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My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you so much, very glad to have you here! I try and be as honest as I can, and I kill plenty of stuff due to experimentation and a whole lot of unintentional neglect (lol). Trying to be a bit more meticulous about my smaller seedlings. The one advantage of killing stuff is you have more room for new stuff, right? 😉

Hey, thanks for watching! Yeah, the prices ave definitely come down on these guys since I posted this. The NSE Wendlis are still a bit more money but you can get them for $75-125 depending what size you're getting. Seedlings are the way to go if you can get your hands on one, so congrats! Let me know how it does and thanks for watching! 😃

Hey Kyle, thanks for watching! That's an excellent question and one I probably haven't addressed directly in a video anywhere (maybe I did, but indirectly? who knows...) I think I'm gonna note this one down for a future Q&A, but I won't leave you hanging in the meantime. 😉 In terms of up-potting, I have had issues with roots or root branches going THROUGH the wicking here and there, but not really to any major detriment to the roots systems. Often the wicking is loose enough woven that you can pull the roots back out without harming anything. Worst case is having to give the roots a trim, but that's not really all that terrible of an outcome. The other option when upsizing pots is just to take the existing substrate (whatever's sticking to the roots) along with the existing wicking and putting it through the holes of the new inner net pot. If the old wicking's not long enough you can always add some more and not have to worry too much about it. Personally, I just pull it out if it's stuck in the wicking and just re-do it in the new pot. Not usually a big deal! Hope this helps and thanks for watching! Appreciate your support! 🤘

Hey Eve! Thanks for the comment and for watching! This is a bit of a tricky question because I had some issues in my tent earlier this year that affected a number of my plants that were on the LECA poles. I'll try and do a video showing some of them off once they've recovered a bit, but I had to cut down a significant amount of them due to a major underwatering event (i.e. I was on vacation and a bunch of stuff dried out, unfortunately.) I can tell you without actually showing you that I've had really good experiences with the smaller poles - medium and small size work great with LECA. They hold the clay balls in there pretty good and don't "leak" too often during watering. Once roots start penetrating the pole, stuff barely moves at all in there. I would say that you either need to keep the wicking moist by watering at least once a week, or if you keep the "poled" plant in a tent or cabinet with pretty high (60%+) humidity, you can probably drop that watering schedule down to bi-weekly. My P. "Glorious" and a bunch of Syngoniums did really awesome on the LECA pole. The two Monsteras.I had tried it with, my Burle Marx "Flame" & my deliciosa albo, both got underwatered pretty severely, so I had to cut them back down quite a bit. They were on the large sized poles so I can't really speak for those right now until they recover and get back up to size again. All in all, I think the method works as long as you run the wicking with some give inside the pole, i.e. let it be loose in the pole so it has a little room to wrap around the LECA as you fill it. Also, make sure to top off the LECA in the pole intermittently as the plant grows. If you forget, the plant will grow INTO the pole, which is no fun - my Glorious did this and it was a HUGE pain in the ass to pull the growth point back out of the inside of the pole without breaking it. Hope this helps! I'll try and include an update on the LECA pole method in a future video, I just need to give it a couple of months for things to recover. Thanks again for the question!

@@theproppist Big thanks for the lengthy answer! 😄 Looking forward for a video update in the future. In the main while I've started a Monstera on a leca pole, hope I made the right choice in giving it a try 😊

Hey there! No, there is absolutely no reason you can't use a nursery pot for semi-hydro if you have it inside of a container or cache-pot, if that's what you have on hand. It's not ideal, but it will work. Just make sure to clean off any soil before you do the semi-hydro transfer (from both the plant and the nursery pot.) The only reasons I'd say NOT to use a nursery pot would be: 1️⃣ - The plastic might not be the greatest quality as nursery pots are usually pretty cheaply made, so it may go brittle and then you'd have a bit of a tougher time transplanting or repotting later, or keeping a reservoir. 2️⃣ - Nursery pots often have pretty large drainage holes, so your Lechuza pon may spill out into the outer container or cache pot, which can be a bit of a pain in the butt. You can avoid this by either putting a LECA layer (larger particles) at the bottom, or if your pot's holes are too big for that, adding some mesh at the bottom before you lay down your substrate. 3️⃣ - Sometimes nursery pots only have a couple of small holes on the bottom, which can make running wicking into your reservoir kind of difficult. This isn't always the case so feel free to play it by ear. As long as the drainage from the inner pot is decent, you should be fine. You can always either drill or use a soldering iron to add some additional holes if necessary. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further Qs!

