I think it's acknowledged that tray watering is far from ideal.
Unfortunately it's the easist way to do watering of these plants
which are bog plants, and the next step up is something like a flow
table which is much more difficult to do.
Bad smelling soil should be replaced. It's a sign of anerobic (?)
rot. I had a cephalotus which wasn't doing so well. I de-potted
it and the stench which came off the soil deeper in the pot was not
to be believed. I repotted it, and although the plant has died
back a little bit, lots of new growth is coming up.
>> I live in Oregon and tried an experiament last year. Last spring I set
>>out a number of the North American CP in an artificial bog that I made.
>>To make this bog, I dug a hole in the ground about 5' round and 18" deep.
>> I lined this with a weed mat, which is a woven fabric designed to keep
>>down weeds but still allow for water to go through. I then filled it
>>with my peat mix and planted. We had an abnormaly dry summer and the
>>surface would dry out, but the peat beneath would stay damp. I'd water
>>the area 2-3 times a week. I am blessed with naturaly soft water. This
>>winter, we had lots of snow and the plants and bog froze several times.
>>All of the plants came back.
I have a 2' X 2'6" bog garden in a 30 qt. tupperware closet stacker.
It's doing great. Other plants of the same species in trays aren't
doing as well. I think one of the keys may be to have a lot of
surface area compared to the depth of planting, to get better
transpiration.