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 😇
(I shot the pics in the forest)
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 take a transparent box and add a few centimeters of LECA, which has been soaked thoroughly, because mosses are pretty sensitive to leftover minerals.
Then, I add distilled water just right below the surface. It is always kept wet by capillary action, while the moss sits above and gets hydrated.
The moss is plucked apart or cut with a pair of scissors. Every tiny leaf will grow to the original form it came from.
Then, the box is placed in a bright spot. Just make sure it isn't too hot, like it happened in my parents' greenhouse :(
Before:
After a too hot day (it was steamingly hot):
(Forest stew, yummy!)
If you grow it indoors, a sunny spot behind a curtain is great.
I will soon lightly spray fertilize it when I see good new growth, but be careful, it's very sensitive to too much salts.
I just started this project about one week ago, and I can give you an update in a few months if you're interested :)
I got the samples from nearby. The sphagnum is from a neighbour hobbyist with a bog garden, and the other mosses from forests in my surroundings. Make sure you respect your local wildlife when collecting.