Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: partisangardener on October 30, 2015, 03:35:38 AM
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I do love carnivorous plants.
In my profession as an artist i discovered some special clay mixture which suits my hobby fine. Moss will grow readily on it.
As will do on any low fired ceramic. My mixture will do the same trick fired as high as 1200 C.
I left some pieces outside in my garden to try its frost resistance. But with no conclusion. The last winter was too warm here in south Germany.
My most beloved are the two pots for Cephalotus follicularis. Now, they start to look quite good.
Maybe someone else has self-made pots serving a special purpose?
The last picture shows the construction principles. The potting mixture keeps out of the water. The necessary water supply is sucked up through the pot. The lower surrounding is planted with wet loving mosses and plants. Like Sphagnum and Utricularias.
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Just to show the construction of this pot another picture from June.
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Well done Axel, amazing pots and a beautiful effect :o
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Amazing and attractive creations!!!
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Thank you both. :D
My older pot is smaller but the Cephalotus is bigger now. It still has two pitchers, it already had at the beginning of May 2014.
In October 2014 I repotted it into the present one. It did not come out easy so I had to turn it upside down. Some of the digestive juice out of the pitchers wetted my hand without ill effect on both sides.
Now here is my darling. At the back is some fern without connection to the main substrate.
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Completely stunning work and perfect vehicles to grow the plants happily and display them to great effect. Perfect representations of miniature landscapes. Well done Axel - quite remarkable to see.
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absolutely fabulous - very difficult to pull off to make it look that natural - well done
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Thanks again. :D
The substrate is 2 parts lime free sand, 2 sieved peat (only the rough parts for this purpose), 1 broken, expanded clay. The only drawback i found is: outdoor you have to keep tits and other birds away probably with a net. They pick sometimes moss away including small sundews or with a friend, they hacked the pitchers of the Albany pitcher plant open. :P
The dwarf sundews and Cephalotus are Australians maybe some of the gardeners there have them outside. This potting material keeps the soil cool if you have enough stored rainwater. Its a bog plant after all.
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I tried this type of Pot with several Drosera, Dionaea and Darlingtonia-seedlings (no problem in this hot summer)
Here is one with Drosera venusta from my window sill. In the center a piece of sandstone.
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I just found a picture from my very first pot. Some weeks befor I repottet the plant.
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Could you give us a lesson on how to make these pots?
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Wonderful, inspirational work … now all I need is a kiln …
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My invention is the mixture, but if fired at 850 C° any clay should serve the purpose. To test if it is limefree, use vinegar. If bubbles come up its not good for most carnivores.
With enough holes in the bottom you could try to use epiweb http://www.epiweb.se/products.htm. (http://www.epiweb.se/products.htm.) Only the moss outside will take longer if it is fired higher for a stronger material.
The structure outside I do with a ordinary pastry fork. Maybe I will do soon some Youtube film to show what I mean, if there is demand.
But I am sure, you will discover many new ways to do it.
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My invention is the mixture, but if fired at 850 C° any clay should serve the purpose. To test if it is limefree, use vinegar. If bubbles come up its not good for most carnivores.
With enough holes in the bottom you could try to use epiweb http://www.epiweb.se/products.htm. (http://www.epiweb.se/products.htm.) Only the moss outside will take longer if it is fired higher for a stronger material.
The structure outside I do with a ordinary pastry fork. Maybe I will do soon some Youtube film to show what I mean, if there is demand.
But I am sure, you will discover many new ways to do it.
This is quite amazing! They look great as mini-landscapes, I wonder if something could be done as well for small alpines, instead of a classical trough...A video would be very welcomed I think :)
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Why not.
Alpines which do not like lime and like acidic soil would be perfect. Some even like constant moisture very much.
But if they don't avoid lime, Hypertufa or a piece of real tufa would do. Its soft enough to be formed to serve any planting ideas. It only depends on the creativity of the maker. And of course enough time for growing.
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My last creation just out of the kiln. The lowest level seen from underneath at first. This level is for Sphagnum and all plants which enjoy beeing drowned from time to time.
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from the side
There are three compartments the wetland from the lowest level and two separate areas for different soil mixtures.
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Same pot from above
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A work of art!
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Indeed it is!
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Today my Drosera pulchella flowered like a strange rose-garden.
I hope you enjoy
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An update from last week. Still growing more beautiful
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Wunderschön Axel!
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These are just beautiful Axel, and they compliment the carnivorous plants perfectly. I love the three-dimensional structure.
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Superbe!!
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Just an ordinary clay planter. Drosophyllum likes it very much.
These ones are planted as seedlings End of December 2014 to January 2015. Flowering every year with a lot of seeds. Quite a jungle now.
They have always water in the tray and are all spring until now exposed to all kinds of weather. Kept in the winter in my studio just about frost free. Sometimes even a bit ice in the tray.