Hydroponics

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.

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.