Join me on my indoor jungle journey, as I covert all of my houseplants into semihydroponics! Inviting all plant lovers and plant killers alike-let’s discover how to enjoy plants with the least amount of effort possible.
I got a venus fly plant last week. I put this plant in a new pot with a layer leca on the bottom then some coconut fibre on top , then the Irish peat moss "soil" a week later the plant is dead !! I think the problem was the leca layer ??
loved the pray for wisdom. i'm not a spiritual person, but i've always felt like my plants gave me information. when i sit with them for a long time i suddenly understand exactly what each individual needs. plants are excellent communicators 🌱🩷
A plant the big i dont think anyone would put it in leca because its been in soil for along rime the key is to put young plants and also well rooted cuttings into leca all my pothos were put in leca from small plants and they all thrive hope this helps
Hi Rachel. Im new to plants. My Amazonica leaf is dying the moment i switch to aroid mix from leca. What should i do?. Is it advisable to tramsfer it to leca?.Noob here.🙏🙏
All the plants you named would absolutely love to be in Pon, either Lechuza or DIY-or even planted semi hydroponically in aquarium substrates like Fluval Stratum, Eco-Complete, A.D.A. Aquasoil, Fluval fluorite red, laterite, or even just plain sphagnum moss works wonders. You’d be surprised … LECA ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Ppl have varying degrees of success; I have noticed that only the larger- and more fibrous-rooted plants really adapt well to it; mainly aroids, just not bulbous or corm-types like Alocasia, Caladium, etc (for me). Little more finicky. Actually, a lot more finicky. They like the security of a denser substrate like Pon or even orchid mix. Any store-bought “orchid blend” is essentially an aroid mix. I just add more drainage to it. Amend it with more inert materials; LECA is very useful in place of perlite, people forget. In some cases, it’s even better because of its size, facilitating excellent drainage. And it won’t float to the top of the container, with time and watering. Or just bottom-water, I guess. Lol Also-any orchids are an excellent choice to grow in LECA, and it’s even better for them to be grown in semi hydro than in standard orchid bark or commercial mixes. That being said… After discovering Pon a year ago, then experimenting & making my own, I’ve realized that Pon (or any similarly inert DIY blend) is the “happy medium” for semi-hydro. It’s close enough to being “soil” that the roots are comfortable, but yet it’s soilless. I know some ppl swear by Leca got every damn genus and plant family out there, and if they have the secret, I applaud that. But I also want my plants to be happy, especially diva species. Hoyas and Alocasia apparently thrive in Leca; I’ve found that the pebbles are simply too inconsistent, too ventilated and not substantial enough for the roots to dig into. Not even the aeration of leca prevented root rot.. meanwhile I’ve tried them, plus all the species you named and more, in Pon, and omg. They were loving the granular food (Osmocote plus), the consistent moisture (or not! Adjustable!) and the density compared to Leca. If you let Leca dry out, you’re kinda F’d. It’s so ventilated that it HAS to remain full in the reservoir 24-7. If you let Pon dry slightly, it’s dense enough to be a beneficial drying-out between waterings… it’s not so urgent, comparatively.
Mine looks more like a mini bonsai with a taller trunk. I lined the bottom of my my pot about 3 in. with leca, put well draining soil in middle to the bottom of the caudex (the bulb part at the base) and topped it off with leca so it has some absorbency from top and bottom. It actually started doing extremely well after. Super stoked!
Same problem but with lechuza pon amd this makes total sense! The one plant I’m having a problem with I did pull it up gently while potting it and I think the roots stretched out like you said.
Maybe trying to transfer Pothos from Soil to Leca is the problem here. Pothos are so easy to propagate in water, just wait until an inch or so of root appears then transfer to leca. I have Pothos and Philodendron of all varieties thriving in Semi Hydro Leca, they love it.
Your ficus tree’s new leaf growth - was this in pumice or leca? I saw you convert it to pumice but im not seeing an update video to that video, can you please PLEASE provide an update as to whether the pumice worked 🙏
What is the consistency and color? I bought a bottle but now I 'm reading they may have changed the formula in 2023 so curious what it used to look like?
My mom's love for tropicals inspired me to have an indoor jungle, and my father's love for birds and fruiting trees inspired me to create a native garden in my front yard and a jardin potager out back.
Would have been more interesting if the camera was aimed at the plant and the process rather than your face. If you must have your face in the video, position the camera back... sit further away so we can see the plant. Isn't the plant supposed to be the star of the video?
You might have been over fertilizing the Monstera Adansonii. Because orchids are more fragile I'm always under fertilizing my collection and my Monstera loves leca.
Great inspiration, I just repotted my 3 ft. tall Sanserierans. Such a peaceful experience interacting with the plants and soil and watching them thrive.
Great Information! I bought a FLF tree & wanted to transfer to pon but saw a gnat before I got the pon in & took it out of the soil & it's been looking so sad. Well pon is in & I'll be making the transition today, wish me luck!
If you flush your plants/leca everyday the first month, you wont have this problem bc you would flush away the bacteria who is making the roots rot.....
all of my alocasias except for one, were nothing but corms when I put them in leca. the other one, had single leaf. now those w/o leaves have them, but not too many, and the one that had a single leaf, now has 4... so, it's definitely better than soil, but I'm clearly missing something if amazonica and zebrina are stuck so bad. I do have some slow release inside as well... apparently the thing to pay attention to is that they want half a corm in the water, and other half in the air - this is not easy to achieve in soil, as in my case, they used to cry even when soil was bone dry, so I was avoiding watering them, thinking that if they are crying, they have enough water - wrong - they haven't really cried much if at all since I put them in leca
