At the beginning of the video you show putting a plant without removing any media in a pot and fill with PON, does that work or do you need to remove as much media as possible on the switch. Some of mine struggle when I remove a lot of the media. Any advice?
Hi! Thats because that plant was in pon already and I was just up-potting it. If you’re moving a plant from another media, like soil or moss, it’s definitely best practice to get as much of that off of the roots as possible, but it’s ok if there’s a little residue, unlike with LECA. The BEST way to start a plant in pon is to water root a cutting and put THAT in pon though. Sorry about that!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet no worries, that’s what I have started doing is take cuttings and root in perlite then move them over. Appreciate your time replying!
I LOVE this video. It’s straight and direct. Not meaning to bash other creators, but sometimes they kind of go off on different topics. This stays consistent and have been wanting to try pon for months and this is the very video that convinced me to try it. Thank you 🙏
This was THE best helpful video on pon that I’ve seen and it is most helpful! I think from your words of wisdom I’m finally going to start my pon journey!
So excited to have this video for future reference! I always get a ton of good tips and advice about using self-watering systems from your general chore and anthurium videos, but it's nice to have all of that info wrapped up in one video that I can save and refer back to when I need it! 😊👌💚
I got a Regale and a Queen from Equagenera about one year ago. After acclimating them in water for a week or two I put both of them in pon. Both struggled but the Queen was a lot worse an got bad root rot. It lost one of two leaves very quickly and I was left with one single string of roots. Now after the winter the Regale finally pushed out a giant new leaf, whereas the Queen was still struggling. It startet to push out a new shoot while the last leaf was continuously shrivelling up. The new leaf was very tiny and the old one died off completely. Recently I observed that the plant did not seem to drink and did then discover that it had not any leaves left at all… only the top node had startet to root into the moss that I had put on top of the plant - so today I ended up cutting the stem exactly like you showed here. Let’s hope that some of the three stem cuttings start to root, so I got 3-4 mini Queens instead of one. 🤞
Oof I’m sorry that happened! Queens are definitely tough. I tend to let my anthurium root up in moss before I put them in pon and so far I have had pretty good luck. I really hope she gives you another leaf soon!
Awesome guide/review! Your previous vids convinced me to use pon as I start my anthurium journey. Could you expand on the water routine, specifically pH up/down? How and with what frequency do you test your water? And do you use the same liquidirt-superthrive-orchid fert recipe for all your pon plants and throughout the seasons?
Yes, I treat my water every time I water through all seasons, unless I am using Azamax, but I live in San Diego and we don’t have extreme seasonal fluctuations like other places. Plus my plants are under grow lights so they don’t really feel the effects of winter. Sometimes after I flush the pon I will give the plants a break and only give them filtered water, but you want the ph to stay relatively stable. I also forgot to mention that after you flush you want to let the pon drain for a few hours before fill you up the reservoir again.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I'll definitely do that! Should I refill the reservoir the same day or wait for a couple (if I'm flushing them through)? Thank you 💚🌱
@@Tinas.jungle don’t wait that long! You definitely don’t want the reservoir to dry out fully! I usually just let them sit for a few hours and the then don’t fill the reservoir up all the way right away.
Thanks for making this video. I didn't know about watering from the top vs watering just through the vent. This may explain what's going on with my gloriosum.
Woohoo!!! Hoyas love pon but they are slooooow. Took like a year for my Polyneura to start taking off but then it popped like crazy and now it’s got loads of peduncles. Just be patient!
This video was super helpful. Do you have a brand or link for self watering pots (for pon) that you could share please! I've got some baby Anthurium and a few juvenile ones. Wanting to switch them all to pon.
I don’t because the brands available on amazon kind of change but just search “self watering planter” with the size you want and they should come up. I don’t recommend smaller than 5 in for anthurium though. I recommend watching my “Transfering Anthurium to Pon” video for the method bc I just use plastic cups when the plants are small. Good luck!
I was re-watching one of your videos from earlier this year, and you mentioned that air pockets in pon are bad. What is the reason for that? Isn't more airflow good? Thank you for clarifying!
It’s not good if pon doesn’t get all up in between the roots and leaves big spaces, but the spaces between the granules are good for aeration… like when you pot a plant in a clear pot and you can see that the soil didn’t get in all the nooks and crannies. In pon, there’s airflow but I think there’s also some wicking and water column type stuff going on that gets messed up if there are big spaces. Hopefully I explained it well!
