Thank you for choosing this subject!! I have transitioned 95% of my orchids as well as houseplants into LECA w/self watering. I have kept my summer phals all in spaghnum moss with bark just to be safe. My orchids seem to be really happy in the LECA even my Vanda and Vanda types. Like you, I soak mine for about a month before using it and what I don't use right away I keep in water with a bit of Super Thrive in it. As growers, I think we have to use what works best in our environments and for our plants. I personally love LECA, up-potting and repotting is a breeze, no fungus gnats and no mess and my plants are thriving!! Happy Growing Everyone!!
Thank you so much for your positive comment and I agree - it's all personal choice and what works best for our plants and for us ☺️ I glad leca works well for you, I also like it and my plants seem to be happy in it 👍🥰
Some thing I’ve noticed about leca is that When I prepared my fertilizer nutrients I would aim for a ph of 5.8 Ph and ppm of 125- a day or week later my ppm would go up about 150-175 my ph would go up to about 7.0 which tells me that as the water dehydration the ph & nutrients ppm goes up so what I started doing is adding ro water and adding ph down to reach a ph of 5.8 and draining the hi ph water and adding the 5.8 ph water and it would bring down the ppm back down to normal nutrient settings of 125 ppm
This was VERY interesting. I don’t use Leca but what you said makes perfect sense. Do you have to worry about low temperature ?? Cold wet roots? I know you grow inside( like me ) I grow mostly Phals ,so I do let my indoor temperature drop by leaving my windows open at night. It’s getting pretty cool(16• by morning). Great information.. happy you found what works for you and you are seeing results. 🤗
Hi Sheila, I'm still hesitant to move my phals into leca as these big fleshy roots seem to adapt a lot harder to change in media and they do seem to like very distinct wet/dry cycles. But I think I'll try to get my mini phal into leca once it finished blooming ☺️ I'm not too worried about drop in temps, I leave my window open over night as well and the temp on the windowsill dropped to 14C once, so my cooler growers are loving it 🥰 my shelves don't drop below 16C, so even if it's a bit cooler in the pot, say 15C, I don't think it would impact the plants negatively BUT this is going to be the first winter in leca for my orchids, so I guess we'll see later what happens 😅
Not all nurseries sell it, you might be able to find it online for purchase but be careful, there are so many types and sizes, not all are easy to work with...
I agree, there is so much prep work needed before leca can be used... Bark is easy - out of the bag, straight in the pot 😆 but I like leca properties, I think a lot of orchids can benefit from not needing regular repots etc 👍
This was an excellent video. This is the first time I’ve actually heard anything such as this before on RUclips. Thank you dear!
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you found it useful 👍😍
Very helpful
Thank you for choosing this subject!! I have transitioned 95% of my orchids as well as houseplants into LECA w/self watering. I have kept my summer phals all in spaghnum moss with bark just to be safe. My orchids seem to be really happy in the LECA even my Vanda and Vanda types. Like you, I soak mine for about a month before using it and what I don't use right away I keep in water with a bit of Super Thrive in it. As growers, I think we have to use what works best in our environments and for our plants. I personally love LECA, up-potting and repotting is a breeze, no fungus gnats and no mess and my plants are thriving!! Happy Growing Everyone!!
Thank you so much for your positive comment and I agree - it's all personal choice and what works best for our plants and for us ☺️ I glad leca works well for you, I also like it and my plants seem to be happy in it 👍🥰
It’s nice to hear the explanation for the logic behind it.
Thank you so much for an information informative video.
Thank you for watching, I'm glad it was useful 👍
Some of mine do well in lecca, especially catlayas. Great video, much love Ju xxx
Thanks Ju xx One day I will try to move a Cattleya into leca 😅
Some thing I’ve noticed about leca is that When I prepared my fertilizer nutrients I would aim for a ph of 5.8 Ph and ppm of 125- a day or week later my ppm would go up about 150-175 my ph would go up to about 7.0 which tells me that as the water dehydration the ph & nutrients ppm goes up so what I started doing is adding ro water and adding ph down to reach a ph of 5.8 and draining the hi ph water and adding the 5.8 ph water and it would bring down the ppm back down to normal nutrient settings of 125 ppm
Good idea! I started flushing all my pots once a week for that reason as well - to get rid of nutrient build up and to get the ph down a bit
This was VERY interesting. I don’t use Leca but what you said makes perfect sense. Do you have to worry about low temperature ?? Cold wet roots? I know you grow inside( like me ) I grow mostly Phals ,so I do let my indoor temperature drop by leaving my windows open at night. It’s getting pretty cool(16• by morning). Great information.. happy you found what works for you and you are seeing results. 🤗
Hi Sheila, I'm still hesitant to move my phals into leca as these big fleshy roots seem to adapt a lot harder to change in media and they do seem to like very distinct wet/dry cycles. But I think I'll try to get my mini phal into leca once it finished blooming ☺️ I'm not too worried about drop in temps, I leave my window open over night as well and the temp on the windowsill dropped to 14C once, so my cooler growers are loving it 🥰 my shelves don't drop below 16C, so even if it's a bit cooler in the pot, say 15C, I don't think it would impact the plants negatively BUT this is going to be the first winter in leca for my orchids, so I guess we'll see later what happens 😅
I dont see Leca sell in local nursery
Not all nurseries sell it, you might be able to find it online for purchase but be careful, there are so many types and sizes, not all are easy to work with...
@@Whatsuporchids / thanks.
Does not work in my orchids plants are use bark charcoal and polite they grow great
I use organic media roo and I really like it, the orchids enjoy it too 👍 Thank you for watching 🙏
Привет 👋 благодарю за видео! Очень плохо , что нет субтитров на русском языке
Hi Nadezda, apologies, I'll if I can do something about it 😉👍
@@Whatsuporchids 😃👋👋👋
too much work.
I agree, there is so much prep work needed before leca can be used... Bark is easy - out of the bag, straight in the pot 😆 but I like leca properties, I think a lot of orchids can benefit from not needing regular repots etc 👍