Hey everyone!! I have just converted my VERY sad peace lily into leca from soil after her very root rotting past over the last few months. Is there too much leca in the jar? Should I remove some from the bottom so the roots are more towards the bottom of the pot than the middle?! help ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Hi there, sorry your baby got root rot. Some peace lillies won’t transition without a fight. Does it have much going on rootwise? I personally don’t use the method without drainage holes because I find it too hard to control nutrient solution amounts in this setup plus it’s hard to flush plus hard to clean when the algae take hold. Bear with me - I’ll have a look at my peace lily records and can describe the transition process they went through to be the thriving gals they are today.
0 gillningar Ok thanks for your patience. I have so far successfully transitioned 9 or 10 peace lillies in LECA plus I have 2 that have been in rehab due to root rot. When I looked at the best lillies that have the most lush foliage, they are mostly ones that I transitioned by starting in water first (with nutrient solution, not just plain water). They lived in water for 4 months, and I changed the nutrient solution every 7-14 days (depending on how lazy/busy I was). Sometimes I would do a fully fresh batch of nutrient solution, other times I would just top up. The lillies that have done less well (not as luscious but certainly living and doing fine) I transitioned after 1 month in water + nutrient solution only. None of my peace lillies went straight from soil to LECA so I can’t comment on that. Some plants are happy to go from one substrate to another without issue (philodendrons and alocasias seem to be pretty happy with that) whereas others I have found need a water (+ nutrient solution) transition in between. It’s definitely not too late to change things so don’t stress. Here is what I’d do: since your baby has/had root rot, if you haven’t already, cut off/slough off any mushy roots as these will rot and come off anyway. Use clean snips. I would then soak the plant in a hydrogen peroxide + water mix - you want the root area to soak in this. Make up a mix of 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 3 parts water eg 1/2 cup HP and 3/4 cup water. Soak for 1-2 hours. Don’t soak overnight as that will overdo it and your leaves will all yellow (speaking from experience!). Then it’s time to transition - pour out your LECA from the existing vase and make a nutrient solution suitable for root development. My nutrient solution these days has a million things in it but I started off easy and added more ingredients as I became more comfortable. If you’re not sure, just get a hydroponic fertiliser. I use Growth Technology Clonex Clone Solution for cuttings and transitions. Once a month I also add in Growth Technology Root Zone (you don’t want to overdo hormone additives as the plant suffers over time). Then measure the PH - I started with the drops and matching the colour but it became too annoying so I bought a cheap digital meter on eBay which measures PH, TDS etc. I measured the PH and if wasn’t between 5.5 and 6.5 I added PH Down. Again I started with using powdered PH up and down but quickly realised they are annoying and I prefer liquid. I bought a liquid PH down (I rarely use PH up). And also a plastic syringe that is 1ml. When I make my simple nutrient solution (in 5L batches) I would normally add about 0.6ml to 1.6ml of pH down, depending on what else is in my nutrient solution as some components will make it more acidic or basic. So in summary, add your nutrient to the water, shake, then measure the ph. If ph is too high (not in the range of 5.5-6.5) add a little bit of ph down. Shake, then measure the ph. It will take a few goes before you work out what to expect from your town water and how it interacts with the nutrients. Eventually you’ll get quick at it. Don’t forget to shake. In the meantime I highly recommend you use a pot with drainage holes that goes into a cache pot. Or a self watering style pot. You won’t need them for a while though :) And finally, just a quick note on my rehab lillies - they had pretty bad root rot and I’ve had them in water (with nutrients of course) for about 9 months now. The base they are in also has an air stone in it running 12 hours a day for oxygenation. They recovered very slowly but have lots of new growth. It’s been an interesting experiment! Anyway happy planting and feel free to ask any questions 🌿🌿🌿
2 gillningar lol thanks for coming to my TED talk 😅😅
1 gilla holy moly!! Thanks you so much!! I’ll definitely add some nutrient solution and see how he goes. I’ve just about had it with this dude. He’s not happy ANYWHERE or in anything ahahaha he might just have had enough of his very stressful life (he’s about 5 years old)
0 gillningar Good luck with it! The rehab is definitely worth it when you have a beautiful plant as the outcome especially because it’s so much easier to control the plant’s root environment in semi-hydro. Oh and a final tip - when you make your nutrient solution, do make sure you get a fertiliser that’s for hydroponics, as ordinary organic fertilisers aren’t meant to be used in just water (they require soil microbes to make the nutrients bioavailable to the plant). Fertilisers formulated for hydroponic growing are bioavailable immediately as long as the ph is correct. 🌿🌿🌿
0 gillningar Update; HES ALIVEEEEEEEEEEE I added a small amount of liquid fertiliser after you recommended it and it’s only been 48 hours and he’s standing up (he hasn’t been upright in almost 3 months) 🥰
You got this! Semi hydro is truly fabulous. Don’t hesitate to message with any questions along this journey. And if you haven’t already I highly recommend The LECA Queen YouTube channel!
1 gilla