Alocasia do great in semi hydro. The problem is pon. Pon is way too fine grained for Alocasia. They like it moist but chunky! That being said it's best to mix pon yourself. I'd recommend to mix 1 part lava 8-16mm (for aeration + stability), 1 part zeolites 8-16mm (saves water), 1 part pumice 5-8mm, 1 part pumice 8-16mm (aeration + water). Works great for all aroids and can be adjusted accordingly.
For everyone who wants to transition plants from soil to pon The most safe way and important thing is to clean the roots as perfect as possible, in a perfect way, there should be not a single bit of soil left on the roots, Than put the plant into clean water for 1-2 weeks until you see rhe plant starts growing water roots And than you can pot them into pon (best in a self watering pot)
One DIY pon vid I watched recommended 2 parts lava rocks, 2 parts pumice, and 1 part zeolite. If the zeo is mainly to manage pH, that makes sense that less is needed. Fortunately, I live in an area where black lava pebble rock is abundant, so I can drive 10 minutes from town and harvest away instead of buying. I have 2 bags of pumice, so all I need is the zeo from Home Despot. Lots of plastic drink cups that I've put in the recycle bin, so I'll go pull those out. I also have some of the produce netting from a bag of grapefruit. Thanks for helping me to reuse, cuz the less I buy, the better. I'm a poor plant parent
I moved all my aroids in pon some months back. Without transition period, directly to reservoir. I did clean the roots very very well, i broke some by mistake, but i didn't let any dirt on them. I had no problems whatsoever with any of the plants. In a few weeks i started to see new, sexy, white water roots. I never let the pon go dry, the reservoir is always full and i flush weekly. So far all my plants seem to be a lot more happier than they were in soil. I know i'm going against the current, but this seems to work for me.
That is awesome, I have heard of prople who have done this really well too, I am just not the best at getting everything off the roots, so I try to be on the side of caution 😊
i moved two ferns (the crocodille and birds nest) from coconut coir to pon, soaked them in a lot of water overnight first, then removed as much soil as possible, cleaned them up and just plopped them in the lechuza pot and voila. Three months in and they are doing well. One has to be indeed very careful and patient when cleaning the roots because they are so fine. i have also transferred begonia amphioxus and maculata without any preparation into self watering pot and pon, and they didnt even loose leaves. maybe i got lucky 😀 also on the big pot holes - i use orchid transplant pots with massive holes and i just dumb an amount of pon into it as fast as possible, to cover the bottom evenly. small amount will fall through, but the rest stays, and doesnt move anymore, once you have the plant established as well, you dont even need to be very careful when moving it, it will not fall out :-)
.. I just use my nursing pots.. I cut a paper coffee filter a wee little bigger then the bottom of the pot so the holes are covered, then the pon (mixed with perlite) and the plant and some water.. It works.. And those of my plants who grow in pon are way better than they ever was before.. Those in Leca are growing differently slow but steady, they just need more time to get used to it.. But surely doing much better.. I use Formulex from Growth Technology to all my plants, because it is for pon and Leca as for soil too.. Every 2 or 3 month I give my plants a complete flush clean.. I use my moisture meter or a chop stick to see if the pon is dry or still moist.. It's easy and plants are way better growing..
I’ve got a Blue Oil Fern that did very well transitioning from soil to Pon. I haven’t had the issue that you’ve experienced moving from soil to Pon. I moved 90% of my collection to Pon but my process is a little different. 1, make sure the reservoir is below the root system and 2, add mycorrhizal inoculant granules to the roots when transferring and 3) I add SuperThrive to water to help with transplant shock during the first few waterings.
I normally put leca on the very bottom of the pot, then orchid woodchips above that, then perlite above those and finally potting soil mix with worm castings on the top. I also mix some longterm release fertilizer granules in with the perlite. This gives a better airy mix down low where water normally pools, and the leca and woodchips hold moisture for a longer time while preserving air pockets for the roots, and the soil up top sends nutrients down each time you water from above. I rotate watering from the top and bottom watering every other time. It all seems to be working well for the past two months.
Greetings from Georgia, USA. Glad I saw this video! Just getting ready to order the wrong pots on Amazon. Also, just avoided a huge disaster by not transitioning my plants. Better to start cuttings in water and move to pon.
Thank the lord for this video! I got to the acclimation part and proceeded to charge around my house like a woman possessed taking all of my plants out of reservoirs 😂 I save everything plastic for planty purposes, Hartleys jelly pots are clear and are great for little propagations. Thanks for the brilliant video, you might well be my plants saviour! 💚
I had not even heard of pon until this past week. All of the planty content creators I watch have mentioned pon before but, I had no idea what they were talking about. Your video really broke down what it is and explained it. I appreciate you. Thanks!
I am growing plants in LECA/Pon from stem cuttings. My experience is that soil roots will start to rot sooner or later. The dry period between watering is a good idea, thank you ☘️💚🌿
Ha! I am getting two new big bags tomorrow in the mail. I will take about a liter of it and separate the ingredients. I'll get back to you with the measurements. LOL
Thank you! This is so informative and like many things about houseplants, obvious in retrospect, but this video saved me many tears and cash money. Cheers from NL.
Thank you for such a thorough video about the topic! It was great to have all the info in one video. You made it casual and chilled but packed it with info at the same time.
