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

I often use plantnet.org for plants whenever I'm outside, and it works really really well. Sadly, not for mosses.

Is there a service out there that's specialized in mosses and similar stuff?

Because they all look the damn same for someone without experience 😭

If there isn't anything, can you recommend me other resources where I can learn it myself? What characteristics should I look out for to narrow it down to the species? The subspecies isn't that important for me :)

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23641560

I have most of my plants in hydro, but especially my carnivorous plants need (Sphagnum) moss to grow.

It, and peat, just has the right, unique properties to ensure the CPs thrive that cannot be replaced by other substrates.

Sphagnum in particular can for example replace minerals and turn them into acid, creating a mineral-free, highly acidic environment many bog plants have evolved to live in.

But I also find them just beautiful and they make a great top dressing, for example for my Pinguicula.

Here's a Drosera, a peat bog plant, that I tried to grow in LECA alone. It didn't even take a month and it was dead. The ones in peat thrive tho.

(I added the live sphagnum a week ago in hopes it will revive it)

---

Here's my process

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23641560

I have most of my plants in hydro, but especially my carnivorous plants need (Sphagnum) moss to grow.

It, and peat, just has the right, unique properties to ensure the CPs thrive that cannot be replaced by other substrates.

Sphagnum in particular can for example replace minerals and turn them into acid, creating a mineral-free, highly acidic environment many bog plants have evolved to live in.

But I also find them just beautiful and they make a great top dressing, for example for my Pinguicula.

Here's a Drosera, a peat bog plant, that I tried to grow in LECA alone. It didn't even take a month and it was dead. The ones in peat thrive tho.

(I added the live sphagnum a week ago in hopes it will revive it)

---

Here's my process

I have most of my plants in hydro, but especially my carnivorous plants need (Sphagnum) moss to grow.

It, and peat, just has the right, unique properties to ensure the CPs thrive that cannot be replaced by other substrates.

Sphagnum in particular can for example replace minerals and turn them into acid, creating a mineral-free, highly acidic environment many bog plants have evolved to live in.
Sadly, both sphagnum and peat are mined extremely destructively, which is why I wanna grow it myself.

But I also find all kinds of mosses just beautiful and they make a great top dressing, for example for my Pinguicula. I do not only grow Sphagnum sp., but also Hypnum sp. and many other different kinds I can't identify myself. But they look cute tho 😇

![](https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/b6c90c18-2b35-4582-9924-91e16b461350

Bisher musste ich mit zwei Problemen kämpfen: Hitze und Nacktschnecken.

Da ich einen Südwest-Balkon habe, knallt bei mir fast ganztags die Sonne volle Fresse rein und es kann easy mal 40°C haben, wo es "draußen" 25 hat.

Deshalb erleideten einige meiner Pflanzen einen Sonnenbrand. Das sah vor paar Wochen so aus:

Inzwischen habe ich alle Seitenflächen mit billigem Pflanzenvlies abgedeckt, welches wie ein weißer Vorhang einen Teil des Lichts filtert und alles diffuser macht. Dadurch ist die Sonne gleichmäßiger verteilt und alle Seiten werden wie bei einer Softbox schön bestrahlt :)

Me

I don't have much experience in growing carnivorous plants. This is my NOID hybrid Nepenthes, who is my test subject. I try to raise my CPs as vegetarians mostly ;)

I already researched quite a bit, but couldn't find much.
From what I understand and read, it's usually advised against filling them manually, with the exception of newly arrived ones where the digestion juice has been spilled, because they make their own fluids.

That's why there are lids on the pitchers, to prevent rain water from falling in.

Those pitchers you can see on the pictures are relatively newly formed, but all of them didn't fill that much.

Currently, there are 3 fully developed ones.
Two of them have been filled with hydroponic nutrient solution (1 mS strength), and one has been left naturally, with only two small flies dropped in by me.
The plant drank up more than half of the nutrient solution already, and there the lids aren't as opened as the "natural" one.

![](https://slrpnk.net/p

As you can see on the title image, this Phal has no velamen left.

(For those who aren't orchid nerds, this is a special fleshy water buffering sheath surrounding the thin inner roots. Most other orchids have these too, including my Oncidium type orchids, but usually not as pronounced as Phalaenopsis ones.)

I just pulled them off, since they've been super mushy, and I believe that was the right thing to do, because from what I know they can still transport water.

They were already not looking great when buying them a week ago, that's why I got that plant for 50% off ;)

I transition them to semi-hydro with LECA as medium, and I think the always-wet-conditions just aren't suited for roots that haven't been adapted to it.

I have another Phal (and other orchids) that I've had for half a year now and they're doing great. One has just started blooming after growing vigorously!

