Nutrient Poor Bog Garden

13 years ago

Hi,

I just got soil test results for my bog garden:

pH 5.0

Loamy Sand (50/50 Peat/Sand)

Nitrate Very Low

Ammonium Low

Phosphorus Medium

Potassium Medium High

Calcium Medium High

Magnesium High

I'm trying to raise Sarracenia purpurea, Platanthera blephariglottis, Calopogon tuberosus, Spiranthes cernua, Pogonia ophioglossoides, and Platanthera grandiflora.

I'm hoping this constitutes a nutrient poor bog. I only water with rain water, and the area is surrounded by drainage so that no groundwater enters the bog. I'm worried that I started with sand that contained too much nutrients.

My question is - are the P, K, Ca, and Mg levels too high?

The testing was done by the CT Agricultural Experiment Station - they test for a standard list of elements. Should I do additional testing for different nutrients?

Any suggestions or comments?

Chris

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Comments (5)

terrestrial_man
12 years ago
Just what is High or Medium High? You really need a scalar reading and compare that reading to what is expected in regular garden soil for example. You probably should have all elements at the low end of the scale.
I would add in more peat moss so that you get around 30% sand and 70% peat. Also if you can afford to do so get a r/o system and use that water as it tends to be acidic with almost no salts inclusion at all.
Also you can try testing the bog by trying to grow live sphagnum moss in it. It is availabe as Live Sphagnum Moss on eBay.
How large is your bog??
wysecj
Original Author
12 years ago
I wish I knew what High and Medium High meant. I expected a scalar reading from the the Agricultural Experiment Station. I'm sending them an Email to see what they mean. As soon as I find out, I'll post again.

It's pretty hard to switch the Peat/Sand ratio now, but if I need to rework it, I'll keep that in mind.

I'll look into getting some live sphagnum moss. I was planning on it, just haven't got that far yet.

I have an R/O system for drinking water, but I haven't been using that since I thought the rain water was better???

The bog is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and about 2 feet deep. I followed the specialized bog garden design given here:
A Bog Garden - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Back to my original question with a slight modification - What should my P, K, Ca, and Mg levels be?

Thanks,
Chris
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Well..... I laughed.... was that wrong? ;-) I can't tell you what to do either but I can tell you what I did. I've had an artificial bog for five years now after moving from an area where I used to grow bog plants plunked right in the wet ground. I grow terrestrial orchids and CPs mostly. I built a small retaining wall with stone so I didn't have to do too much digging. The resulting "hole" ended up being around two feet deep (sorry, I don't usually measure these types of things, coulda been more or less). I lined that with some old thick carpet so tree roots wouldn't be able to get through easily and so the liner wouldn't be otherwise compromised. I lined that with a PVC liner. I then filled the bottom 6"-8" inches (appx., again sorry didn't measure) with foam packing peanuts, this is so there is always water in the bottom but the peat does not rot. I cut just a couple slits around 2" (there I go not measuring again) from the top of the liner. I OVER-filled the rest with 50/50 (again appx., I really hate measuring) peat sand mixture by around 6". Some areas of the top where I wanted calopogon or rose pogonia I topped with additional sand. When I plant certain things (eg. Cypripedium) I might amend the mix to make it drain a little faster/slower. A fairly large area outside the liner also stays wet (amended with the same peat/sand mixture) and I use that to grow additional bog plants and orchids. Most of the surface I "mulch" with long fibered sphagnum each spring. In winter I lay a large burlap "blanket" on top of the whole deal and mulch with leaves. In five years I've lost one beautiful Darlingtonia (I still miss her) and a few thread leaf sundews. I'm in a slightly colder microclimate of zone 7 on the North shore of Long Island and I grow lots of southern CPs that have done real well. I have around 30 CP flowers getting ready to blossom. Hope this helps some, again sorry for all the approximations.
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wysecj
Original Author
12 years ago
I found out the the test results are from the Morgan Soil Testing System. I downloaded a document that details the testing system, but haven't had a chance to review it and see how to convert the results into more quantitative units.
terrestrial_man
12 years ago
Maybe this will help??

Here is a link that might be useful: bog hydrology
njbiology
12 years ago
Hi,

I have an idea for growing carnivorous plants and sphagnum moss in a nutrient-rich marsh - will this likely work?

On top of the mud, pile 6" of peat-moss and sand then plant the carnivorous plants and sphagnum moss. I suppose the roots will penetrate down the 6" of peat moss before hitting the nutrient rich saturated soil; then probably not extend deeper. This would be like a floating-mat is in nature: that you have a mass of slowly decaying wood at the edge of a swamp - the swamp seems to be nutrient-rich, black mud, etc... but the plants are insulated from the nutrients as they are rooted in the mass that towers over the water-level and apparently doesn't readily soak up the nutrients.

So, does this sound like it would work?

Thanks,
Steve

Nutrient Poor Bog Garden

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Nutrient Poor Bog Garden

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