@@theproppist thank you so much for that detailed response! That helped a lot 👍❤️

Glad I could help! 🤘🏽

@MyLocksMyPlants Thank you! It's not quite up there with @kevin.'s (HakunaLaPlanta) but I'm pretty proud of it. Probably time to upsize the pot it's been in for >2 years, though... lol. 😂

@theproppist lol it looks great! gotta do what ya can when you have time lol

If it makes you feel any better, I did the same. I had bought one off Facebook a couple of years back when I was first piecing together my grow tent, then once I had it setup I realized I didn't need it at all. I ended up reselling it for the same price I paid for it. Worked out! 🤷‍♂️

I’ve never used distilled water in my humidifiers and they work fine.

Thanks for the comment! It’s kinda the same deal with humidifiers across the board… it’ll run fine on tap but it’ll eventually gunk up with sediment and mineral build up and conk out on you. I have the same issue with my CPAP machine but since that one goes on my face for hours I need to be a little more careful about it. 😆

Yeah, the perlite containers had a airflow issues until I started cutting holes into the tops. Those were a couple of my earlier attempts that failed pretty miserably. I just kept them around for demonstration purposes... they're gone now. 😉 I'll definitely check out Cannazym... the world of cannabis cultivation can teach us aroid collectors and semi-hydro/hydroponics buffs so much, they've been doing this stuff for decades. I think folks just need to be more open-minded to knowledge sharing since we're all basically doing similar things. I found it on Amazon so I may buy a bottle just to give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Hey Mona, thanks for watching! Golden Bones used to be quite a bit more expensive when I got mine back in... 2021? (I think.) I'm pretty sure you can snag one for cheap now, I'm not sure if they're in garden centres but I bet you can get one off Etsy or a local plant swap pretty easily. And if you're ever up in Vancouver, BC, let me know and I'm sure I can dig you up some corms. 😆

Thanks for watching! Much appreciated! 💚

I have a container of diatomaceous earth for outside garden use, but I've never used it indoors! The main reason I don't use it in my tent or cabinet is that I regularly use beneficial insects (with sprayings in between bug cycles). As far as I know, diatomaceous earth would be just as lethal to my beneficials just as much as it would kill the thrips, right? 🤷 Feel free to let me know if my assumption is off-base!

@@theproppist I never thought of that . I did hear we don't have access to the thrips medications in Alberta Canada anymore so diatomaceous earth saved my sister's plants from thrips it can be rinsed away later once the thrips are gone. I've also used it on ants to deter them from the house. They can be outside not inside

@Fixup1000 Hey Ruby! I'm in Vancouver, BC, Canada so I know exactly what you mean! Azamax and Bonide aren't available in Canada and you can't order them cross-border without doing some shady stuff to sneak them in. 😬 I know some plant shops (I won't name names, but hydroponics guys know what's what) carry small supplies here and there if you ask nicely, and sometimes folks can buy it down south and drive it up if you're stealthy enough about it. Either way, we're stuck with stuff that doesn't work as well, like pyrethrin (e.g. Safer's End-All), etc. That sucks, but the beneficial insects are available if you want to try them. I use GrowLiv (growlive.com) out of Ontario for mine, but there are shops you can order from in Alberta and BC, too, I just haven't tried them because the prices and shipping work out cheaper with GrowLiv. Also, the folks at GrowLiv are pretty awesome about helping out with suggestions and answering questions if you have any. I may actually have someone from there on an interview video later this year on this channel, keep an eye out for it. 😉