I have very little experience with pon at the moment. I was interested and had just bought a pot with reservoir and pon when my mini calathea rufibarba suddenly just got rid of most of its leaves. I had to cut nearly everything back, only 2 leaves were only still partically ok, it didn't look good at all, so I thought I should give it a try. I cleaned up all the roots, which were fine btw, and planted it in my freshly bought pot. It stabilised the plant, it didn't go any worse for a while and now it's finally giving me new leaves. I must say I started worrying about how my plants are going to survive when I go visiting my parents for a while, so I bought a few pots with water reservoir. But I don't really feel like disturbing plants that are doing well just for the sake of it. If a plant is having a rough time, doesn't feel at ease in its soil, then sure, I can repot it in pon, but... I don'T know, my alocasias are giving me so much growth, I don't want to mess it up. Same with my prayer plants. Maybe in full summer, when I'll get over 30°C in my living room, I'll struggle to keep them all moist enough to be comfortable and I'll change then. I'll see.
Hello and thank you for your very informative and entertaining videos! I thought I could mention what I do to be able to easily flush the cheaper version of self watering pots you showed at the end of your video. Prior to potting the plant in the pot I drill two holes in the plastic mask above the level of the reservoir. That way, flushing becomes a charm! 😊
One interesting fact about Lechuza Pon is that it is also marketed as a bonsai potting mix in addition to self-watering/semi-hydroponic culture in my country. Because it contains pumice (which is extremely hard to get on its own where I live), I have attempted to grow Haworthias which are succulent, some with fine roots, and some with thick roots. So far, Haworthias like this medium quite much. haworthias have the habit of waking-up from summer dormancy and regrow new roots in fall, so it's a good time to expose the roots and remove the dead ones before transplanting. I am going to extend the use to other succulents of the same family, including Aloes and Gasterias. Aloes seem to do well with coarser mediums as well. In an earlier attempt few years ago, I have grown Aloe Mitriformis in a pot full with nothing more than coarse tuffa pebbles, usually used for stone cover. The Aloe is still growing well and it may be hard to believe that it is growing in pebbles. The plants performed even better than ones planted in Perlite. Though cheaper and easier to get, Perlite is difficult to handle with all the dust it makes because it crushes easily. The dust is hazardous if inhaled and difficult to avoid. It dries too quickly even for succulents while Lechuza-Pon stores more water within the grains. So in the end, the expensive Lechuza-Pon is better than the cheap Perlite, which would also ruin your lungs. My new attempts this spring will include: 1- Comparative observation of succulents growing in Lechuza-Pon Vs. Aroid mix (coconut coir + perlite + coconut chips) 2- Rooting cuttings directly in Lechuza-Pon (Both succulents and non-succulent plants) 3- Attempting to repot cacti into Lechuza-Pon by removing the potting soil and trim the roots, to encourage new root growth into the Pon medium.
All of my alocasia grown plants I moved them from soil to water only and they are doing very well. The corms from them I started in a shallow container and then moved to leca
My multiple maidenhair ferns, silver brake fern, a blue star and a bird nest have all been thriving in pon for a year now. When transitioning I just dropped the entire rootball dirt and all onto a thin layer of pon (fern roots are way too much fuss to untangle and I gave up trying). Water roots develop incredibly fast on these ferns. If theres any con of using pon on ferns that’d be they bound onto the pon way too fast, and would turn into a very heavy brick of rock in no time…
Also my own 4’’ calathea makoyana went from soil to pon very smoothly… it might just vary from plant to plant…I did have more trouble transitioning thaumatophyllym, had two of them and both went into a year long transition and never really recovered ):
Hi Memo, I find Bonsai mesh quite useful as it lets water drain out and retains the mineral mix. And Bonsai mesh is reusable indefinitely. Greetings from Berlin! Marc
Thank you for all the tips! I didn't do the "acclimation" period and went straight for water reservoirs 😲 but miraculously all my plants seem ok, it has been a few months. So I guess they should be fine, but I will definitely leave the pon to dry out a little between refilling 😂
I have fern in Pon. Also my rhizome begonias. What I do is leave the root ball they come with and back fill and it works great. That’s the way the Swedish guy do.
I am putting all my Aglaonema's into pon. First i put them in water for a week or two. Change the water every few days and then after a week sometimes two weeks i first give them a good wash getting all the lose roots out and then put them in pon. They do just great. I have several of them in leca, also doing great (those in leca i bought them this way so i can't tell now the progress of those plants, but for the moment all goes well) Also my alocasia polly i did put her in water for a week and then into pon. This was months ago. She gives me one new leaf after the other and in all that time, i lost only one elderly leaf. My Hoya's i don't know yet how to transfer them, i am a bit afraid. I already put one into stratum and i'll leave it there for a few weeks seeing how it's doing and then into pon. I read putting plants from stratum into pon gives good results. Thank you for your video, very informative. Grtz from Belgium 🤩🤩🤩
Super useful. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you. I´m planning to move into pon with the water reservoir my maranta cuttings propagated in water with nice big water roots, I really hope they are going to be fine.
Such a helpful video!❤ I've only tried 3 plants in PON so far ( cuz I'm a wuss when it comes to my plants, lol) and all of them were rooted in water first. I have a Maranta, Alocasia Sarian, and a hoya villosa. They've all been in pon for at least 3 months and they're all super happy! I put them straight into a vessel with a resevoir, but if I was transitioning a plant from SOIL to pon then I'd definitely play it safe and have a transition period of draining the water through and letting it dry out👌 The only thing I've really done differently is that I add a slightly coarse perlite to the lechuza pon because their pon is REALLY dense and I wanted to provide a bit more air to the roots👍💚
@@Houseplantygoodness Well I can't take credit for that one, but the roots really do seem to enjoy it! I've seen a few people also add a bit of small grade Orchiada (which is a specific type of bark that a lot of orchid growers use that is ph balanced AND doesn't break down as fast as other barks) as well🤔 I've heard that mix works really well for hoyas especially! It'll be fun to play around with for different plants!
