I've already made a few posts about my small carnivorous plants collection a while ago and decided to do another one :)
I already did a lot of research about mineralic/ inorganic substrates and hydroponics in regards of CPs, but found basically nothing. Most people grow them in peat and consider it essential.
I wanted to prove it otherwise, because I find peat unethical and also largely prefer to cultivate my (house-)plants without soil in LECA.
Remember, my plants aren't old (<1 year, many even just a few months), so consider this as experimental observations, not as guide!
I don't know how they will perform long term!
Nepenthes
They are doing absolutely great!
Somehow, I originally thought they don't need much light, so they looked pretty miserable the first months. One has even completely lost its roots...
But now, I've hung them in my brightest window and WOW.
The red one is starting to bounce back, and the green one is thriving. It is growing lots of pitchers and has formed quite a few new waxy leaves.
I fertilize it by filling the pitchers with full strength nutrient solution almost to the brim, because I noticed they drink up most of it in a matter of days.
The substrate (100% LECA) is watered with RO water only, but I add a bit of regular nutrient solution about once a month to speed up growth.
They can both absorb nutrients through the pitchers AND roots, but if you overdo it with root fertilization, they are fully fed and will stop producing pitchers.
I'm also feeding one pitcher with dead insects, and the other one with said nutrient solution, because I wanna see how they react to each.
Pinguicula
Pings in nature often grow on limestone rocks and wood, so many CP enthusiasts cultivate them on mostly inorganic media like pumice.
And what shall I say, it works!
I took quite a few leaf cuttings, and look how cute they are! ☺️
I started cultivating moss recently, and I'm currently in the process of adding a layer of live moss on the surface.
It looks cool, holds moisture (pings have shallow roots that are prone to desiccation) and harbours microfauna like springtails, which can act as first food for baby pings ;)
It also helps decomposing dead flies.
This one is my P. agnata
And this my very newly bought P. moranensis
Drosera
This one is by far the hardest for me and the exception.
In nature, they are bog plants, and they need peat to survive.
Here's my Drosera alicae, which I tried to repot into hydro conditions:
It didn't even survive one month in there.
(Ignore the sphagnum moss, I added it way too late.)
And here's the same plant, but kept in its original substrate, but with living sphagnum added later on
It even started flowering!
Sarracenia
Not a houseplant, but still carnivorous. It requires bog conditions, direct sun and chilly winters to survive.
It lives in my newly built bog bucket on my balcony. The bucket is filled with concrete as a weight to hold a pole, and then I added a few centimetres of leftover lava rock/ LECA.
I've had the Sarracenia in way too dark conditions for too long, that's why it looks so miserable.
Now, since it recieves more light, it started forming new pitchers. I also added a bit of living sphagnum a few weeks ago.
Sphagnum/ moss farm
As I said in the beginning, some CPs can be grown on alternative substrates, but some require very acidic, completely mineral free media.
Peat is one of them, but not the only one.
It's made out of dead sphagnum mosses, so why not just use those instead?
I made a post about that a few days ago, but here's a quick recap.
I got a bit of live sphagnum moss from a neighbour and put it into plastic boxes with some moist LECA as substrate.
I want to grow as much of it as I can and then use it as a substrate for the obligate bog plants.