You definitely can’t leave them forever without flushing so if you are going to use pots with no drainage I would recommend that for plants that will likely be ready to up pot soon. Rinsing the pon super thoroughly before potting up the plant for the first time and using filtered water definitely buys you some time, but I wouldn’t leave plants in pon or Leca with no drainage for more than a few months. Hope that helps!
Your video is so incredibly helpful and definitely one of the best I've seen about pon :) I recently transferred almost all of my plants to pon, so they're still adjusting, and I'm a bit confused about flushing and watering. When you flush your plants with tap water, does that count as the plant being watered or should I follow up with nutrient water after? Additionally, when watering newly transferred plants, do you let water drain out into the reservoir (if using a self-watering pot) or let it drain out completely? Thank you so much!! ♡
I always let my plants drain fully before filling up the reservoir and I always refill my reservoir with my regular watering recipe. Hopefully that helps!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I'm sorry, I'm back with another question 😅 Do you have any other pesticides you like, or that you recommend, that are similar to Azamax? I'm having a hard time getting my hands on it haha Thank you in advance :)
It’s the only thing I’ve found that works on spider mites, thrips and scale which are the things I’ve struggled with. Bonide insecticidal super soap is the best topical treatment, it’s like captain jacks 2.0. The active ingredient in Azamax is Azadirachtin. There may be other products like that out there. I honestly just get azamax on Amazon.
Hey! I just get them from Amazon. Just search for “self watering pot 5.5 inches” and they will come up. They’re the generic ones but they get the job done!
As long as you don’t let any of the pebbles go down the drain and you do it only occasionally, it should be fine. I’d do it outside but I don’t have a yard or a hose or anything like that.
Not an Albo! They love to ROT! Honestly anything but an albo, haha! People love to keep anthurium in pon because they are tricky in other media, but I’ve heard philodendron, syngonium and lots of others love it too. For the albo, I stick with an aroid mix that is almost entirely bark, charcoal, tree fern, perlite etc (you can use a little soil) in a PLASTIC pot and then just water more frequently and fertilize mostly every watering. That’s the best way to avoid rot and browning. I have multiple albos and even the high white ones stay nice in that set up. ☺️
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I lost my pamphlet lol thank you! Would you take out your nutrient solution for a week while this is in? Or two weeks? Then switch back?
Would the rinsing get rid of the fertilizer that comes on the pon? It was one reason someone suggested it to me so I wasn’t sure if it should be rinsed or kept with the fertilizer and flushed later?
I fill in the reservoir unless the pot doesn’t have an opening for it, then I top fill but try to do it near the edge or corner and not get all of the pon wet. If you have a full reservoir and fully wet pon, you can restrict airflow to the roots and accidentally rot them.
My Thai Constellation (in aroid mix) and Albo (rooted in moss) got root rot, so I took them out of the media, clean the roots, and placed them in water with few drops of hydrogen peroxide. I change water every day. The Thai Cons continues to rot, but the Albo looks like she grew new roots. I planned to move to either leca or pon, so I let them sit in water, but I heard pon was better. Do you recommend pon over leca for these two plants? It’s been a while but I hope you can give some insights. Thank you in advance!
I personally don’t use or recommend semi hydro for monstera or variegated plants in general so I can’t really say. I personally have had the best results keeping variegated monstera in an ultra chunky aroid mix but I do know that some people do use semi hydro. I personally think that semi-hydro works really well and is super effective for rooting things and getting young plants started and for anthurium but it really starts to give diminishing returns as the plant gets larger which monstera definitely do. Especially since I’m my experience, monstera deliciosa don’t mind drying out and like to be pot bound, if you let a plant get pot bound in semi-hydro? The roots will start to suffocate so yeah I guess I would say that it’s great to use if you need to reroot them but long-term I wouldn’t keep monstera deliciosa in semi-hydro. Just my opinion from learned experience.
