Bog orchids

[Glen_on_Gulf_Coast]

T-man,

I wish I could take credit for the setup, but in truth, I got it out a book entitled "Growing Hardy Orchids" by John Tullock $29.95. It is a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to grow terrestrials in North America.

Not only does it have a lot of information on beds and bogs, it takes each species and breaks them down with specifics like: Native habitat, Blooming season, Hardiness zones, light requirements, and many more catagories. Then it suggests the type of potting mix (from a list of choices), and growth conditions (which is basically bog, highland, or intermediate).

Many of the tubers in the one bed (mentioned above) are sprouting (we have had some unseasonally warm weather this year, so I will have to mulch them well when we do get our freezes). The other bed is planted totally with Calopogon tuberosus, and the corms are healthy and ready to sprout later in the Spring.

When you look at it closely, my bog setup is just a large example of Semi-Hydro. As the surface water is evaporated, the reservoir water moves up to replace it, keeping the bed from being stagnant (as it would be if the tubers were just sitting in water). This imitates a bog in nature.

Glen

[terrestrial_man]

WHAT!
No Dynamo Brain card!!!!! UMMMMM

Interesting comments Glen,
have you ever been to a bog?

From what I have seen and read
most bogs have an active movement
of water percolating through or over them or both. The bog I visited had many different kinds of microniches in it. There was the low areas in which streamlets flowed through the bog and in which there was sphagnum mosses and algae and in spots Lycopodiella inundatum. There were marginal areas along these streamlets where more sphagnum occurred, more Lycopodiella, Drosera, some herbaceous plants and other mosses. And an even another level where willows had taken root . It was a real biologically active area that had its own unique type of strata of activity.
From seeing this bog my own feelings about this one is that water flowed into the bog from a small stream and from surface run off percolating through the upper porous surface and along the streamlets then out of the bog. My idea of constructing one would have to be based upon using a large rectangular Rubbermaid tote and cementing a wall about 2/3 of the height of the tote creating two chambers: one for the bog and one a collection reservoir from which water would be pumped back into the input that drained onto the surface of the bog. While the bog I have made is really only a static sump that I pour water into I need to modify it with an tube insert that I could fill with water that would percolate out into the base of the bog and then flood out of the top. Then it would be closer to what i would expect to be a natural type system.
If you were further north you could grow Calypso bulbosa in your bog!!!

Have you ever tried Disa?

[Toddybear]

A little lesson on 'bogs'. There are actually at least 3 types, at least in Newfoundland...bogs, fens and swamps (we refer to them as 'peatlands' and Newfoundland has 40% of our landmass covered in them! Our 60" of rain per year has to go somewhere)

Bogs receive all their nutrients from rain...ie. they are nutrient poor. In fact, few orchids grow in real bogs..the water there is often more standing. pH is very acidic, down to 4, sometimes even lower! In Newfoundland, Calopogon, Arethusa and Pogonia are often found in bogs. Other plant life is mostly Sphagnum, a few sedges and some dwarf ericaceous shrubs such as bog rosemary, bog laurel and leatherleaf.

Fens are where the orchids flourish. The water here is actually moving, albeit mostly underground. Nutrients comes from mineral soils that border the fens. There is some sphagnum but grasses and sedges predominate. Also, ferns (sensitive, cinnamon, interrupted, etc) are common and in Newfoundland, blue flag iris. pH is not quite as acidic..about 4.5-5.5. Many of our local 'bog' orchids grow in fens...about 12 species, mostly Platanthera.

Marshes or swamps are wettest and most nutrient-rich. They often overlay limestone bedrock thus pH may approach 6 or better. Fens are common (locally Ostrich ferns and interrupted) and often a few stunted conifers (here they would be black spruce but around the Great Lakes, probably white cedar). many of the fen orchids grow here but locally, this is where our yellow and showy lady-slipper grow. Both of these are rare in Newfoundland but where they do occur, they are abundant.