I hate leca for semi hydroponics but I love leca for the bottom of soil pots! It aerates the bottom of the pot so nicely and helps the soil dry much more evenly! I also don’t like pon either but I love semi hydroponics with stratum/perlite.
Exactly I transferred my blue oil fern to pon and immediately saw four new sprouts and so many more spores growing even on the oldest leaves! Can’t believe it’s a slow growing plant 😂
This was so informative. I have just started converting a few plants into L. pon and a few water rooted cuttings. I am so excited to see how they go, but will definitely be mindful of that “transition” period and avoid water reservoirs at the beginning. I have treated Pon a bit like I did Lecka, so I obviously need to hold off on the water quite a bit, so thanks for that advice 😊
Great video! I’ve used Pon for around 2 years now, my plants are mostly in terracotta (mostly Hoyas) but my bigger plants (monstera etc) are in self watering planters. I have successfully grown from cuttings and seed in pon but during this period and during transition I use canna Rhizotonic in my watering solution for the first few months and then move to LGL once they are established. Thanks for the heads up as I recently bought 2 of the cheap self watering pots 😬 and didn’t think about the flush, which is due soon and is going to be a right pain.
A lot of good information Memo! Nice hack with the vegetable net. I use orchid pots for my plants growing in pon. My only issue with that method is that its difficult to move it to a larger pot because many roots grow right through the slits in the pot. I end up breaking a few roots but they plants doesn't seem to care. And yes, can begonias love this medium. Thanks for your tips.
Well hallelujah for an honest review and update on PON . I lost 17 Hoya and 2 aroids due to root rot from either underwatering or overwatering . I did not use any reseviours only top watered. It was too difficult to gauge when the pon was dry or still wet or moist and I have gone back to good old reliable soil and sticking a soil water meter into the soil is by far easier in my opinion and if a plant is thriving in soil why change it. I get why it is so attractive to put plants in PON as it looks good cuts down on bugs but in my opinion starting from a very small plant or cutting is the only way that it truly works without losing some plants along the way. I would love to see some updates from the TH-cam videos I’ve seen where people have put mature plants into PON abd tell us they are thriving LOL I wonder how many they actually lose .
@@flo.b2684 well I am envious of your success 😊 I seriously still do not know why or how I went wrong. I feel I let the pon dry out for to long but I read somewhere not to water for at least a week and a half after transferring to pon. I think there are way to many variables with using it, doesn’t seem to be one direct method. And that’s what confused me. Good luck with your plants!
@@bronwolff6335 I went straight to reservoir, without the transition period and i never let the pon dry out. I was thinking those new water roots would crisp and then rot if they are not moist all the time. I don't have any hoyas though, only aroids. I moved to pon 43 of my soil plants and they are all alive and definitely happier.
@@flo.b2684 I’m truly amazed at your success compared to my failure 😊 how long have they been in pon ? And I was told reseviours were useless for first couple months until the plants had grown water roots .
@@bronwolff6335 From the first plant i transferred to the last, they have been in pon for 6 to 4 months. I went straight to reservoir cause i'm really impacient, but it worked well for me. I was scared at the beginning and i started with the easiest plants(ph. squamiferum, silver sword, florida) and after a month the rest of them. Only lost 2 leaves on mexicanum and one leaf on my royal queen. I think the secret is to clean really really well all the dirt from the roots. Mexicanum and royal queen were grown in sphagnum and i couldn't completely remove all the moss.
Those cuttings that I first propagated in water do wonderfully in pon. But not everything propagates in water….can calathea cuttings propagate in water?
Do you know Lechuza says it is not necessary to remove the plant from the soil before putting it in the pon? I am torn over this, because I have been removing the soil as soon as I get the plants. Place in the pon and right into a semi hydro set up. I have 20 Alocasias, and just got a Jacklyn, that I have waited so long for, and I don't want to kill it. The grower said not to remove the soil pod, but I have no intention of keeping it in soil. Have you ever left the plant in it's pod and put it into the pon? My Frydek, Black Velvet, Melo, Zebrina, and all the Dragons are doing fantastic, with roots coming out the bottom of the orchid pots. I only started with the Aolcasias 6 months ago. I have 15/20 orchids that are in Leca and semi hydro, they are 2/3 years old. 6 are just starting to put out their flower spikes. I had many more orchids, but lost many in bark. Then I switched to full hydro on a wet/ dry cycle, and still lost plants, then it was semi hydro with just water, lost more. Hitting on Leca and semi hydro has been a life saver. I flush weekly and use weak hydroponic nutrients with every water change. All my plants are in one room, with heat, humidity and grow lights. I really don't know where to go with the Jacklyn, what would you suggest? I was really impressed with your video! Thanks much for you input🤔
You’re great! Appreciate your insight. Super helpful info as im a newbee to pon. Do you have any experience using Super Thrive or Great White Myco to help with transitioning?
Thank you. This has been extremely helpful. I had no idea how this worked and i am going to do this with a cutting from a pothos first. Just so i can get my feet wet. I was thinking that hoyas would do well in Pon. What are your thoughts on that?
Hi. Thanks so much for your videos, they really have been a game changer for me. I’m just about to transition from soil to Lechusa Pon and will be using the Liquid Gold Leaf fertiliser. My question is should I wait for 6 months before introducing this as the pon already has a slow release fertiliser in it? Many thanks.