I was made to believe the whole point in pon is no nutrients needed in first 6 month. Thats the difference between pon and leca . I am in process of trying pon and leca so have a few in pon and leca to see which grows best .🌿🌱☘️
So this is true, lechuza pon does have a slow release fertilizer in it, but my experience with my anthurium is that they benefit from the extra little kick that they get from how I prep my water. There has been a lot of trial and error in the community with pon and no two people do it the exact same way so this is just what I do and it’s meant to be one perspective for inspiration, not the only way. I’m really happy with the results I’ve been getting so if you would like to see additional size on your plants in pon, maybe try boosting the feed? Just thoughts! Good luck with your experiments ❤️
I wouldn’t do that, I think that’s a recipe for rot because the soil will retain water differently than the pon. For soil I would just rise it off first, but that’s assuming the plant is decently mature.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet Thanks much. I have always removed the soil before putting the plant in pon, but this seller said leave it in the plug. Just wanted another opinion!
I don’t rehab anthurium is water so I can’t tell you. I put my import anthurium in moss, and keep in high humidity until I have new root growth, then I put in pon.
I've been really wanting to try pon without spending all that $$ not to mention lechuza is extremely pricey for my broke bish a$$$ lol but seriously I'm really wanting to try this on a few of my cuttings. Is there another brand anyone can suggest trying before purchasing lechuza?
I don’t think there’s another brand. I think I paid under $20 for each bag of pon. DIY is way more expensive… I think people only started doing that because genuine lechuza was always out of stock. I would just search for it periodically on Amazon. I usually find some when I look and a bag goes a long way!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet thank you. that is what I will wait for. I haven't bought any diy on etzy bc I have a hard time trusting people lol especially with my plants. Every time I search for it, it is out of stock. Maybe location matters? Idk but will keep searching. Thank you
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet lmao too funny. Every time I search it's never there. I immediately went and bought it. Ha ha ha thank you. I swear looked this morning and none were in stock. I need pots now thank you thank you thank youc
At the beginning of the video you show putting a plant without removing any media in a pot and fill with PON, does that work or do you need to remove as much media as possible on the switch. Some of mine struggle when I remove a lot of the media. Any advice?
Hi! Thats because that plant was in pon already and I was just up-potting it. If you’re moving a plant from another media, like soil or moss, it’s definitely best practice to get as much of that off of the roots as possible, but it’s ok if there’s a little residue, unlike with LECA. The BEST way to start a plant in pon is to water root a cutting and put THAT in pon though. Sorry about that!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet no worries, that’s what I have started doing is take cuttings and root in perlite then move them over. Appreciate your time replying!
@@treesepiphytes of course, it was a great question! I’m going to pin this thread ❤️
I LOVE this video. It’s straight and direct. Not meaning to bash other creators, but sometimes they kind of go off on different topics. This stays consistent and have been wanting to try pon for months and this is the very video that convinced me to try it. Thank you 🙏
Ok, thank you for saying that bc I worked really hard to script this video out!
This was THE best helpful video on pon that I’ve seen and it is most helpful! I think from your words of wisdom I’m finally going to start my pon journey!
✨🪴❤️
So excited to have this video for future reference! I always get a ton of good tips and advice about using self-watering systems from your general chore and anthurium videos, but it's nice to have all of that info wrapped up in one video that I can save and refer back to when I need it! 😊👌💚
Awesome! I’m so glad!
I got a Regale and a Queen from Equagenera about one year ago. After acclimating them in water for a week or two I put both of them in pon. Both struggled but the Queen was a lot worse an got bad root rot. It lost one of two leaves very quickly and I was left with one single string of roots. Now after the winter the Regale finally pushed out a giant new leaf, whereas the Queen was still struggling. It startet to push out a new shoot while the last leaf was continuously shrivelling up. The new leaf was very tiny and the old one died off completely. Recently I observed that the plant did not seem to drink and did then discover that it had not any leaves left at all… only the top node had startet to root into the moss that I had put on top of the plant - so today I ended up cutting the stem exactly like you showed here. Let’s hope that some of the three stem cuttings start to root, so I got 3-4 mini Queens instead of one. 🤞
Oof I’m sorry that happened! Queens are definitely tough. I tend to let my anthurium root up in moss before I put them in pon and so far I have had pretty good luck. I really hope she gives you another leaf soon!
I know some people who would love to see this video. Sharing!
Thank you ❤️🪴❤️🪴
Very good information! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge!
Great video. Will be saving for future use.
Awesome guide/review! Your previous vids convinced me to use pon as I start my anthurium journey.
Could you expand on the water routine, specifically pH up/down? How and with what frequency do you test your water? And do you use the same liquidirt-superthrive-orchid fert recipe for all your pon plants and throughout the seasons?
