A while ago I made a post on my project “Growing carnivorous plants hydroponically”, because I was frustrated that pretty much no one tried finding suitable alternative substrates to peat or conventional setups.

You can find the initial post here: https://slrpnk.net/post/15097559

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Nepenthes

Those seemed to be the easiest.

According to some sources, contrary to other CPs, they don’t grow in bogs (very acidic, waterlogged, etc.), but rather prefer “normal” substrates, more similar to conventional houseplants, and even prefer more dim lighting conditions.

I was even able to find a few anecdotes of a few people here and there in some CP forums who at least tried growing them in inorganic substrates.

I bought two grown up plants a month ago and successfully transitioned them, but I already mentioned that in my last post afaik.

Both look relatively healthy. The transition from soil to hydro is super stressful for most plants, these included, and because of this the pitchers died back to regenerate the root system.

The greener plant already grew the first new pitcher, which I fed with a small shrimp I had lying around. I also fed the reddish one, but the (old) pitchers started stinking very fouly, so I had to empty them.

They are both living in LECA and get treated similarly to orchids.
EC 0,5 mS, normal pH, and indirect light. From what I’ve heard, the pitchers only form when needed, so if I overdo it with the ferilizer, they might die back. So I have to find an acceptable EC that they’re happy with.

Both seem to regenerate from the stress pretty well and are already growing new leaves.

Sarracenia

Since the last post, not much has happened.

Sarracenias need some hibernation, so I placed it into a clear box and put it outside at around freezing temperatures.

It looks like it’s dying, but this is seemingly normal and healthy.

I regularly cut back the crispy leaves, and when I accidentally dropped the pot a while back ago, I saw new, healthy roots already forming.

Remember, this picture is already a month old, so they might look completely different by now.

The substrate is pon, which I soaked multiple times before with distilled water and then added fertilizer and a few drops of phosphoric acid (pH down) to an EC of about 0,3 mS to mimic the conditions of peat a little bit.

Seems to work fine for now!

Seeds

I bought some cheap seeds from a hobbyist and started sowing them a few weeks ago. Those were different Drosera, Sarracenia and Venus fly trap seeds.

I pre-treated them with a soak of gibberelic acid to make them germinate faster, and many of them are now outside next to the Sarracenia, because they need some stratification first.

I believe none of them started sprouting yet, but that apparently is relatively normal, so I don’t panic yet ;)

As soon as a few of them germinate, I will post another update if someone is interested :)