Thanks Memo! I'm so glad you shared this information! I have an extensive Alocasia collection. Some Hoyas, several Calathea, and quite a few other things. I am having troubles with dried areas on leaves. I think the bound roots cannot breathe on some of my established plants in soil. I think I need to transplant to pon. I purchased Lecuza Pon with fertilizer. Do you have any experience with the fertilized lecuza pon? I'm hoping it won't burn my plants. I'm very hesitant to transplant my large 10 leafed sting ray. I don't want to damage any part of it.
In mineralic substrates it is all about ph and ec/tds... Fresh mineralic substrate normally has a pretty (too) high ph level (7,5 +)in the beginning. Especially Lechuza pon is suboptimal for young plants because of the nutritions which Lechuza puts in it. Way too much for the sensitive roots of young plants.
I have pon in clear plastic pots but just after a few hours I don’t see any condensation on the sides of any part of the plant. Has anyone got the same issue or any tips about figuring out when I should water? 😅
Good luck 🤞 I struggled with this and got root rot with most of my hoyas . I tossed the pon have cut back and put all Hoya in perlite and hope for the best . They were so happy in soil so I learnt a lesson . Don’t fix things that aren’t broken .
i’ve used pon and initially liked it, my plants thrived. i used reservoir pots but didn’t fill them with water. …… and then i went away so filled the reservoirs … and then they rotted .. pon holds water for quite some time . killed nearly all my monsteras and philos 😢
Thank you so much. This is wonderful! But I find myself incredibly distracted by your hands waving around constantly so I forget most of what you say and have to back track, 😂
Is there any danger to treating the pon transition like a water propogation? So like u pot the plant in pon and then fill the pot with water up to the roots?
Hey yeah the one I always trust is houseplant expert by Dr hessayon, but it's an old book that you probably need to find second hand, and another good one that will be coming soon is Jane Perrone book from on the ledge podcast
I have to say everytime I hear people talk about how great pon is, they then continue to talk about all these things that sound like a huge pain and end up highlighting the disadvantages 🤷♀️
I find it interesting you’re teaching us all about Pon when you basically have just been struggling to have any success with it. You said you have no ability to convert plants to leca, and literally everything you bring out you say how horrible it did. You need to figure it out before you just go and make a how to video.. you definitely haven’t figured it out yet
Actually, I’ll say I learned a lot from the video. We get to learn from his mistakes so we don’t have to make the same ones for ourselves! I am going to start my journey with pon going from water prop cuttings (instead of taking plants currently rooted in soil) - something he suggested. He’s shared so much great info in this video and others ❤️❤️
Exactly. He is teaching us things to avoid doing, so that we don’t make the same mistakes ourselves. Rather him being honest and confident to own up on things, rather than acting as if he knows everything and never once made a mistake. Everyone learns from mistakes. Open your perspectives a bit and be grateful.
lol 1. Don’t tell people to be grateful 2. Maybe you’re learning something but I’m not. This was a waste of my time. You’re offended by my opinion but guess who isnt, the creator of this content. The world could use less of this internet bravery, you come here trying to educate me how I should think… I don’t know where you’re from, but I’m not a communist… I think for myself. So why don’t you go and be grateful we all get to say what we want here, and leave me the hell alone; Because I couldnt care less about what you had to say.
Alocasia do great in semi hydro. The problem is pon. Pon is way too fine grained for Alocasia. They like it moist but chunky! That being said it's best to mix pon yourself. I'd recommend to mix 1 part lava 8-16mm (for aeration + stability), 1 part zeolites 8-16mm (saves water), 1 part pumice 5-8mm, 1 part pumice 8-16mm (aeration + water). Works great for all aroids and can be adjusted accordingly.
For everyone who wants to transition plants from soil to pon
The most safe way and important thing is to clean the roots as perfect as possible, in a perfect way, there should be not a single bit of soil left on the roots,
Than put the plant into clean water for 1-2 weeks until you see rhe plant starts growing water roots
And than you can pot them into pon (best in a self watering pot)
Thanks for the info. Can I pls ask why it’s best to do in a self watering pot?
One DIY pon vid I watched recommended 2 parts lava rocks, 2 parts pumice, and 1 part zeolite. If the zeo is mainly to manage pH, that makes sense that less is needed. Fortunately, I live in an area where black lava pebble rock is abundant, so I can drive 10 minutes from town and harvest away instead of buying. I have 2 bags of pumice, so all I need is the zeo from Home Despot. Lots of plastic drink cups that I've put in the recycle bin, so I'll go pull those out. I also have some of the produce netting from a bag of grapefruit. Thanks for helping me to reuse, cuz the less I buy, the better. I'm a poor plant parent
Wow. That works out perfectly!
I moved all my aroids in pon some months back. Without transition period, directly to reservoir. I did clean the roots very very well, i broke some by mistake, but i didn't let any dirt on them. I had no problems whatsoever with any of the plants. In a few weeks i started to see new, sexy, white water roots. I never let the pon go dry, the reservoir is always full and i flush weekly. So far all my plants seem to be a lot more happier than they were in soil. I know i'm going against the current, but this seems to work for me.
That is awesome, I have heard of prople who have done this really well too, I am just not the best at getting everything off the roots, so I try to be on the side of caution 😊
@@Houseplantygoodness Is it ok to rinse the roots before repotting?