@@theproppist thanks for the info :) I run aquariums too so fish medications went away with the insecticides. Thanks for reaching out buddy🤩

Hey @heartinthecity! Thank you for watching. I just wanted to tell you that this comment made my day. I took a screenshot and showed my wife. 😃 Love that you found the video helpful and that it took the edge off somewhat! I'm trying to alternate this type of video into my stream of other planty content as I feel like it gives a bit more of a balanced view compared to the "buy buy buy" / FOMO mentality we all end up falling into when collecting. Since I started collecting close to 4 years ago, I've discovered I need to take a break now and then from buying for 2-3 months at a time just to reset and feel inspired by my collection - and honestly, to take better care of the plants I have, including getting rid of some stuff I don't feel too attached to, propagating, and ditching dead stuff. Seems like a natural balance to the collecting lifecycle and it brings quite a bit of respite when you start feeling a little overwhelmed or burnt out. Glad I was able to help and please let me know if there are any other topics you'd like me to cover! 💚

Hey Janice! Awesome that you've managed to do so well keeping your stuff alive! I tend to experiment with all sorts of risky plant behaviour so I probably kill way more than the average person. But that's part of the fun of it for me. I probably have 200+ around here including seedlings and props at this point, and I also work F/T with 3 kids, so I absolutely get it! I'm probably going to purge a few this summer to focus more on the ones I really want to grow big/spectacular. Props to you, 70 plants isn't easy!

40 pings!!... I'm starting to wonder if maybe YOU'RE the one who was selling me those damn things. 😂 I never actually saw her face... mostly COVID door pick-ups before I got wise and stopped buying them! TBH you're probably 100% right on how to keep them alive if you're lazy. The sphagnum thing, maybe with LECA underneath, I hate it for Anthuriums but it would probably work great to keep pings alive. Not that I'll ever know. 🤷‍♂️ 😆

Hahaha

I screenshotted this for my... ugghh.. scrapbook? Not sure what to call it. I don't think I can admit to having a scrapbook. Jokes aside, I love this though. Thank you. 😉

Haha if you can believe it, my twins picked the game they were going to play without any influence from me, I swear I didn't suggest anything! 🤯 I have to give 9-year-olds more credit, it seems. 😂

Hey Jack - since I keep the majority of my Alocasias in my cabinet or one of my grow tent (or some kind of enclosure with good lighting), I don't find they go into dormancy. When I did have them go dormant indoors previously, in the late fall/winter (before I had a tent/cabinet/etc.), I would chop them down and only water enough the keep the soil from totally drying out completely (i.e. minimally water, as you said) for an extended period of time. It's kind of like any other tuberous/bulbous(?) plant you'd plant outside. In Southeast Asia they tend to ship them bare-root as tubers. You can even dig them up in the winter time and keep them in a paper bag in room temperature over the dormancy period and re-plant them in the spring if you really want. I should mention that It's also similar to what I do with my pepper plants if I want to overwinter them, which is to cut them down to their bare stems (and their first couple of Y junctions), and then keep their container soil watered very infrequently. I use grow bags for my outdoor veggies, so putting the peppers in the garage for a few months isn't that big of a deal. I'm a lazy plant collector, though, so I use my grow lights and temp-controlled environments like cabinets and tents just to keep them from going dormant altogether. You can do this in your home by keeping them in a brighter, warm spot, and they'll be less likely to go dormant, but unless that temp/humidity/light is consistent, they may still do it.

@@theproppist thank you so much…I appreciate it…and enjoy your channel!

I hear **looking** at Anthuriums is probably the worst thing you can do. They tear, leaves brown off, thrips and spider mites attack out of the blue... and if you look at someone else's, you end up buying more. Horrible...! Now let's go scroll Instagram a little more... 😂 🔫 💥 And thanks for watching. That Anthurium at the start is my papi unknown hybrid x lux from @bagsplants on IG if you want to look him up. I have another one that's just starting to recover from being chopped down to a stump... really curious to see if it ends up growing to be like its big bro!

