The larger the container the less chance of peat contamination from mineral build up there is but you can do a bog in just about any size container. For that matter I have a botanist friend who grows all of his bog plants in pots and the bench the plants are on floods twice a day with rain water, then drains back into the rain barrel so the water never gets stagnant.

Water quality is the most important factor when growing plants in a bog situation especially CPs and other more sensitive plants.

In the past I have done bog windowboxes. The smaller boxes work better for me. I created a very large one and it was so heavy the plastic cracked when I tried to move it. Also the middle section tends to bow out.

I have also made mini bogs using plastic Oil Drip Pans (new), and cement mixing tubs. I remember hearing one time that restaurant trays for busing dishes are nice since they are very durable and also deep.

I have recently completed a small CP bog basket display for the NECPS table at the upcoming Rhode Island Flower & Garden Show. It's a heavy duty basket I got at the Salvation army for a buck - about 10 inches deep, 10 inches wide, and 20 inches long. I lined the basket with a towel, then 2 plastic heavy duty garbage bags. I filled with a layer of packing peanuts maybe 5 inches deep. Then I filled with sand/peat mix and plants. On top, I scattered bits of live sphagnum. To get it ready for the show, I have been drizzling rainwater daily (from an old fashioned restaurant mustard bottle - the kind with the pointy tip) on the bits of sphagnum. The moss has started to grow and it's starting to look nice.

In there I have:
Drosera capensis
Drosera binata
Drosera prolifera
Drosera intermedia
VFT
Baby (3 inches tall)Sarracenia leucophylla
Baby Sarracenia flava
Baby Sarracenia alata
Baby Sarracenia hybrid

I hope these ideas help and are inspiring.

Bill

Thank you so very much for you replys....
Very good info
thanks again

I would also very much like to have a container bog for my balcony this summer. I gather that the container would need to have drainage holes? And why would minerals build up if you're only using rainwater to water with?

Try buying one of those small 4-5' kid pools that are about a foot deep and bury it in the ground. Also you may want to put holes in it half way up so it can drain when it has to much water. Good Luck!

A bog NEVER has too much water. Fill it with your medium and then fill it with water. NO HOLES!!!
Bogs do NOT need drainage. They require nice wet mud. I have two real in-ground bogs which are basically holes with rubber liner filled with the proper medium and a fill-pipe (pvc pipe with hose connector that fills the bog from the bottom up). Evaporation reduces the water so that the bogs need to be watered two or three times a year.
If you poke holes in them the water just drains away...NOT A BOG>>>>just a big flower pot with holes in the bottom.

I have two container "bogs" one is a plastic kiddy pool filled with rock and dirt and plants.....no holes!!

The other is a simple 5 gallon bucket filled with nice soil to the rim and planted with a water lily. No water...just mud and a very happy lily. NO HOLES>>>>>>!!!!!

Webfeet,
Tell me more about the 5 gallon bucket with the water lily. I guess that I am having trouble envisioning this. The water lily leaves dont have water to lay on? Is this a hardy water lily or tropical? how is the water lily planted? Lying on the surface of the mud on its side or buried and upright? This is intreaging but sounds tricky. Does it bloom?
thanks

Peonyman, It's simple. I filled the bucket halfway up with mud, dropped in the tuber (with a few stalks and leaves) and carefully filled the bucket the rest of the way with dirt so I wouldn't break the stalks.
Then I filled it with water until it was good gooey mud.

I figured since our lily in the whiskey barrel had all it's stalks and leaves protruding up to 12 inches ABOVE the surface of the water that mud should be just as good as water.

The surface of the mud is covered with a thick layer of fairy moss but the lily hasn't bloomed yet because I started the experiment too late in the season for blooming.
It kept putting up nice healthy leaves until winter set in and now it has furled leaves poking through the surface in several spots.

The mud captures and hold heat a lot longer than water so it should be really interesting this summer.

I should have use a black bucket so it would absorb even more heat.