Do you use your own pon mix? That's awesome!
i moved two ferns (the crocodille and birds nest) from coconut coir to pon, soaked them in a lot of water overnight first, then removed as much soil as possible, cleaned them up and just plopped them in the lechuza pot and voila. Three months in and they are doing well. One has to be indeed very careful and patient when cleaning the roots because they are so fine. i have also transferred begonia amphioxus and maculata without any preparation into self watering pot and pon, and they didnt even loose leaves. maybe i got lucky 😀 also on the big pot holes - i use orchid transplant pots with massive holes and i just dumb an amount of pon into it as fast as possible, to cover the bottom evenly. small amount will fall through, but the rest stays, and doesnt move anymore, once you have the plant established as well, you dont even need to be very careful when moving it, it will not fall out :-)
This is such a helpful video, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!
.. I just use my nursing pots.. I cut a paper coffee filter a wee little bigger then the bottom of the pot so the holes are covered, then the pon (mixed with perlite) and the plant and some water.. It works.. And those of my plants who grow in pon are way better than they ever was before.. Those in Leca are growing differently slow but steady, they just need more time to get used to it.. But surely doing much better.. I use Formulex from Growth Technology to all my plants, because it is for pon and Leca as for soil too.. Every 2 or 3 month I give my plants a complete flush clean.. I use my moisture meter or a chop stick to see if the pon is dry or still moist.. It's easy and plants are way better growing..
Are u still adding perlite? Sounds like a good idea
I’ve got a Blue Oil Fern that did very well transitioning from soil to Pon. I haven’t had the issue that you’ve experienced moving from soil to Pon. I moved 90% of my collection to Pon but my process is a little different. 1, make sure the reservoir is below the root system and 2, add mycorrhizal inoculant granules to the roots when transferring and 3) I add SuperThrive to water to help with transplant shock during the first few waterings.
I normally put leca on the very bottom of the pot, then orchid woodchips above that, then perlite above those and finally potting soil mix with worm castings on the top. I also mix some longterm release fertilizer granules in with the perlite. This gives a better airy mix down low where water normally pools, and the leca and woodchips hold moisture for a longer time while preserving air pockets for the roots, and the soil up top sends nutrients down each time you water from above. I rotate watering from the top and bottom watering every other time. It all seems to be working well for the past two months.
Greetings from Georgia, USA.
Glad I saw this video!
Just getting ready to order the wrong pots on Amazon. Also, just avoided a huge disaster by not transitioning my plants. Better to start cuttings in water and move to pon.
Thank the lord for this video! I got to the acclimation part and proceeded to charge around my house like a woman possessed taking all of my plants out of reservoirs 😂 I save everything plastic for planty purposes, Hartleys jelly pots are clear and are great for little propagations. Thanks for the brilliant video, you might well be my plants saviour! 💚
Ahhhh glad I could help, yep yep reuse as much as possible 😁
I had not even heard of pon until this past week. All of the planty content creators I watch have mentioned pon before but, I had no idea what they were talking about. Your video really broke down what it is and explained it. I appreciate you. Thanks!
I am growing plants in LECA/Pon from stem cuttings. My experience is that soil roots will start to rot sooner or later. The dry period between watering is a good idea, thank you ☘️💚🌿
Ha! I am getting two new big bags tomorrow in the mail. I will take about a liter of it and separate the ingredients. I'll get back to you with the measurements. LOL
Excellent we can finally crack the recipe then 😉😂
This is EXACTLY the kind of information I have been needing in regard to PON - specific, detailed, and super helpful (thankyousoverymuch)!
Awww I am so glad it was useful 😊 😊 😊
The explanation about the holes in the netting answered the question of my past fails in soil and pon. Many thanks 😊
I enjoy ur channel, it's quite informative & I am appreciating ur sense of "u do u" as well as ur sense of humor! Thank u & keep up the great work❣
Thank you! This is so informative and like many things about houseplants, obvious in retrospect, but this video saved me many tears and cash money. Cheers from NL.
Thank you for such a thorough video about the topic! It was great to have all the info in one video. You made it casual and chilled but packed it with info at the same time.
Awww amazing so glad you enjoyed and found it useful 💚🌿🙏
I have very little experience with pon at the moment. I was interested and had just bought a pot with reservoir and pon when my mini calathea rufibarba suddenly just got rid of most of its leaves. I had to cut nearly everything back, only 2 leaves were only still partically ok, it didn't look good at all, so I thought I should give it a try.
I cleaned up all the roots, which were fine btw, and planted it in my freshly bought pot. It stabilised the plant, it didn't go any worse for a while and now it's finally giving me new leaves.
I must say I started worrying about how my plants are going to survive when I go visiting my parents for a while, so I bought a few pots with water reservoir. But I don't really feel like disturbing plants that are doing well just for the sake of it. If a plant is having a rough time, doesn't feel at ease in its soil, then sure, I can repot it in pon, but... I don'T know, my alocasias are giving me so much growth, I don't want to mess it up. Same with my prayer plants. Maybe in full summer, when I'll get over 30°C in my living room, I'll struggle to keep them all moist enough to be comfortable and I'll change then. I'll see.
Hello and thank you for your very informative and entertaining videos! I thought I could mention what I do to be able to easily flush the cheaper version of self watering pots you showed at the end of your video. Prior to potting the plant in the pot I drill two holes in the plastic mask above the level of the reservoir. That way, flushing becomes a charm! 😊
One interesting fact about Lechuza Pon is that it is also marketed as a bonsai potting mix in addition to self-watering/semi-hydroponic culture in my country. Because it contains pumice (which is extremely hard to get on its own where I live), I have attempted to grow Haworthias which are succulent, some with fine roots, and some with thick roots. So far, Haworthias like this medium quite much. haworthias have the habit of waking-up from summer dormancy and regrow new roots in fall, so it's a good time to expose the roots and remove the dead ones before transplanting.
