Bog orchids - Orchid Board

Neofalcata · #1 06-04-2006, 03:28 AM

Who grows bog orchids? What conditions qualify as a bog re: watering/drying? Is peat moss based mix for african violets a suitable bog replicating media? It contains peat moss, vermiculite and leaf matter with slightly acidic ph, just like some bog plants like it.

Tindomul · #2 06-04-2006, 06:04 PM

Which are the bog orchids? Do you know? Sounds like you do.

Neofalcata · #3 06-04-2006, 06:20 PM

There are many, many types of bog orchids. Do an internet search for "bog orchids" and you can find pages with photos and descriptions of many of them from all over the world. They often grow beside carnivorous plants like Nepenthes.

There is one almost certain characteristic of these plants, and that is their love of slightly acidic "bog" conditions. I have never been in a bog, to my knowledge, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on how to make an artificial one for growing plants. I have heard of people trying it with sphagnum moss, with mixed results.

Many people have started using bog orchids in their backyard gardens because of their love of wet conditions. People have water gardens and koi ponds, so the conditions must be right.

Gin · #4 06-06-2006, 12:29 AM

Hi , I have seen bogs with Jack in the pulpits and other plants I am not familiar with . I think if you add a little sand to your mix it should work , The area I was in had a base of sandy soil . (Mich.) Just a thought . Gin

Neofalcata · #5 06-06-2006, 12:43 AM

I had heard the sand suggestion before, but using coarse sand. Also growing bog plants in a tiny gravel mix, but haven't seen either of those items for sale in small quantities.

Tindomul · #6 06-06-2006, 11:24 AM

They sell very fine sand for freshwater use. I use it in my amphibian vivariums. Good stuff!

Mahon · #7 06-19-2006, 12:12 AM

I grow Calopogon tuberosus that normally grow in a boggy enviroment, in a charcoal and humus mix. I basically take oak or citrus wood (or even paper), burn it, take the charcoal and break it into little pieces, and mix it into the humus (the humus has little strands of helpful fungi)... then, I crush some of the charcoal and make a powder, which I sprinkle on top of the mix in the pot, maybe once a month. This is just a good mix for the bog loving Calopogon tuberosus...

As for other bog orchids, you need the sphagnum, which I think takes the alkalinity out of the soil and leaves an acid in the ground (is this right, let me know if I am wrong)... Growing plants like Coryanthes (an orchid that gets Nitric Acid from the ants that dwell around the roots of the plant in nature), grows very well with sphagnum moss... the Sphagnum Moss is a simple media, but the charcoal-humus media is rather harder to make... please let me know about anything about growing Calopogon tuberosus better... I will soo have a few more plants, and will start experimenting on different media for cultivating the species...

-Pat

terrestrial_man · #8 12-11-2006, 01:37 AM

Has anyone here seen orchids growing in a bog? I don't really know how they grow in bogs but from I know about bogs I do have some thoughts that I will share.
1. A bog is not just a flat expanse of living sphagnum. It is a dynamic and diverse assortment of all kinds of plants that can survive in the sphagnum/moss substrate.
It is not a stagnant area but one in which water is running through and is often characterized as a place where water clogs up behind some barrier which allows siltation to occur and subsequent colonization of the mosses.
2. Orchids that grow in bogs are probably like most terrestrial orchids. They do not like to be sitting in water, at least they do not like their stem or crown sitting in water all the time. They can handle flooding but need a period of dryness. They probably have their roots growing down into the damp or wet or the water in the bog while the main body of the plant is sitting well above the water level though it is growing in among the sphagnum which is characterized by very long fibers that grow up and up which water is absorbed.
My image is a portion of a bog that I had developed a few years ago. It has become a weed patch that I hope to get to in Spring to open it up again for the moss to grow right. I do have a web journal on the bog. A banner to it is located at this site:
http://jsionline.freeservers.com/
The above is an image. Click it to enter page with my mug and the banner is about half way down.
I have planted a bog type orchid in the bog but it is so overgrown that I have no idea if it is even alive!

Glen_on_Gulf_Coast · #9 01-13-2007, 03:42 AM

I too have been trying my hand at growing bog orchids. I use 20 gallon plastic containers that I buy at Lowes in the pond section. By drilling holes around the container halfway up, you create a bog envirenment, with a permanent water reservoir in the bottom. This bottom part is filled with cypress mulch (or something else which will not easily decompose), and my mix goes in the top half for my tubers. The mix varies, depending on which plants you are growing, but I use a combination of course sand, sphagnum moss, compost, and ground up pine bark for my Calopogon, Platanthera, Galearis, Dactylorhiza, Bletilla, Calanthe, and Pogonia. I will be expanding to larger beds as I delve into the terrestrials a little more.

Glen

terrestrial_man · #10 01-13-2007, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen_on_Gulf_Coast

I too have been trying my hand at growing bog orchids. I use 20 gallon plastic containers that I buy at Lowes in the pond section. By drilling holes around the container halfway up, you create a bog envirenment, with a permanent water reservoir in the bottom. This bottom part is filled with cypress mulch (or something else which will not easily decompose), and my mix goes in the top half for my tubers. The mix varies, depending on which plants you are growing, but I use a combination of course sand, sphagnum moss, compost, and ground up pine bark for my Calopogon, Platanthera, Galearis, Dactylorhiza, Bletilla, Calanthe, and Pogonia. I will be expanding to larger beds as I delve into the terrestrials a little more.

Glen

Hello Glen!
Hope to see

some images of your efforts and your plants. Sounds great. In fact
THANKS FOR THE IDEA!
I have been toying

with how to approach cultivating Goodyera in pots. So far my efforts are not satisfactory to me. But your method of developing a bog sounds idea when I convert that to yogurt cups!!

YO!

I need to make a new card just for you!!!
Dynamo Brain!!!