![](https://slrpnk.net

Wow, ich bin echt geflashed. Das war die bisher allerbeste Ernte was die Qualität angeht. Ich bin echt stolz drauf!

Wenn ihr die Blüten seht, werdet ihr auch definitiv verstehen warum:

Da kamen wohl noch die Eisheiligen vorbei, so sehr ist die mit Raureif überzogen!

Das ist die selbe Auto Northern Lights, die ich vor nicht mal 2 Monaten (Halbzeit) zusammen mit der Auto SVG OG killen wollte, weil die ums Verrecken nicht wachsen wollten.

Stellt sich heraus, dass Probleme mit dem Dünger und dem Wasser hatte, und ich dadurch enorm Einbußen mit dem Ertrag und Pflanzengesundheit allgemein hatte, und jetzt, wo ich alles behoben habe, gehen sie plötzlich riiiiichtig ab!

Obwohl die Pflanzen selbst echt klein geblieben sind (die SVG braucht noch 1-2 Wochen, sieht aber genauso krass aus!) hab ich ein enorm gutes Blüte

I'm doing mainly hydroponics by now, but still have some pots on my balcony with soil in them, and I don't plan to change that.
Most of them are just "there" and filled with flower mixes for insects, aka weeds.
Those aren't high value crops for me, but still, I'm seeing them as test subjects.

The soil is mostly highly organic and I built it up myself from scratch.
A big portion of it is actually mushroom mycelium blocks, aka decomposed hardwood and millet, with some rock meal, LECA and compost on top.
Maybe that information is relevant, idk.

I pay a lot of attention to the biological activity, e.g. earthworms and springtails. There seems to be lots of decomposition happening.

The pots are already in use for at least one year, and I've always watered them with tap water.

Now, the blackberries, growing in one of my oldest pots, the only one with a high clay content, is showing signs of a deficiency, even though I put more than enough organic fertiliser in it last yea

I have a few pots of soil I made myself on my balcony, and I wanna test following things:

• pH: I already have a pH testing rod for soil, but it seems to be very inaccurate.
  I also have a proper digital pH meter for my hydroponics, which is way more accurate. How do I test the soil in the liquid form? Are there any standards, so it is more comparable?
• Composition: Ratio of organic vs inorganic stuff, and also the water retention and aeration.
• Microbial and biological fingerprint: I saw a huge amount of earthworms last year, but this year, none at all. Did my ants kill them? Are they still there, but just beneath the soil?
  How well do the microbes feel? How active is the soil?
• Decomposition grade (I'm reusing the soil from the last years): how drained and compacted is my soil already?
• Are there harmful nematodes or whatever in there?
• The ratio of Calcium and Magnesium compared to other ions (I suspect nutrient lockouts due to tap water)
• etc.

As a backgrou

Cross post from !farming@slrpnk.net

Hey kids, I had an idea again. So I performed this highly scientific study.

Introduction

U know wound adhesive spray? It's basically super glue you spray on wounds to close them and prevent germs and dirt from entering.

Theory

If we share 50% of our DNA with bananas, then I have a 50/50 chance that it can also work on plants.

To verify this highly scientific theory, I made a small experiment.

Steps to reproduce

Step 1: Choose a victim.

I chose this poor motherfucker.

Step 2: Surgery

Grab the most disgusting and dullest knife you can find, and cut a dent in it.

Step 3: Spray adhesive on the cut

(I accidentally made a carni

Cross-post from !hydroponics@slrpnk.net

Dieses dumme Teil (2-in-1 Waschtrockner) ist mir verreckt und ich brauche jetzt, also zumindest die nächsten Tage, ein neues Gerät.

Erstmal nur die Waschmaschine, aber demnächst noch den dazugehörigen Trockner.

Ich scheiße kein Geld, also bitte keine Premium-Vorschläge, aber ich möchte schon etwas vernünftiges haben. Bei sowas spart man glaube ich am falschen Fleck.
Wenn ich bei dem Punkt falsch liege, und die günstigen Geräte genauso gut sind, dann sollte es am besten so günstig wie möglich sein.

Wichtig ist mir hauptsächlich die Lautstärke und Vibration. Es soll oben drauf noch der Trockner und ich will meine Nachbarn unter mir nicht belästigen.

Beim Trockner will ich unbedingt etwas energiesparendes haben, das vielleicht nicht all zu heiß arbeitet, keine Ahnung wie das heutzutage funktioniert.

Was könntet ihr mir empfehlen?
Und wie kaufe ich sowas? Lass ich mir das liefern, und kann ich das Altgerät direkt mitnehmen lassen?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21937555