I am going to extend the use to other succulents of the same family, including Aloes and Gasterias. Aloes seem to do well with coarser mediums as well. In an earlier attempt few years ago, I have grown Aloe Mitriformis in a pot full with nothing more than coarse tuffa pebbles, usually used for stone cover. The Aloe is still growing well and it may be hard to believe that it is growing in pebbles. The plants performed even better than ones planted in Perlite. Though cheaper and easier to get, Perlite is difficult to handle with all the dust it makes because it crushes easily. The dust is hazardous if inhaled and difficult to avoid. It dries too quickly even for succulents while Lechuza-Pon stores more water within the grains. So in the end, the expensive Lechuza-Pon is better than the cheap Perlite, which would also ruin your lungs.
My new attempts this spring will include:
1- Comparative observation of succulents growing in Lechuza-Pon Vs. Aroid mix (coconut coir + perlite + coconut chips)
2- Rooting cuttings directly in Lechuza-Pon (Both succulents and non-succulent plants)
3- Attempting to repot cacti into Lechuza-Pon by removing the potting soil and trim the roots, to encourage new root growth into the Pon medium.
All of my alocasia grown plants I moved them from soil to water only and they are doing very well. The corms from them I started in a shallow container and then moved to leca
My multiple maidenhair ferns, silver brake fern, a blue star and a bird nest have all been thriving in pon for a year now. When transitioning I just dropped the entire rootball dirt and all onto a thin layer of pon (fern roots are way too much fuss to untangle and I gave up trying). Water roots develop incredibly fast on these ferns. If theres any con of using pon on ferns that’d be they bound onto the pon way too fast, and would turn into a very heavy brick of rock in no time…
Also my own 4’’ calathea makoyana went from soil to pon very smoothly… it might just vary from plant to plant…I did have more trouble transitioning thaumatophyllym, had two of them and both went into a year long transition and never really recovered ):
Thank you for this! Finally a detailed, easy to understand video about pon!
Hi Memo,
I find Bonsai mesh quite useful as it lets water drain out and retains the mineral mix. And Bonsai mesh is reusable indefinitely.
Greetings from Berlin!
Marc
Thank you for all the tips! I didn't do the "acclimation" period and went straight for water reservoirs 😲 but miraculously all my plants seem ok, it has been a few months. So I guess they should be fine, but I will definitely leave the pon to dry out a little between refilling 😂
Yeah some of mine seem to do OK without the acclimation too for sure 😊
Fantastic info. I'm so appreciative!!!!
The whole onion(/garlic) netting idea is simply brilliant! Thanks a lot!
I have fern in Pon. Also my rhizome begonias. What I do is leave the root ball they come with and back fill and it works great. That’s the way the Swedish guy do.
I just had mine delivered today so this is perfect timing.
This is the best video I have seen on PON. No joke! There are so many videos out there but none as helpful! Thank you so much
I have Crocodile fern in Pon, but I give up on Alocasia (stingray, zebrina, cuprea, pink stem). Only my Alocasia silver dragon that survived in Pon 💚
This was perfectly informative! Is there a more recent video that includes this topic? Wish me luck as I start my pon journey. Lol🌿
My Calatheas, Alocasia Amazonica and Silver Dragonscale are in Leca as well as every other plant in my care and have never looked better. Go figure😊
I am putting all my Aglaonema's into pon. First i put them in water for a week or two. Change the water every few days and then after a week sometimes two weeks i first give them a good wash getting all the lose roots out and then put them in pon. They do just great. I have several of them in leca, also doing great (those in leca i bought them this way so i can't tell now the progress of those plants, but for the moment all goes well) Also my alocasia polly i did put her in water for a week and then into pon. This was months ago. She gives me one new leaf after the other and in all that time, i lost only one elderly leaf. My Hoya's i don't know yet how to transfer them, i am a bit afraid. I already put one into stratum and i'll leave it there for a few weeks seeing how it's doing and then into pon. I read putting plants from stratum into pon gives good results. Thank you for your video, very informative. Grtz from Belgium 🤩🤩🤩
Super useful. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you. I´m planning to move into pon with the water reservoir my maranta cuttings propagated in water with nice big water roots, I really hope they are going to be fine.
Just monitor it for a bit, but based on my experience if it has healthy water roots you should be good😊
Such a helpful video!❤ I've only tried 3 plants in PON so far ( cuz I'm a wuss when it comes to my plants, lol) and all of them were rooted in water first. I have a Maranta, Alocasia Sarian, and a hoya villosa. They've all been in pon for at least 3 months and they're all super happy! I put them straight into a vessel with a resevoir, but if I was transitioning a plant from SOIL to pon then I'd definitely play it safe and have a transition period of draining the water through and letting it dry out👌 The only thing I've really done differently is that I add a slightly coarse perlite to the lechuza pon because their pon is REALLY dense and I wanted to provide a bit more air to the roots👍💚
Ohhhh that is such a good idea a more course pumice addition 💚🌿 love it
@@Houseplantygoodness Well I can't take credit for that one, but the roots really do seem to enjoy it! I've seen a few people also add a bit of small grade Orchiada (which is a specific type of bark that a lot of orchid growers use that is ph balanced AND doesn't break down as fast as other barks) as well🤔 I've heard that mix works really well for hoyas especially! It'll be fun to play around with for different plants!
