I’ve become a huge fan of semi-hydro over the past year.
I’ve planted all of my 50 house plants into LECA (expanded clay pellets) or pon (special gravel mix consisting of lava rock, pumice, and zeolithe), and they’re doing absolutely great. (Too great if you ask me. They’ve become a weed in my apartment 😁)
Recently, I got into carnivorous plants.
Literally everyone is growing them in turf/peat or moss based substrates, and nothing else. As we all might know, those substrates not only attract pests (fungus gnats, etc.), but are not that great for the environment.
This is why I came up with the idea of using hydroponics.
As soon as I began researching, I’ve come to the conclusion, that there’s sadly pretty much no overlap between the hydroponics community and carnivorous plants community.
So, I started an experiment.
I’ve put my just-bought Sarracenia, previous in soil, into pon with a very small grain diameter. This keeps the plants very moist, way moister than LECA would, at least the big marbles.
I soaked the granules with distilled water a few times, and then added a drop of diluted phosphoric acid to a pH of 4,5 and EC of 0,1 mS.
This is how the roots look after not only one week: 
And the plant itself: 
Pretty good if you ask me!
Sadly, Sarracenias need to hibernate, and this one started going crispy even in the store, which is apparently normal, so I’ve put it into my cold garage for a month or two.
I also started growing Drosera and Sarracenia from seed, but they didn’t germinate yet. I got a lot of different seeds from a hobbyist, but growing CPs from seeds is a huge pain from what I’ve read.
Here’s a picture of my seedling/ cutting station:
I will make a post about the station soon!
I also sew a few of them directly into the pot and covered it with foil.
In theory, the combination of fine substrate with high water level should provide the plants with enough moisture, while also letting the roots get exposed to a lot of oxygen, which keeps them very healthy.
But swamp plants are just different maybe, I don’t know. Let’s see…
And, last but not least, I bought two Nepenthes a few days ago. I already placed one of them into LECA (8-16 mm).
They apparently grow similar to orchids, and not like swamp growing plants like venus fly traps or Drosera. So, they rather need a airy substrate, normal pH (about 6) and even tolerate fertilizer.
They looked like this when I bought them:
I will keep you all updated!
Tags for search engines: LECA, hydroponics, hydro, semi hydro, carnivorous plants, VFT, Sarracenia, Drosera, Dionaea, Nepenthes, fertilizer, experiment, inorganic media, peat alternative, pumice, Seramis, pon
Fun experiment!
The Nepenthes sound like they could do well, the simpler hydroponics systems for home use are very good at airating the solution, and with the nutrient density you can leave most of the roots in he air. Also, there’s the Ebb & Flow method that could give even more air.
What worries me a little is that a lot of hydroponics is trial and error, with failure almost guaranteed as the experiment goes on. It’s tough to manually compensate for nutrient needs of different growth cycles, keep the area perfectly pest free, and without root rot, even if you dial in the air/nutrient/npk/light/pH/variance and manage to keep it running without hitch.
Are you willing to lose a whole lot of plants?
I don’t know about the carni-plant community, but chilli and orchid enthusiasts are typically not very willing to lose their plants.
A way to control how out of whack the system can get is to switch out all of it every two weeks (or whatever you can manage to keep stable). Dump out all the solution, clean everything, check the roots, document the status if you’re being thorough, and finally refill and reset again.
Best of luck! Looking forward to seeing more of your experiment as it goes on, please keep us updated!
My Grandfather is a Orchid enthusiast and any Plant that dosent perform gets the Windowsill place in the Toilet. Most Plants start getting niceley looking again, we joke that is because they want too flee the smell.
Is that a thing? I remember my dad had 2 orchids in his toilet. They did very well.
Not that i now of, it was more to get bad looking Plants out of the living room.
But maybe there is a Connection, or its the Humidity from the shower or or or who knows…
Maybe a combination of that weird milky glas in bathrooms and hunidity. We need more data!
NOOOOOOO, FRISBEE NOOOOO! You have enough projects and i don’t have a window in my bathroom
But we are onto something big! I can almost feel the first botanic nobel price in my hands!
Kakteen likes Winter:
Thanks!
From what I’ve read, and what the natural environment is, most carnivorous plants (except Nepenthes, because they’re an exception for everything, lol) can withstand A LOT of waterlogging, because they grow in a swamp environment.
The moisture is regulated by the wicking capability of the media and the level of the solution.
LECA works for most of my plants, and those that need high moisture or have fine roots, do better in pon or fine LECA.
And for the CPs, I chose pon because of that.
So, aeration shouldn’t be an issue.
Also, there’s the Ebb & Flow method that could give even more air.
I want something passive for my house plants.
What worries me a little is that a lot of hydroponics is trial and error, with failure almost guaranteed as the experiment goes on. It’s tough to manually compensate for nutrient needs of different growth cycles, keep the area perfectly pest free, and without root rot, even if you dial in the air/nutrient/npk/light/pH/variance and manage to keep it running without hitch.
Yes and no. I’m already pretty good at estimating because I grew in soil before. Now, with the capabilities of my EC- and pH-meter, it’s way better.
I adjust my fertilizer strength mostly by guessing from the signals the plant gives me.
Every plant needs different levels at different locations (light, humidity), but the nutrient composition requirements are similar from what I’ve experienced yet, at least for vegetative growth of common house and food plants.
I have no idea what CPs need, but for the start, I will only use water and acid, and only add super small amounts of fertilizer when the need arises.
Ask me if you want to know more :)
Are you willing to lose a whole lot of plants? I don’t know about the carni-plant community, but chilli and orchid enthusiasts are typically not very willing to lose their plants.
For the experiment, maybe. I got the seeds very cheap, Sarracenia is from the grocery store, and the Nepenthes are tolerant from what I read.
I wouldn’t be happy if I loose them, but if the experiment fails, well, it fails. A sacrafice I’m willing to take for the sake of science! 🧑🔬
I almost never lost more plants to hydroponics than I would have lost anyway. Quite the opposite. I managed to rescue more than before because of the flexibility of hydroponics! But let’s see how it goes!
A way to control how out of whack the system can get is to switch out all of it every two weeks (or whatever you can manage to keep stable). Dump out all the solution, clean everything, check the roots, document the status if you’re being thorough, and finally refill and reset again.
After transplanting, I only add water (and maybe a drop of acid for the CPs), and flush it every few days for the first week or two.
Right after transplantation, I add a few beneficial microbes to the mix, which eat up all the dead roots and soil I couldn’t get off.
The flushing is to prevent root rot and pests.
But after this short period, I usually only top up the reservoir and flush it once every few months.
That worked great for all of my plants, and I very rarely get root rot.
Most of my Houseplants(soil) get a dry time, because i forget watering them. Luckily Palms and Kackti like that, so they thrive without rotting :)
Everything else is either Hydro or outside
The cool thing about semi-hydro is that you can control the moisture by capillary action.
LECA and pon are naturally wicking by themselves. More surface area = more wicking = more moist.
LECA (bigger pellets) has more gaps and doesn’t wick as strong, so it’s dryer. Pon or very small LECA beads have less air (still a huge lot!), but a huge porous surface area, so they are great for fine roots or plants that prefer wetter conditions.
You can also control it by using wicks or adjusting the water level.
There are a lot of people who grow cacti and other dry loving plants in semi-hydro, you can do it too!
