Some plants need a particular soil to grow, others can grow pretty much everywhere.
A peat is an interesting soil type. It is a humid environment essentially composed of decaying sphagnum which makes it a very acidic ground but also very poor in nutrients. Still as nature abhors vacuum, various trees, shrubs and flowers grow in this ecosystem. Amongst these are carnivorous plants. As the soil lacks minerals, some plants evolved to catch nutrients out of the ground such as insects.
To cultivate your own carnivorous plants, you will need to keep them in big buckets or build your own peat. An artificial peat needs to be big enough to sustain large temperature variation without losing all its water.
The building steps include:
- Digging a large hole in the ground (2 feet deep minimum, 2x1m is a good surface)
- Cover each side with an old carpet to contain roots and rodents and sharp rocks
- Line up the hole cavity with thick basin liner
- Hold the liner with large wooden beams or rocks (wood is preferable as it won’t release any minerals in the peat moss)
- Cut a side hole a few inches from the top to avoid any water overflow
- Fill with peat moss (25 bags for my own)
- Install plants taking care of their natural requirements (i.e. Darlingtonia and Sarracenia down a slope while Dionea and Cephalotus up the slope)
Make sure the peat is always humid in summer and cover it in winter to prevent from big frost.