I hate leca for semi hydroponics but I love leca for the bottom of soil pots! It aerates the bottom of the pot so nicely and helps the soil dry much more evenly! I also don’t like pon either but I love semi hydroponics with stratum/perlite.
Exactly I transferred my blue oil fern to pon and immediately saw four new sprouts and so many more spores growing even on the oldest leaves! Can’t believe it’s a slow growing plant 😂
Plant swap in London!? Wow just wow. Love that I idea for me so fun. Anyway thanks for this detailed video about PON. Extremely helpful to a newb😊
Thanks Memo! Lots of good useful info this video!! 💚💚
No problem 😊 glad it was useful 😊
This was so informative. I have just started converting a few plants into L. pon and a few water rooted cuttings. I am so excited to see how they go, but will definitely be mindful of that “transition” period and avoid water reservoirs at the beginning. I have treated Pon a bit like I did Lecka, so I obviously need to hold off on the water quite a bit, so thanks for that advice 😊
Hi, thank you so much for sharing the knowledge you've accumulated on the matter. I've subscribed and clicked the notification bell.
Great video! I’ve used Pon for around 2 years now, my plants are mostly in terracotta (mostly Hoyas) but my bigger plants (monstera etc) are in self watering planters. I have successfully grown from cuttings and seed in pon but during this period and during transition I use canna Rhizotonic in my watering solution for the first few months and then move to LGL once they are established. Thanks for the heads up as I recently bought 2 of the cheap self watering pots 😬 and didn’t think about the flush, which is due soon and is going to be a right pain.
Very very informative. Tysm! 😊🌹🌿
A lot of good information Memo! Nice hack with the vegetable net. I use orchid pots for my plants growing in pon. My only issue with that method is that its difficult to move it to a larger pot because many roots grow right through the slits in the pot. I end up breaking a few roots but they plants doesn't seem to care. And yes, can begonias love this medium. Thanks for your tips.
The roots will go through the net anyways. I use finer net and the roots still end up in the reservoir.
Well hallelujah for an honest review and update on PON . I lost 17 Hoya and 2 aroids due to root rot from either underwatering or overwatering .
I did not use any reseviours only top watered. It was too difficult to gauge when the pon was dry or still wet or moist and I have gone back to good old reliable soil and sticking a soil water meter into the soil is by far easier in my opinion and if a plant is thriving in soil why change it. I get why it is so attractive to put plants in PON as it looks good cuts down on bugs but in my opinion starting from a very small plant or cutting is the only way that it truly works without losing some plants along the way. I would love to see some updates from the TH-cam videos I’ve seen where people have put mature plants into PON abd tell us they are thriving LOL I wonder how many they actually lose .
I moved all my mature plants from soil to pon. They are trully happy.
@@flo.b2684 well I am envious of your success 😊 I seriously still do not know why or how I went wrong. I feel I let the pon dry out for to long but I read somewhere not to water for at least a week and a half after transferring to pon. I think there are way to many variables with using it, doesn’t seem to be one direct method. And that’s what confused me. Good luck with your plants!
@@bronwolff6335 I went straight to reservoir, without the transition period and i never let the pon dry out. I was thinking those new water roots would crisp and then rot if they are not moist all the time. I don't have any hoyas though, only aroids. I moved to pon 43 of my soil plants and they are all alive and definitely happier.
@@flo.b2684 I’m truly amazed at your success compared to my failure 😊 how long have they been in pon ? And I was told reseviours were useless for first couple months until the plants had grown water roots .
@@bronwolff6335 From the first plant i transferred to the last, they have been in pon for 6 to 4 months. I went straight to reservoir cause i'm really impacient, but it worked well for me. I was scared at the beginning and i started with the easiest plants(ph. squamiferum, silver sword, florida) and after a month the rest of them. Only lost 2 leaves on mexicanum and one leaf on my royal queen. I think the secret is to clean really really well all the dirt from the roots. Mexicanum and royal queen were grown in sphagnum and i couldn't completely remove all the moss.
Such great info. Thank you.
Thank you! That cleared up some things I wasn’t sure about.
"Swedish Plantguys" is the Channel about pumice. And they talk about a lot of other stuff with great experience.
Oh! Before I saw this, I put my rabbits foot fern into PON. Not the best but maybe adjusting. 🤞🏻
this has helped so much! thanks :)
So good. Great Info! TY!!!
Great video!
Really informative. Thank you
You could use coffee filter paper in the bottom of your POTs just cut up both sides then you have two
Those cuttings that I first propagated in water do wonderfully in pon. But not everything propagates in water….can calathea cuttings propagate in water?
Thanks for sharing.
Very informative thank you 👍
Do you know Lechuza says it is not necessary to remove the plant from the soil before putting it in the pon? I am torn over this, because I have been removing the soil as soon as I get the plants. Place in the pon and right into a semi hydro set up. I have 20 Alocasias, and just got a Jacklyn, that I have waited so long for, and I don't want to kill it. The grower said not to remove the soil pod, but I have no intention of keeping it in soil. Have you ever left the plant in it's pod and put it into the pon? My Frydek, Black Velvet, Melo, Zebrina, and all the Dragons are doing fantastic, with roots coming out the bottom of the orchid pots. I only started with the Aolcasias 6 months ago. I have 15/20 orchids that are in Leca and semi hydro, they are 2/3 years old. 6 are just starting to put out their flower spikes. I had many more orchids, but lost many in bark. Then I switched to full hydro on a wet/ dry cycle, and still lost plants, then it was semi hydro with just water, lost more. Hitting on Leca and semi hydro has been a life saver. I flush weekly and use weak hydroponic nutrients with every water change. All my plants are in one room, with heat, humidity and grow lights. I really don't know where to go with the Jacklyn, what would you suggest? I was really impressed with your video! Thanks much for you input🤔
Folllowing
My alocasia is really struggling so at least I know it's not just me! I've now added a wick to see if that helps - do you use wicks at all?
