--- title: "I decided against soil for this gorgeous girl. How do I grow her in…" description: "I decided against soil for this gorgeous girl. How do I grow her in water? Do I need those balls and moss? Can she just stay in water? I’m so new so any…" url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/EIAqPQbgk2hda3W36KzaQI" community: "Anything about plants" author: "Dare" published: "2026-08-18T22:51:11.607039Z" language: "en" image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/AnA0q9MITa6Ma5oqWnCpPF9ZZNOxx_rjrC7jglCY1-4/PY_OH1EWQG6ygVGY7AAJ5g.webp?size=large" --- [Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Anything about plants](https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg.md) # I decided against soil for this gorgeous girl. How do I grow her in… _Posted by Dare on 2026-08-18_ I decided against soil for this gorgeous girl. How do I grow her in water? Do I need those balls and moss? Can she just stay in water? I’m so new so any encouragement or tips are soooo so welcome!! Now pics are first and the last two are the day I was gifted her. 💕 ![Attachment 1 of 4](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/AnA0q9MITa6Ma5oqWnCpPF9ZZNOxx_rjrC7jglCY1-4/PY_OH1EWQG6ygVGY7AAJ5g.webp?size=large) ![Attachment 2 of 4](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/AnA0q9MITa6Ma5oqWnCpPF9ZZNOxx_rjrC7jglCY1-4/zvWAKAJbTj6Jlk359R2TYw.webp?size=large) ![Attachment 3 of 4](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/AnA0q9MITa6Ma5oqWnCpPF9ZZNOxx_rjrC7jglCY1-4/hiYS0_r_TNW3y-a-c6T44w.webp?size=large) ![Attachment 4 of 4](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/AnA0q9MITa6Ma5oqWnCpPF9ZZNOxx_rjrC7jglCY1-4/5ZILnqv8QiuDILePjjC_Xg.webp?size=large) ## 25 comments ### BooksandPlants commented on 2026-08-18 I would say you can just leave her in water or transfer her to leca or something (I don’t have any experience for that). If you just wanna keep her in water change out the water every week and just wait for the aerial roots to grow. Also try and keep the glass a little bigger than the plant so you don’t have to break the jar when you need to get her out. #### Dare replied on 2026-08-19 Thank you! I will place her in a larger glass in 3 days when I change her water! ### Tee Jay commented on 2026-08-19 Technically you can just grow in water but it requires more maintenance than growing in soil because water doesn’t have the necessary nutrients and airflow for the plant to grow that soil would provide #### Dare replied on 2026-08-19 But for the sake of the plant, what is the best option? ### jlsKenzy commented on 2026-08-19 I have a couple of philos in leca. A ring of fire has been in that set up well over year and is thriving. You do need to balance the water (I use filtered) and nutrients for a hydro set up. It's not too difficult. ![Attachment 1 of 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/HwjMrPOHmLTkQ5A0solZePTdaHKQmkzzBieVnrs36j4/qu5RP9HUR3-UNVtmxQgHXA.webp?size=large) #### Dare replied on 2026-08-19 I always use distilled water. Peroxide and fertilizer when necessary. That’s one of my main questions. How do I set her up-non soil. What do I need. What do I need I to do? This is me asking for a lot of help! #### jlsKenzy replied on 2026-08-19 My favorite source that helped me is watching the leca queen on you.tube ### LeafyGreenhouse commented on 2026-08-19 You can leave it in water, just make sure to change the water every week or so and add nutrients. Growing in soil especially if you transfer from water is very hard to do especially with plants that have already grown in water for a long period of time. I’ve killed multiple plants from transplant shock. Leca is a nice semi hydro option for long term. (I’m not the best person to give information on that though) #### Dare replied on 2026-08-19 Thank you so much! I just posted again asking what leca is. Lol #### LeafyGreenhouse replied on 2026-08-19 Leca is a semi hydro set up for houseplant they are these brown hard balls that act kinda like soil (it’s hard to explain unless you look it up lol) ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 If you have a way to add an air line and bubble stone it would help with root growth, there's a few people on ticktock and YouTube that specifically use this technique with their water plants and I use the bubblers in my aquariums and have noticed a huge difference in growth and structure of the roots #### Dare replied on 2026-08-20 What is an air line and a bubble stone? ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 An air like is just tubing used is aquariums and the bubbler is the machine that pushes the air though to make the bubbles and the stone just helps distribute the bubbles evenly, this is my prop tank, don't have anything in it currently but this is the basic set up ![Attachment 1 of 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/wsiBWdWWuSAxTYTBm9QPYArkl1vHLBDGtncejiF7b7k/983p0RAXRVKaThc_oa4png.webp?size=large) #### Dare replied on 2026-08-20 I’m so confused with what I’m looking at lol ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 This is a dumb cane I put in about a week ago that had no roots ![Attachment 1 of 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/wsiBWdWWuSAxTYTBm9QPYArkl1vHLBDGtncejiF7b7k/uEJwgZqQQmipEdi5FWK_cw.webp?size=large) ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 The black tube is the air line which feeds the bubbles to the roots #### Dare replied on 2026-08-20 Where does one learn and purchase about this?? ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 Any animal store that has fish should be able to help or you can go on to Amazon and just type in aquarium tubing and an air bubbler and an air stone and everything should pop up #### Dare replied on 2026-08-20 Does it need a pump? ### Crazy plant lady commented on 2026-08-20 An air pump yes #### Dare replied on 2026-08-20 Oh god that’s way too much maintenance [More comments](https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/EIAqPQbgk2hda3W36KzaQI.md?cursor=mJWN8m-czRhQb3N0cy5HZXRBbGwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADbnFSI_kviGA) --- _Source: the Planta community (https://getplanta.com). 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