The algae forms because the vase is clear and lets in light. I grow quite a few plants in pure leca with no drainage, but because I use opaque vases, I've never had even a hint of algae. Algae needs light to form. I love leca, and have been trying to convert as many plants as possible to it. So far, I have two anthurium, two syngoniums, a tolmiea, a haworthia (yep, a succulent!), a pilea mollis, and a tradescantia, all growing very successfully in pure leca. I have added leca to a few other plants as well, forming a mixture, including a hoya carnosa, and several Christmas and Easter cacti. So far, all these plants are thriving, and I've had several of them for around two years. (A few are newer, but thriving as well.) I just feed them normally, with normal liquid plant food with a booster a couple of times a year. So far so good.
So glad I found this channel, I bought 50 lbs of LECA and was having a hard time with it but this video really made me a lot more knowledgeable not just on LECA. But growing more plants in general.
Leca in a self watering pot/bucket with a wick really helped build my confidence in growing "rare" plants. The typical advice for soil is "water when the first two inches feel dry" but cold and wet literally feel the same to me. So I'd continuously go back and forth between over and under watering! Leca and a reservoir simplified that for me down to: fill to this line. And because people get weird about the word "rare" when I'm using it here, I mean things that aren't typically at big box stores.
@shnuggumz I can have a much larger reservoir and not water for 2 weeks, sometimes longer, with no risk of overwatering. The leca takes from the wick, so the water level can get quite low without refilling. In some of my larger pots, there's a full 4 inches between the bottom of the net pot and the outer pot. The wick allows the plant to utilize all of that.
@@jmfrunner After doing some research watching yt videos and this channel as well, I'm going to try the system you're using but with half LECA and half perlite mix. My concern is if the mix will do a good enough job taking from the cotton wick to water the plant. I'm hopeful. But also, why not make my own diy cotton wick that's longer and have it travel further up planter? But if the wick is constantly touching a certain part of the root, that will lead to root rot, but will it really if the roots are getting enough oxygen?
@@muCephei_ yes, you can do that. I buy cord from Amazon that is marketed as wicking cord for plants. I'm sure other products work as well. I made some mini self watering planters with 3" net pots and wide mouth mason jars that way. I have had plants run their roots through the wicking cord, so if I want to reuse the pot, I need a new length of cord anyway. I haven't had any rot from the plants doing that.
A few tricks that I've found useful: when watering, drizzle the nutrient solution across the entire top surface of the leca - you're going to improve nutrient transfer to the plant if more of the roots contact nutrients. Second, install a flexible plastic tube into the back of the pot, I sometimes hot glue it to the wall, then I can use it as a siphon when I want to drain all the liquid.
Chris you’re doing a great job and your work is highly valued. Sometimes other people feel entitled to cast their stones from glass houses. Not sure how smart they think they are…
I love growing LECA in clear cylinder vases. Totally agree that less water is the way to go. And yup, when light needs are met, I’m using full strength nutrient water with no burn. Blocking the light from moist LECA and using Hydroguard keeps everything looking nice and algae-free. I hope more people embrace LECA because wow, so long as everything else is managed well, my plants go off in LECA. And as a parting note, you’re navigating the hot topics so well. I’m so happy to hear what you have to say and I’m grateful to benefit from your experience. Thanks!
I have to agree with everything in this comment. Because I bought a large bag of leca for my orchids I’m now transferring some houseplants and so far so good. I enjoy not having to deal with messy soil and can fertilise with left over orchid fertiliser which I dilute to a quarter or half of the already diluted strength feed. You have to love it for sure.
Your comment reminded of a plant I bought from a lady. It's a Monstera Standleyana in mason jar with perlite and other mixes. She told me to give it only about 1/2 inch of water when I don't see condensation in the bottle anymore. I've been following her instructions and it's been growing constantly.
I've learned a lot from your anecdotal evidence. I've learned a lot from other people's anecdotal experience. We all live in a different environment, so see if it works for one person in one environment, and see how another person deals with it in a different environment.
You changed my life! I've been hooked on your channel since I watched your video on stratum. Please continue to voice your thoughts and opinions they are much appreciated and welcome in the community. Haters are always going to hate. They're just jealous because you are knowledgeable and so incredibly with it man you are changing the future of indoor tropical plant cultivation. I tell all my customers about you and I spread your channel info to everyone I know. I am just so grateful to be able to continue to learn from you thank you so much for all your hard work it is greatly appreciated. Keep making more videos please!!👏🙏
I’ve been slowly moving my entire collection to semi hydro (over the past 8-10 mos). I’ve tried various mixes, but something came to mind when you mentioned cleaning off all the medium (including Stratum) when transferring a plant from soil into LECA. I have to ask, what are your thoughts/have you tried the combination of LECA and Stratum? I did so by accident and laziness, plopping a delicate two leaf Epipremnum Marble lightly rooting in Stratum, to directly on top of LECA. My intention was to not disturb those delicate root fibers, and encourage them to expand down into the LECA reservoir. Not only did it work, but it thrived! I’ve NEVER had an airoid grow so fast! It went from two fragile leaves, to six. That’s 4 leaves in only 6 weeks! Do you anticipate any issues with mixing Stratum with LECA? *Obviously, Stratum is expensive so I was considering scaling this up a bit for more delicate/special plants in my collection. Thx Chris! 💚
I use leca in vase for orchids. For my other leca plants, I like an inner pot with leca and an outer pot or vase as reservoir. I don't use wicks. I thought the whole idea of leca was transpiration and getting the roots to grow down to where the water is. I will say (and this isn't meant to be any kind of endorsement), I am fond of those 3d printed leca pots you created that fit right into a tall wide-mouth canning jar. They work really well for me.
