of Arts when you tell them you grow carnivores. mrobey, thats one smart contraption you've got there to keep unwanted fingers and beaks out! jfowler, I'm AMAZED you can have your babies out in your front yard, save the jerks who vandalized it - here in California, everything would be stripped and gone by morning, at least in the larger areas - working in the nursery business for a long time, I've heard countless horror stories about people, in large areas as well as small towns having pots and plants ripped out or off!! Steve, I've never had a bird problem per say, but I remember in Adrian Slack's book that he stated having that same problem - what is it with sundews and birds!? It has to be shiny objects make beautiful nests - try inverted tomato cages cut along the sides and opened like a corset, place @ the plant in question and close it - seriously IT WORKS!!! I'll post more pictures when I can but it has saved MANY tears - we've got massive pitchers this year that would of been destroyed right now - I mean I've got a rubricorpora with a 3' pitcher on it now - without that protection....shudder. For squirrels we'll use those sticky rat traps placed securely on the boards that not only help deter them, but cats as well - when all else fails - we've got a terrier that LOVES to chase them on sight - backyard enclosed by all means, or the dog will end up in China.

[peterhewitt]

I know this thread is about outdoor growing, but here i have a unique one. My greenhouse is connected to my house and takes up my entire front yard, so my animals invariably get in.

This little guy loves to "hunt" for insect inside Sarracenia and Nepenthes Pitchers. I now line the tables with milk bottles, which are unstable, and keeps him off.

P.

[krakatoa]

Peter, I really like the way your plants are all situated, I try to grow that way too, so you can get the most out of your sun exposure for maximum growth - close enough to outdoors for me!
I mean as long as they color up and look like that...and I'm loving the cat by the way, gives me hope that one day we'll have miniature tigers! ;D

[Devon]

Just out of curiosity, is that a savanah cat? or bengal?

[peterhewitt]

Bengal. Only about a year old in the picture.