As to cultivation, the real bog orchids are the most difficult....fen types probably the easiest. However, they often do not need the soil to be as wet as in the wild. If you can grow Japanese Iris, then you should have no problems with many of the fen orchids. I grow mine in a peaty-sandy soil that stays evenly moist but not soggy. Dactylorhiza flourish! Platanthera dilatata, psycodes, grandiflora, aquilonis and hyperborea also do well, along with Spiranthes romanzoffiana.

I have a plastic fish box with sundews and Sarracenia purpurea but I could not keep the real bog orchids (Arethusa, Calopogon) going.

That's my 2 cents worth!

[Tindomul]

I would like to add to Todd's statement that bogs recieve all their nutrients from rain. True bogs are enclosed, usually pot holes formed by retreating glaciers. There is rarely an in and out for the water, so Bogs are dependant on rain fall for their water. Other bogs can and do recieve water from outside sources, and thus are probably more likely to contain orchid species.

[Glen_on_Gulf_Coast]

Hi guys,

I don't want us to get too caught up in terminology here. Orchids which are called 'Bog Orchids" don't necessarily have to grow in a 'bog'. It seems that everyone has a different definition for a bog. Whether you call it a bog, swamp, branch, fen, reed break, stream, bottom land, etc., it is the orchids that are most important. I know that there are differences in everyone's opinion of what each of these words means to them in their localities. I have seen Pogonia ophioglossoides growing and happily blooming with their roots completely submerged in a shallow body of water, which never dries up. There is a population of these Pogonias in another area (which I do consider a bog) which I have been monitoring each year. This will prove to be an interesting spring, because most of the timber was cut down around this area, and I don't know how this will affect this population. I am not reluctant to relocate a portion of the plants, or all the plants if I feel that they are in danger of dying off.

It is not uncommon to find Pogonia ophioglossoides, Spiranthes cernua, Calopogon tuberosis, and Cleistes bifaria growing on the same lot in my area I consider the first three to be true bog orchids (although the Calopogon seems to prefer it a little more intermediate in most of the areas I have observed it growing).

I'm not sure I would agree that bogs get all their nutrients from rainfall (we may have differing opinions about what a bog is). The bogs in my area have a soil base, and plenty of organic matter in various stages of decomposition. There always seems to be pine trees (southern pine) in the area, as well as other bushes and underbrush, pitcher plants, and various mosses and wildflowers. Hey, this has turned into a nice discussion.

Glen

[terrestrial_man]

Hey thanks
I have enjoyed reading the additional posts. Seems like semantics is the real limiting factor here! Now to print out all this great information on different types of wetlands!

[Tindomul]

Well, rain fall, how much can that contain other than the stray pollutant. Decomposing matter is usually not a good source of nutrients, as most plant and other organic matter is only partially decomposed, and sphagnum moss replaces many minerals with Hydrogen ions, helping to make the bogs acidic. Perhaps most nutrients come from passing animals who leave feces, rain runoff from surrounding areas, or from the dust from tall plants.
In anycase, if I were to guess on how to care for a bog orchid, it would be sandy, or peaty soil, or constantly wet if not submersed sphagnum moss (preferbly live). Lots of light, and high humidity. With a seasonal cold period.

[terrestrial_man]

I agree with Tindo in as much as most of the nutrients that can be found in a sphagnum bog occur from extraneous sources such as leaf litter or animal depositions. Rain water is generally regarded in the same vein as distilled with little nutrient value to it. Its greatest impact is in maintaining pH and moisture. It is wind that may be more important in that wind can cause littering onto sphagnum bogs.
If you have not seen sphagnum up close here is a too small image of it from my bog in a tub.

[Tindomul]

Bog in a tub, fascinating! Show us more.

[cb977]

Man! If you guys were getting paid by the word, you'd all be rich!!!

Great thread, guys

Two days ago, I had never heard of bog orchids...now I know everything ever written