Hi there, Ive opted for leca in glass vases but I'm concerned if the roots will get root rot when they eventually reach the bottom where the water is. IS that when I should move it to a larger vase or will it be fine?
To confirm I understand, do you keep your LECA/perlite and/or LECA plants in a nutrient solution? Or do you only give them the nutrient solution intermittently, letting them drain and dry between administrations?
Yes, correct. I keep my plants in either LECA 100% OR LECA 50% + Perlite 50%. BOTH in containers with drainage. Then I water them intermittently (3 days or 100% LECA, 10-15 days for LECA/PERLITE 50/50) with a nutrient solution EVERY WATERING. Because LECA and Perlite are inert, the fertilizer needs to come from the water...
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You are definitely raising up the level of practical knowledge within the aroids community!
I appreciate that! 💚
The algae forms because the vase is clear and lets in light. I grow quite a few plants in pure leca with no drainage, but because I use opaque vases, I've never had even a hint of algae. Algae needs light to form. I love leca, and have been trying to convert as many plants as possible to it.
So far, I have two anthurium, two syngoniums, a tolmiea, a haworthia (yep, a succulent!), a pilea mollis, and a tradescantia, all growing very successfully in pure leca. I have added leca to a few other plants as well, forming a mixture, including a hoya carnosa, and several Christmas and Easter cacti.
So far, all these plants are thriving, and I've had several of them for around two years. (A few are newer, but thriving as well.) I just feed them normally, with normal liquid plant food with a booster a couple of times a year. So far so good.
So glad I found this channel, I bought 50 lbs of LECA and was having a hard time with it but this video really made me a lot more knowledgeable not just on LECA. But growing more plants in general.
Leca in a self watering pot/bucket with a wick really helped build my confidence in growing "rare" plants. The typical advice for soil is "water when the first two inches feel dry" but cold and wet literally feel the same to me. So I'd continuously go back and forth between over and under watering! Leca and a reservoir simplified that for me down to: fill to this line.
And because people get weird about the word "rare" when I'm using it here, I mean things that aren't typically at big box stores.
@jmfrunner, curious why do you bother using a wick?
@shnuggumz I can have a much larger reservoir and not water for 2 weeks, sometimes longer, with no risk of overwatering. The leca takes from the wick, so the water level can get quite low without refilling. In some of my larger pots, there's a full 4 inches between the bottom of the net pot and the outer pot. The wick allows the plant to utilize all of that.
@@jmfrunner After doing some research watching yt videos and this channel as well, I'm going to try the system you're using but with half LECA and half perlite mix. My concern is if the mix will do a good enough job taking from the cotton wick to water the plant. I'm hopeful. But also, why not make my own diy cotton wick that's longer and have it travel further up planter? But if the wick is constantly touching a certain part of the root, that will lead to root rot, but will it really if the roots are getting enough oxygen?
@@muCephei_ yes, you can do that. I buy cord from Amazon that is marketed as wicking cord for plants. I'm sure other products work as well. I made some mini self watering planters with 3" net pots and wide mouth mason jars that way.
I have had plants run their roots through the wicking cord, so if I want to reuse the pot, I need a new length of cord anyway. I haven't had any rot from the plants doing that.
@@jmfrunner Thanks for sharing your method. What nutrition solution are you using? The same one Chris is using?
A few tricks that I've found useful: when watering, drizzle the nutrient solution across the entire top surface of the leca - you're going to improve nutrient transfer to the plant if more of the roots contact nutrients. Second, install a flexible plastic tube into the back of the pot, I sometimes hot glue it to the wall, then I can use it as a siphon when I want to drain all the liquid.
Chris you’re doing a great job and your work is highly valued. Sometimes other people feel entitled to cast their stones from glass houses. Not sure how smart they think they are…
I love growing LECA in clear cylinder vases. Totally agree that less water is the way to go. And yup, when light needs are met, I’m using full strength nutrient water with no burn.
Blocking the light from moist LECA and using Hydroguard keeps everything looking nice and algae-free.
I hope more people embrace LECA because wow, so long as everything else is managed well, my plants go off in LECA.
And as a parting note, you’re navigating the hot topics so well.
I’m so happy to hear what you have to say and I’m grateful to benefit from your experience.
Thanks!