I deffo recyle leca. Boiling it works, some people bake it for 30 min etc. It is 100% reusable, so some coins and clean them badboys. It has to be full of dead rotted roots before i say eff it and toss it 😅

Hey Becky! Thanks for stopping by, appreciate the comment AND the sub! Glad you found it helpful. 😃 Like MISS Thomass said above, I always recycle my LECA. It's designed to be recyclable. There are a lot of ways to clean it, you can just use hot water and give it a good scrub (I think I've shown this in previous videos), or you can boil it (just use a cheap pot so you don't care if it gets damaged). The other options are to use cleaning products designed for semi-hydro like General Hydroponics FloraKleen. I think I have a link to it in the video description (if not, I'll add one.) It works well as a thing you do while flushing, but I'm pretty lazy about it. I usually just grab the shower head or a hose, throw stuff in a big dollar-store sieve outside, and hose it down until it looks clean. A little hydrogen peroxide (1oz per gallon of water) in your nutrient mix will also help cleaning things up (including algae.) Let me know if you have any other questions! I'm gonna need to do a Q&A video sometime soon.

Thank you Dan! Appreciate you watching (again)! And if you have ideas for future videos, let me know! 😊

Thank you Pamela! I've got a new tent build in the works so I think I'll probably film setting that up, since it's my 2nd tent I think I know what I'm doing a little better this time. Appreciate the suggestion and thanks for watching!

Thats great I look forward to it. Thank you

I know, right? Killing stuff is fine as long as you can come to grips with throwing some money out the window as a "learning experience". I've done so much of that (lol). But Instagram is the worst! 😆 I still can't avoid the lust from some of the new plants I see on there, but I'm trying to ration myself to only looking once or twice a day. Plant envy is the devil. 😈

Yes, I used to be really active on Instagram but you must make a publication everyday. It was more stressfull than fun. The most popular plants are the most expensive 😢 I have a small appartment that's why I can only have 50 plants if I want more I have to sell one 😁

@Emma_splants Hey Emma! Sorry I missed your reply in my comments feed! I know what you mean about posting to Instagram. I'm terrible about being consistent there (I'm @theproppist on IG) and it feels more like stress than fun. So I try just to post when I run into a new leaf or something interesting going on in my collection that actually inspires me to post, instead of trying to post on a schedule. TH-cam is my main platform and IG is basically just for fun right now, so I'm not going to waste a ton of effort on it until it actually matters to me. Plus, with their new paid account changes, it's starting to feel kind of "pay-to-win", which is really lame. For now, I'll just post when I feel like it's worthwhile and I'm inspired to do it... less stress is the way to go! Also, if you want to try and save some money on the "popular" plants (like Anthurium hybrids these days), I've joined some Facebook groups that do group orders and save everyone quite a lot of money. They tend to be regional groups so you'll need to find one in your local area (I'm guessing you're in Europe?), but they can save you a ton of money if you're willing to buy seedlings or seeds and do a little extra work to baby them as they grow. Hope that helps. 😊

@theproppist yes I do post only when I have new things to show. 😊 Yes I'm from Europe, from France more exactly do you know any group for Europe ? Thanks 😊

Hey Anna! If it makes you feel any better... I've lost a number of $175 seedlings and I literally just lost one this week that was particularly rough. I'm actually embarrassed to mention the name because it's a rather rare Anthurium I got from a well-known collector in Eastern Canada... sigh. I'm pretty careful about seedlings on a heat mat, tbh, if plants are in anything non-semi-hydro (e.g. sphagnum moss, tree fern, stratum.) I typically only put ones with really good root systems that have at least a 3" container on a heat mat. Anything smaller (e.g. 2" containers) will be inside a prop box or seedling tray and shouldn't make direct contact with the heat mat. It's way too easy for those things to go haywire and burn through your moss/TF in a day or two without you noticing and watering. I've had larger plants in moss go dry within a couple of days if I'm not paying attention. If you want to use a heat mat (and there are plenty of times I do), I'd recommend getting one with a thermostat included (I think I have one or two linked in this video description) so you can breathe a little easier and be less stressed about it.

