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Ok so I’m definitely new to leca… I’ve been dipping into water… | Hydroponics & Semi-hydroponics | Planta community

Dory

Ok so I’m definitely new to leca… I’ve been dipping into water culture with my orchids and they are thriving. I had some baby peace and flamingo lilies that were hating life in soil so they currently live on the edge of my tank I’m building along with a couple philos and a purple waffle…. I do however want to start transitioning some of my other plants into water culture (I hate soil based pests 😅) but being a total noob to actual leca thought I maybe should come here first and see what tips yall have for me. I know I would like to move my Alocasia and syngoniums to hydro/semi. Possibly my snowdrift and white wizard philos… maybe even my Agalomena? (Side question, Colacasia can be done in hydro too right?) pics are to show what I have and see what yall think would do better if transitioned…

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10 comments

  1. Bb

    Hi there, I have successfully transitioned all the plants you mentioned into semi-hydro :) I generally do a water (with nutrients) transition for about 4 months for most plants before potting into LECA. Some plants like alocasias, caladiums, ferns and some philos haven’t needed this and seem to be happy to go straight into LECA. A big tip is not to use organic fertiliser as it requires soil microbes to convert the nutrients into a bioavailable form for the plant’s roots and in hydro or semi-hydro you don’t have that so you really want to find a fertiliser that’s formulated for hydroponics. Also, there are a few ways described out there for semi-hydro, for example: 1. inner pot that has drainage holes and sits inside a cache pot without drainage 2. Self watering pot with wick 3. Glass container with no drainage. I only use methods 1 and 2 (flushing is a nightmare with method 3 especially as your plants get bigger). I find that all my alocasias do well in method 2 pot setup. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Semi-hydro is awesome and I love to chat about it 🌿🌿🌿

    1 like
    • Phil

      Just starting also. So do place the wick from the water base all the way to almost the top of the leca?

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    • Phil

      Have you ever tried using the self watering pots with the terracotta insert? Without the wick.

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    • Bb

      I insert the wick string from the bottom going from one hole and then back down into another. I then hold the string that’s inside the container so that it doesn’t fall into the LECA as I’m filling and doesn’t sit on the bottom of the container. I let go when I’ve filled pot with LECA about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up. Then pop the plant in and fill the rest up. Hope that made sense!

      2 likes
    • Bb

      No, haven’t tried those sorry. Not sure I’ve seen those

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    • Dory

      I saw this done with a self watering moss pole for a monstera a few days ago… that plant was in potting medium… but now I’m wondering how a monstera would do in leca with a moss pole… 🤔

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