I have to agree with everything in this comment. Because I bought a large bag of leca for my orchids I’m now transferring some houseplants and so far so good. I enjoy not having to deal with messy soil and can fertilise with left over orchid fertiliser which I dilute to a quarter or half of the already diluted strength feed. You have to love it for sure.
Your comment reminded of a plant I bought from a lady. It's a Monstera Standleyana in mason jar with perlite and other mixes. She told me to give it only about 1/2 inch of water when I don't see condensation in the bottle anymore. I've been following her instructions and it's been growing constantly.
Thanks for the knowledge, definitely enjoy the documentaries
I appreciate you and your channel , very inspiring and you don’t hold back on the info . Don’t let others opinions of you define you .
I've learned a lot from your anecdotal evidence. I've learned a lot from other people's anecdotal experience. We all live in a different environment, so see if it works for one person in one environment, and see how another person deals with it in a different environment.
You changed my life! I've been hooked on your channel since I watched your video on stratum. Please continue to voice your thoughts and opinions they are much appreciated and welcome in the community. Haters are always going to hate. They're just jealous because you are knowledgeable and so incredibly with it man you are changing the future of indoor tropical plant cultivation. I tell all my customers about you and I spread your channel info to everyone I know. I am just so grateful to be able to continue to learn from you thank you so much for all your hard work it is greatly appreciated. Keep making more videos please!!👏🙏
Do you have an air stone video? I need to binge watch all of your videos 🤩😍
I’ve been slowly moving my entire collection to semi hydro (over the past 8-10 mos). I’ve tried various mixes, but something came to mind when you mentioned cleaning off all the medium (including Stratum) when transferring a plant from soil into LECA. I have to ask, what are your thoughts/have you tried the combination of LECA and Stratum? I did so by accident and laziness, plopping a delicate two leaf Epipremnum Marble lightly rooting in Stratum, to directly on top of LECA. My intention was to not disturb those delicate root fibers, and encourage them to expand down into the LECA reservoir. Not only did it work, but it thrived! I’ve NEVER had an airoid grow so fast! It went from two fragile leaves, to six. That’s 4 leaves in only 6 weeks! Do you anticipate any issues with mixing Stratum with LECA? *Obviously, Stratum is expensive so I was considering scaling this up a bit for more delicate/special plants in my collection. Thx Chris! 💚
The plant documentaries are amazing and you are a great narrator!
Love your videos, there short but very informative
Thank you for watching 😊
Great info! I think they’re the same plant. Thanks for sharing.
This was super helpful. Thanks 😊
You’re welcome 😊
@@prettyingreen I'm really going to try my luck with leca and pon. Thanks for being straightforward and direct with your knowledge.
I use leca in vase for orchids. For my other leca plants, I like an inner pot with leca and an outer pot or vase as reservoir. I don't use wicks. I thought the whole idea of leca was transpiration and getting the roots to grow down to where the water is. I will say (and this isn't meant to be any kind of endorsement), I am fond of those 3d printed leca pots you created that fit right into a tall wide-mouth canning jar. They work really well for me.
Lecas great
Thanks for the great contents!
Great knowledge and content
I love your content!! Keep it up
I bought your Leca kit - a couple of questions:
1 - can I add Silica to the nutrients?
2 - Can unused mixed nutrients be saved?
Hey thank you!!! Yes, and yes! Just always add Silicia first to water in mixing process
Thank you for the quick reply! I’m so glad I can save unused solution as I slowly move my plants to Leca! I ❤️ your videos and products - so helpful
Hi there, Ive opted for leca in glass vases but I'm concerned if the roots will get root rot when they eventually reach the bottom where the water is. IS that when I should move it to a larger vase or will it be fine?
Appreciate you
Good morning to you vary nice plant collection can I ask a question do I have to put anything in the water when using leca
To confirm I understand, do you keep your LECA/perlite and/or LECA plants in a nutrient solution? Or do you only give them the nutrient solution intermittently, letting them drain and dry between administrations?
Yes, correct. I keep my plants in either LECA 100% OR LECA 50% + Perlite 50%. BOTH in containers with drainage. Then I water them intermittently (3 days or 100% LECA, 10-15 days for LECA/PERLITE 50/50) with a nutrient solution EVERY WATERING. Because LECA and Perlite are inert, the fertilizer needs to come from the water...
@@prettyingreen fantastic, thank you so much!
Hello mate, how do you clean all the roots from the leca if you're trying to remove or repot/reuse the leca?
I boil it in a big pot
When you sell your plants, do you transition them to soil or sell them in leca?
Both!
Any hints on how to strike hoya cuttings in Leca?
I honestly don’t have any Hoya experience. But that’s my next plant journey!
@@prettyingreen thanks for your great tips. What about ANY cuttings in LECA????
Do you have to soak the leca before first use? Or can you just toss it in?
Don't Thai Cons grow darker than Mint as they Mature?
The only thing I got from this video is the definition of "Theory!" Thanks 😂😂😂
Hello, I live in Sacramento, California, and am searching for a Puya Sapphire Tower plant. Any suggestions?
I am not sure! I wish I could help!