@@theproppist If it makes you feel better, mine is a (carla x BVEP) x Carlablackiae. After shipping, it was $175ish. I'm dreading "the seller" asking for follow up photos...ugh.

For what it's worth, I would never send a follow-up photo past the initial unboxing if you really have to... if I paid for it, it's my problem. 😉 If you want to try and save a little cash, try getting in on some group orders. I'm pretty sure I saw a (carla x bvep) x carla going for <$100 as a small seedling or germinated seed not long ago on our group order. I don't remember the seller but it was probably from from the US Anthurium Addicts group. I can check if you want, but it sounds really familiar. The group orders are mostly awesome - there's some risk in that you're ordering pretty tiny plant, but they order a bunch and the cost per participant is always better. And better yet, the seller never knows you individually, so no follow-up photos needed. 😆

Oof I hear you, I finally started buying the big price tag plants this year and of course all of the things have started happening this year. Fungus gnats from a sellers moss, thrips from the S.O.s purchase, just some crazy root rot issues...I think I'm being over zealous due to the price tags and I have to remind myself my hoyas thrive on neglect, I don't need to helicopter parent the rest

@JessicaSugarTankLarson On the price, yeah, I'm trying to be a little more cautious there, too. I've been buying more seed batches and group orders that have brought the price down somewhat, but in those cases you're trading less cash for way more maintenance and stress on the initial growing front. Losing tiny seedlings kinda sucks but I'd argue it's still better than losing a large, mature plant. 🤷‍♂️ Gotta take the wins where you find them. 😉 I'm def not a helicopter parent, probably the opposite, I neglect stuff a little too long and then often underwatering leads to other problems, like bugs. The pests are a problem even for me, I have a spider mite outbreak literally happening right now that I'm trying to subdue. Out of everything, my hoyas are definitely the survivors, they're so succulent that they're nearly impossible to kill and as long as they have some relative humidity they will root pretty much anywhere along their vine, which is nice but a pain in the ass to maintain because they tend to go crazy! I think I have a reel on my IG (@theproppist) showing my Hoya mathilde infiltrating literally every crack in my Milsbo, lol. 😂

Thank you! 💚

Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions!

Hey Bobby! I'll have to check those out, I haven't seen the seeds sold locally so maybe it's worth importing them. I've only done Romas for my determinate tomatoes so far, but I'm totally game to trying some other interesting varieties.

@@theproppist Harris seeds

Sounds fantastic. I had tomatoes from previous years last into January (picked green at end of season and kept in paper bags) so I know what you mean. I'm no tomato expert so I love hearing this kind of advice. I've put all 3 of the tomatoes you suggested on my list for future grows, appreciate the feedback!

Hey Dulce! No need to be scared of transitioning to semi-hydro but I'll give you a couple of tips based on what you said re: things you'll want to be careful of or watch out for when you're doing it... - When you say "treated her for thrips", does that mean you had a thrips outbreak, or were you just doing a preventative treatment? Because I usually wouldn't recommend transferring to semi-hydro immediately after a major pest treatment on the plant, the plant will be stressed already and may have a hard time transitioning at the same time. If you were just doing a maintenance clean then no worries. - Overwatering in semi-hydro is thankfully pretty obvious (and it's even more visible if you use clear pots or at least a clear inner mesh/orchid pot.) When you're transitioning, just make sure that your new medium is throughly dampened (e.g. rinsed first) and when you put your inner/net pot inside the cover pot, make sure the lowest part of your plant's roots in the LECA/Pon are *just* above the water line. That's usually your safest bet to get started (in my experience), and your plant should transition a little easier. The only exceptions here (re: roots touching water) are if you had your plant's roots sitting in water for an extended period of time before the repot, in which case I think I'd probably submerge at least the bottom third of the roots for a few days to make the transition a little easier. Also, some cousins of Alocasias, like Colocasia or Caladium, are a little more tolerant of having wet roots, or in some cases prefer to be submerged all the time. Monsteras are also usually ok with getting their roots right in there, my Monsteras in LECA seem to end up with half their roots in the nutrient solution pretty damn quick... - Finally, after converting, plants will often look a little limp for a bit. That's fine, a bit of transition shock. It doesn't happen with everything but it's not that rare. I would still be careful since you said you did the thrips treatment the day before, and keep an eye out for any root rot. Some plants coming from soil (you didn't mention what your previous medium was) will often lose a lot of root mass before starting to grow new semi-hydro roots, just clean them out when you get a chance or on the next repot. Anyhow, hope that helps and I hope your plant has a smooth transition over to semi-hydro! Let me know if you have any other questions. 😉