Great video. i wish you make a video about to make your nutrient solution for semi-hydro.
You’re great! Appreciate your insight. Super helpful info as im a newbee to pon. Do you have any experience using Super Thrive or Great White Myco to help with transitioning?
Thank you. This has been extremely helpful. I had no idea how this worked and i am going to do this with a cutting from a pothos first. Just so i can get my feet wet. I was thinking that hoyas would do well in Pon. What are your thoughts on that?
Enjoyed your video
Hi. Thanks so much for your videos, they really have been a game changer for me. I’m just about to transition from soil to Lechusa Pon and will be using the Liquid Gold Leaf fertiliser. My question is should I wait for 6 months before introducing this as the pon already has a slow release fertiliser in it?
Many thanks.
Thanks Memo! I'm so glad you shared this information! I have an extensive Alocasia collection. Some Hoyas, several Calathea, and quite a few other things. I am having troubles with dried areas on leaves. I think the bound roots cannot breathe on some of my established plants in soil. I think I need to transplant to pon. I purchased Lecuza Pon with fertilizer. Do you have any experience with the fertilized lecuza pon? I'm hoping it won't burn my plants.
I'm very hesitant to transplant my large 10 leafed sting ray. I don't want to damage any part of it.
if this helps, I've used baking paper to stop the pon bits from going into the drainage holes
I have 3 asparagus fern plants in leca that I propagated. They have grown like crazy. I'm new to pon and trying to get more information about it.
In mineralic substrates it is all about ph and ec/tds...
Fresh mineralic substrate normally has a pretty (too) high ph level (7,5 +)in the beginning.
Especially Lechuza pon is suboptimal for young plants because of the nutritions which Lechuza puts in it. Way too much for the sensitive roots of young plants.
Hi Memo! What is the name of the long corrugated leaf to your right? It's shaped sort of like a melano but with a ton of ripples
if you had to choose between pon and potting mix for all your plants, what would you choose?
I have pon in clear plastic pots but just after a few hours I don’t see any condensation on the sides of any part of the plant. Has anyone got the same issue or any tips about figuring out when I should water? 😅
Good luck 🤞 I struggled with this and got root rot with most of my hoyas . I tossed the pon have cut back and put all Hoya in perlite and hope for the best . They were so happy in soil so I learnt a lesson . Don’t fix things that aren’t broken .
Do you let the water fully dry out for a few days?
i’ve used pon and initially liked it, my plants thrived. i used reservoir pots but didn’t fill them with water. …… and then i went away so filled the reservoirs … and then they rotted .. pon holds water for quite some time . killed nearly all my monsteras and philos 😢
I can I know when the fertilizer is not working?
A cooler
Thank you so much. This is wonderful! But I find myself incredibly distracted by your hands waving around constantly so I forget most of what you say and have to back track, 😂
Is there any danger to treating the pon transition like a water propogation? So like u pot the plant in pon and then fill the pot with water up to the roots?
Do you ever have a issue with white fuzzy mold on your PON? If so how do you get rid of it?
Hi.
Can you recommend a good book on houseplants, i,am based in the uk
Regards
Hey yeah the one I always trust is houseplant expert by Dr hessayon, but it's an old book that you probably need to find second hand, and another good one that will be coming soon is Jane Perrone book from on the ledge podcast
My alocasia zebrina is thriving in lechuza :)
Ohhh amazing, need to try that one in Pon then 😀
I use a really hot glue gun to melt holes.
I have to say everytime I hear people talk about how great pon is, they then continue to talk about all these things that sound like a huge pain and end up highlighting the disadvantages 🤷♀️
So if there's is a inner pot do I need to have a wick on the bottom?
Would dracean pothos or anthurium do well?
tbh…. using pots without draining holes is so weird.. doesn’t matter if it’s pon or soil, always use pots with holes for getting rid of excess water
I find it interesting you’re teaching us all about Pon when you basically have just been struggling to have any success with it.
You said you have no ability to convert plants to leca, and literally everything you bring out you say how horrible it did.
You need to figure it out before you just go and make a how to video.. you definitely haven’t figured it out yet
Actually, I’ll say I learned a lot from the video. We get to learn from his mistakes so we don’t have to make the same ones for ourselves! I am going to start my journey with pon going from water prop cuttings (instead of taking plants currently rooted in soil) - something he suggested. He’s shared so much great info in this video and others ❤️❤️
Learning what not to do is a huge help for me. He has figured a lot of things out with pon, and that will help me avoid those issues.
Exactly. He is teaching us things to avoid doing, so that we don’t make the same mistakes ourselves. Rather him being honest and confident to own up on things, rather than acting as if he knows everything and never once made a mistake. Everyone learns from mistakes. Open your perspectives a bit and be grateful.
lol 1. Don’t tell people to be grateful
2. Maybe you’re learning something but I’m not.
This was a waste of my time. You’re offended by my opinion but guess who isnt, the creator of this content.
The world could use less of this internet bravery, you come here trying to educate me how I should think… I don’t know where you’re from, but I’m not a communist… I think for myself.
So why don’t you go and be grateful we all get to say what we want here, and leave me the hell alone; Because I couldnt care less about what you had to say.