Yes, I treat my water every time I water through all seasons, unless I am using Azamax, but I live in San Diego and we don’t have extreme seasonal fluctuations like other places. Plus my plants are under grow lights so they don’t really feel the effects of winter. Sometimes after I flush the pon I will give the plants a break and only give them filtered water, but you want the ph to stay relatively stable. I also forgot to mention that after you flush you want to let the pon drain for a few hours before fill you up the reservoir again.
I really appreciate you making this video! I've learnt I need to flush my pon more often 😂 Going to start tomorrow 🤞💚
I’m glad you liked it! Just make sure to let your pots sit a while to drain before filling up the reservoir! I’ve rooted or two messing that up!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I'll definitely do that! Should I refill the reservoir the same day or wait for a couple (if I'm flushing them through)? Thank you 💚🌱
@@Tinas.jungle don’t wait that long! You definitely don’t want the reservoir to dry out fully! I usually just let them sit for a few hours and the then don’t fill the reservoir up all the way right away.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet Thanks! You are the best 💚🌱
Thanks for making this video. I didn't know about watering from the top vs watering just through the vent. This may explain what's going on with my gloriosum.
Ooooo I hope that helps!
great video! i've been using pon for ~6 months. Your tips are very helpful
I’m so glad!
I just converted my first plant (a hoya) to PON. I'm hoping for magical results. Haha.
Woohoo!!! Hoyas love pon but they are slooooow. Took like a year for my Polyneura to start taking off but then it popped like crazy and now it’s got loads of peduncles. Just be patient!
This video was super helpful. Do you have a brand or link for self watering pots (for pon) that you could share please! I've got some baby Anthurium and a few juvenile ones. Wanting to switch them all to pon.
I don’t because the brands available on amazon kind of change but just search “self watering planter” with the size you want and they should come up. I don’t recommend smaller than 5 in for anthurium though. I recommend watching my “Transfering Anthurium to Pon” video for the method bc I just use plastic cups when the plants are small. Good luck!
I was re-watching one of your videos from earlier this year, and you mentioned that air pockets in pon are bad. What is the reason for that? Isn't more airflow good? Thank you for clarifying!
It’s not good if pon doesn’t get all up in between the roots and leaves big spaces, but the spaces between the granules are good for aeration… like when you pot a plant in a clear pot and you can see that the soil didn’t get in all the nooks and crannies. In pon, there’s airflow but I think there’s also some wicking and water column type stuff going on that gets messed up if there are big spaces. Hopefully I explained it well!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet Ah - the water column impact makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your explanation and quick reply. Have a great weekend.
@@immk9988 you too!
Brita filter doesn’t filter out Fluoride. Just letting you know.
Well good thing my plants don’t seem to care then, haha!
Thank you for the awesome guide. Do you have any thoughts on flushing pon in no drainage pots?
You definitely can’t leave them forever without flushing so if you are going to use pots with no drainage I would recommend that for plants that will likely be ready to up pot soon. Rinsing the pon super thoroughly before potting up the plant for the first time and using filtered water definitely buys you some time, but I wouldn’t leave plants in pon or Leca with no drainage for more than a few months. Hope that helps!
Your video is so incredibly helpful and definitely one of the best I've seen about pon :)
I recently transferred almost all of my plants to pon, so they're still adjusting, and I'm a bit confused about flushing and watering. When you flush your plants with tap water, does that count as the plant being watered or should I follow up with nutrient water after? Additionally, when watering newly transferred plants, do you let water drain out into the reservoir (if using a self-watering pot) or let it drain out completely?
Thank you so much!! ♡
I always let my plants drain fully before filling up the reservoir and I always refill my reservoir with my regular watering recipe. Hopefully that helps!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet It does! Thank you!! :))
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I'm sorry, I'm back with another question 😅 Do you have any other pesticides you like, or that you recommend, that are similar to Azamax? I'm having a hard time getting my hands on it haha
Thank you in advance :)
It’s the only thing I’ve found that works on spider mites, thrips and scale which are the things I’ve struggled with. Bonide insecticidal super soap is the best topical treatment, it’s like captain jacks 2.0. The active ingredient in Azamax is Azadirachtin. There may be other products like that out there. I honestly just get azamax on Amazon.
Amazing review! Just one question... what self watering pots do you use... the lechusa ones can be very expensive...