Hi there - thanks for the question. Unfortunately I didn't have the best quality plants come through in the order in this video. I did one order a month or two afterwards and have 2 or 3 plants left from the second one, but that first order was a pretty shitty experience - I won't order from that supplier again. From the first order, I do still have the P. Caramel Marble, but I've kept it in a small container and it's sizing up very slowly. I'm also concerned that it's not even variegated, in which case I think my seller scammed me. I won't be sure until I take it out of its current enclosure and let it breathe a bit. The Monstera Mint died on me almost immediately, as did its replacement (well documented later in the channel and I discuss it in my next video as well), and the P. Red Andersons were all pretty much DOA. I had 2 of the batch that survived. One was attacked by mold well after I had it deflasked (couple of months later) and it had been doing pretty well prior - I think I probably should have done a better job of cleaning the plantlets on the way out of their original substrates. The second and final remaining Red Anderson unfortunately died while I was on vacation - it dried out on a heat mat I forgot I had left on, All in all, what I'd change in this video is the cleaning process. I would have spent much longer (15m+) cleaning the plantlets. Mold/fungal overgrowth seems to be the thing that gets you immediately if you don't clean all of the original media off properly and I don't think I did here. I'll have to do a post-mortem at some point but I'm honestly pretty burnt out by TC importing in general now. 😬 x

Hey Robyn! Thanks for the comment and for watching, glad you enjoyed it! And sorry for the late reply, got buried in my newer comments. 😬

thank you!! glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the joining the community! any questions, send them my way and I'll do my best to answer! 🤘

do it! you'll both enjoy the crap out of it and regret it forever like the rest of us addicts! 😉

@@theproppist 😆

it’s in every long form video I post! go check out my other vids 😝

hey! thanks for the comment. coco fiber is probably more of a sphagnum moss replacement, it absorbs water like nobody’s business (9:1 ratio or something like that). tree fern is more of a well-draining, less-absorbent substrate. they wouldn’t perform the same way. the best thing about tree fern is that it doesn’t stick to plant roots anywhere near as badly as sphagnum moss, it just washes right off when you transplant or repot, which is awesome. give it a try and you’ll see, it’s a super useful addition to your arsenal.

@@theproppist so are you thinking the Coco coir could actually be replaced with tree fern fiber? In an Aroid mix

hey there! no, I probably wouldn't do a one-for-one swap of coco fiber for tree fern because they serve different purposes. TF isn't nearly as absorbent, so if you wanted to use it in an aroid mix, you'd probably want to supplement with something absorbent (I've seen people mix it with potting soil as a simpler mix) as well. TF is also way more expensive than coco coir where I live, but maybe not in your neck of the woods. I usually work in almost full semi-hydro, so aroid mix isn't something I use around here much. I typically mix TF with perlite around 70/30 to 50/50 depending on the plant and size, mostly for rooting cuttings and for seedlings, new imports, or rehabs. I also use fluval stratum + perlite on rehabs, depending on the plant. once the plants have enough root growth, I move them into LECA or DIY Lechuza pon, or a combination with some perlite. hope this helps!

@theproppist sounds good I am mostly semi Hydro myself. I typically use cocoa core bark fiber in my Android mix . For corms, I typically use stratum and perlite 50/50. Thanks for your time in answering my questions.

glad to help if I can 🤘 - thanks for stopping by!