water height to pot height ratio?

[billylh]

i read that you should keep an inch of water in the pot tray, well wouldnt there be a difference if you have a 5" tall pot vs. a 15" tall pot?

~b

 

[Alexis]

Well yes.

Just use your judgment.

 

[wmgorum]

I grow all of my Sarracenia in mortar mixing trays. I drill a hole in the side of the tray so the water line is just barely below the top of a 4" pot. It's worked well for me. The hole stops short pots from flooding when it rains.

 

[scottychaos]

I generally keep the water level 2 or 3 inches down from the top..
regardless of pot height.

You will find there is no one "correct" answer when it comes to water level..
as long as the pots are sitting in *some level* of standing water, you will be fine.
the exact level isnt terribly important.

For a 15" tall pot, I would go at least halfway up with the water level.

Scot

 

[billylh]

so can sarrs be overwatered? 4" from the top seems to me like the plant would just be sitting in water?

~b

 

[scottychaos]

so can sarrs be overwatered? 4" from the top seems to me like the plant would just be sitting in water?

~b

Personally, I wouldnt keep the water level right at the surface, but some people have done that, with success..
and some sarrs like it much wetter than others.

4" from the top seems to me like the plant would just be sitting in water?

no, thats water 4" below the surface!
the top 4" are not waterlogged.
a somewhat low water table as sarr water tables go, IMO..

Scot

 

[Fryster]

QUESTION: What dos a mortar mixing tray look like? How sturdy is it?

I Googled it but there so many different types out there.

I am looking for a sturdy tray to carry and keep my Sarrs in outdoors in the summertime. Someone told me that those grey "busboy" tubs would be good.

 

[Est]

During the rainy season here my dormant sarrs will often sit submerged to mostly submerged. That is, for a few months. Never really have a problem with them. Though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to add some drainage a few inches below the soil level just to prevent slimey-nasties from growing on the soil top.

 

[jack]

during the hottest months I keep my sarrs in standing water with complete success.

 

[wmgorum]

They're just big black plastic tubs. I get them from Home Depot. Look for them in the same section where they have tools for bricklaying. They're about 6 inches deep or so and come in two sizes. I use the largest size for growing out irises, small lotuses, U. gibba, things like that and the smaller size I use for growing my outdoor plants (Sarrs, VFTs, Drosera species like filiformis and binata). I'm going to be using one to make a bog garden.

 

[vft guy in SJ]

A Mortar mixing tray is this:

They are approximately 2' x 3' x 7" deep. As you can see, I grow my Sarracenia in these undrained and in pure sphagnum peat moss. I typically flood them about every 2 or 3 days in the dry summer months. In winter Mother Nature floods them for me.

When it comes to Sarracenia, its pretty dang hard to overwater them.

 

[wmgorum]

VFT, those are exactly what I was talking about!

Following up with Est and VFT, my Sarrs are often totally submerged during the winter for extended periods of time. They do remarkably well. I think people underestimate how hardy Sarracenia are. They're tough old plants.

I'm not planning on using pure peat in mine though. I'm seriously thinking about using a peat / perlite mix in my bog garden 'cause I want it to be easily moved. Something the size of those trays holds about 26 gallons or so of water by my calculations (length x width x height / 231 and pulling from VFTs numbers) and that's a heavy thing when it's full of waterlogged peat. I got the idea from either WildBill or John (I can't remember which) from the NECPS to put styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of it to lighten it up some and I figure a 50/50 peat / perlite mixture will be lighter than pure peat. By using perlite though, if it floods, of course the perlite is going to float to the top; that's an issue. The other issue for me is that I have a heck of a time finding inert sand to use as a soil mixture, but honestly, would wet sand be any lighter than wet peat?

 

[vft guy in SJ]

Just go with pure peat. When its waterlogged as mine is its soft mush, very easy to dig into even without tools. Sand would settle to the bottom, and perlite will float to the top so eventually you will end up with pure peat anyway.

As for moving them around, well I wouldn't want to pick it up and carry it when its completely flooded, but if you dry them out for a couple days they become much more managable.

 

[wmgorum]

Thanks for the advice... I didn't think about the sand settling to the bottom... good point though.

 

[seedjar]

In my observation, the appropriate water level has more to do with the plant than the pot. Sarracenia are vigorous in water. VFTs, for me at least, are less forgiving, and in cold weather I always make sure that mine are at least four inches or so above the water line. But I understand that in more temperate climates, they're OK with standing water; mine certainly don't seem fazed by water in the summer when it gets hot.
~Joe

 

[RL7836]

i read that you should keep an inch of water in the pot tray, well wouldnt there be a difference if you have a 5" tall pot vs. a 15" tall pot?

~b

I don't usually like the standing water approach (although I know that most people do). I like to let the trays dry out before adding new water. If it rains for a few days, I'll even empty the trays. Different strokes...