To anyone who uses (or has used) non-soil potting mediums, please let me know your thoughts! I’m considering trying pon or leca but feel like it’s quite an investment, especially if it doesn’t work out. Definitely share any resources you have on this topic too! I feel like semi hydroponics would have lower long term maintenance - tho switching plants over is also quite the task.
I love leca. I dress the bottom of a lot of my plants because it helps with my ocassional overwatering 😬
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I will say as far as the Leca vs Pon subject, that Leca seems to be great for those of you who already have large or fully adult plants with big fat roots like monstera or philodendron. However, a lot of younger or smaller/finer rooted plants (such as calathea’s or Hoya) are best suited for Pon since the larger leca rocks are far to big of gaps for these types. So just choose according to what you have. Also another main difference is Leca has zero nutrients so you have to fertilize with every watering starting from the get-go. Pon has about 6-mos of hydro fertilizer built in, so you can focus on transitioning learning etc etc before you start adding fertilizer to your water.
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I’m thinking of using pon for some of my new smaller plants—but I’m not sure what kind of pot to use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! 🙏🏼
2 likes If you opt for a closed vessel method, clear is best. Clear plastic or glass, so you can see the water level. Or, you could opt for a cache pot method, basically just use the same set up you probably already have with soil, with a plastic nursery pot with drainage holes (you can put a piece of mesh from a potato or onion sack at bottom if holes are large) and then put that into your cache pot (no drainage holes) which is now your water reservoir. You can’t see water level with this method, so you just have to pick up the pot and listen for dripping. If no dripping, its dry, water it up to about 1/4 of pot height. Also try not to put roots below whatever water level you determine you fill to, to avoid rot. So just fill the pot with Pon 1/4 way up, then add plant and back fill. It will eventually grow roots down and you will have to repot, but not for a while. You can also buy/use a self watering pot, there are tons of varieties out there.
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I agree with all of this. I love clear jars for LECA, bc you can see water level. But one of many benefits of LECA- you don’t need drainage holes. Now there are so many options for pots. Cute cup, bowl, vase? All game now.
3 likes Walmart cup. Pathos in transcription.
I love LECA. All my plants eventually end up in it. I transition to just water initially, then LECA when they are ready (not looking shocky). My advice, just watch closely those first few days you transition to water. Watch for root rot. -‘s remove quickly when you see signs.
2 likes Question: In the case where you do see rot set in when in water transition, and you remove immediately, do you then put it straight into leca, or back into soil?
1 like Clarify- I remove the roots that are rotting. Replace water, clean out jar (cup/vase/whatever) and place plant back in. Once I see new roots appeasing on plant (make take up to weeks), I know we are gonna be good.
3 likes Thank you all! 🙏🏼 I’m going to give it a try!
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