Growing Carnivorous Plants and the need for sustainable alternatives to their conventional media

by Damien Vella August 16, 2022

Cephalotus in Peat & Sphagnum free mix

'One of the ironies we faced was wanting to conserve threatened carnivorous plants and other wetland species but, the very thing we were potting them in was destroying their habitat and creating much more damage for even more species.'

Carnivorous Plants are a fascinating group of plants that are able to sustain themselves & even thrive in low nutrient environments through the capture and digestion of insects.

Most Carnivorous Plant habitat consist of Peat moss and Sphagnum moss. Peat moss is basically partly decayed bog plants & Sphagnum moss formed under anaerobic conditions that has very slowly built up over time.

Peatmoss or Sphagnum moss is what a lot of these Carnivorous Plant species grow in naturally. It is the Peat and Sphagnum Moss that is mined from these wetland habitats, much of it used in the Horticultural Industry for things like:

- For acidic loving plants in the garden e.g Azaleas

- Propagation media

- Additive to potting mixes

- Indoor plants cultivation

- Carnivorous plant media

As you are hopefully realising, the very action and long term result of mining Peat moss or Sphagnum moss is not beneficial to the Carnivorous Plants and any other animal or plant that calls these often very old habitats home.

The culminating damage really is hard to comprehend, even measure. Removal ,mining ''Harvesting'' of Peat or Spahgnum moss spells immediate and long term local extinctions as well as hidden costs like aiding Global warming and even contaminating water supplies for those further down in the catchments.

One of the ironies we faced was wanting to conserve threatened carnivorous plants and other wetland species but the very thing we were potting them in was destroying their habitat and creating much more damage for even more species.

But whats the Solution?

Trialing and implementing alternative more sustainable potting mixes

To that end we have trialled a number of Carnivorous Plant species from a number of groups in Peat & Sphagnum free media! The results look promising with some of the plants in these alternative media for more than a few years. Most are in varying Potting mixes and sand, some in mulch and sand, some in pure potting mix made specially for our natives non-carnivores!

All of the following images are our Carnivorous Plants in Peat & Spahgnum free mixes

Drosera capensis