Hey! I just get them from Amazon. Just search for “self watering pot 5.5 inches” and they will come up. They’re the generic ones but they get the job done!
I heard it was really bad to rinse the pon down the drain. What are your thoughts?
As long as you don’t let any of the pebbles go down the drain and you do it only occasionally, it should be fine. I’d do it outside but I don’t have a yard or a hose or anything like that.
I have been wanted to try using pon. I have a monstera deliciosa albo in water now. Would that be a good plant to start my pon journey?
Not an Albo! They love to ROT! Honestly anything but an albo, haha! People love to keep anthurium in pon because they are tricky in other media, but I’ve heard philodendron, syngonium and lots of others love it too. For the albo, I stick with an aroid mix that is almost entirely bark, charcoal, tree fern, perlite etc (you can use a little soil) in a PLASTIC pot and then just water more frequently and fertilize mostly every watering. That’s the best way to avoid rot and browning. I have multiple albos and even the high white ones stay nice in that set up. ☺️
I'm so glad I asked!! Thank you! I'll choose another plant to try in pon. I'm really enjoying your videos
@@stephanieh651 thank you so much for saying that, I’m so glad ☺️❤️🪴
Iss that 1 tbsp of azamax? How much water is in your pump? I use it as a foliar spray but am considering watering with it as a preventative now too :)
It’s one tablespoon per gallon. The instructions booklet has a breakdown for indoor plants 🪴
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet I lost my pamphlet lol thank you! Would you take out your nutrient solution for a week while this is in? Or two weeks? Then switch back?
I do take it out… I don’t know if that’s needed but I do just in case it dilutes the treatment
I luv my DIY pon but u just talked me into trying the real stuff lol. It won't be here till late May/ early June tho! 😫
The struggle is real!!!!! I’m mean if it works for you, it’s all good!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet it works but I'm super curious to see if I get better results with Lechuza brand.
Would the rinsing get rid of the fertilizer that comes on the pon? It was one reason someone suggested it to me so I wasn’t sure if it should be rinsed or kept with the fertilizer and flushed later?
Commented before continuing the video, I see what you mean now!
So do you use a self watering pot and water with a reservoir or do you top water still?
I fill in the reservoir unless the pot doesn’t have an opening for it, then I top fill but try to do it near the edge or corner and not get all of the pon wet. If you have a full reservoir and fully wet pon, you can restrict airflow to the roots and accidentally rot them.
My Thai Constellation (in aroid mix) and Albo (rooted in moss) got root rot, so I took them out of the media, clean the roots, and placed them in water with few drops of hydrogen peroxide. I change water every day. The Thai Cons continues to rot, but the Albo looks like she grew new roots. I planned to move to either leca or pon, so I let them sit in water, but I heard pon was better. Do you recommend pon over leca for these two plants? It’s been a while but I hope you can give some insights. Thank you in advance!
I personally don’t use or recommend semi hydro for monstera or variegated plants in general so I can’t really say. I personally have had the best results keeping variegated monstera in an ultra chunky aroid mix but I do know that some people do use semi hydro. I personally think that semi-hydro works really well and is super effective for rooting things and getting young plants started and for anthurium but it really starts to give diminishing returns as the plant gets larger which monstera definitely do. Especially since I’m my experience, monstera deliciosa don’t mind drying out and like to be pot bound, if you let a plant get pot bound in semi-hydro? The roots will start to suffocate so yeah I guess I would say that it’s great to use if you need to reroot them but long-term I wouldn’t keep monstera deliciosa in semi-hydro. Just my opinion from learned experience.
I was made to believe the whole point in pon is no nutrients needed in first 6 month. Thats the difference between pon and leca . I am in process of trying pon and leca so have a few in pon and leca to see which grows best .🌿🌱☘️
So this is true, lechuza pon does have a slow release fertilizer in it, but my experience with my anthurium is that they benefit from the extra little kick that they get from how I prep my water. There has been a lot of trial and error in the community with pon and no two people do it the exact same way so this is just what I do and it’s meant to be one perspective for inspiration, not the only way. I’m really happy with the results I’ve been getting so if you would like to see additional size on your plants in pon, maybe try boosting the feed? Just thoughts! Good luck with your experiments ❤️
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet great i will also try doing this
If u dont mind me asking where did u get your pon at ive been looking for some cuz of u I really want to try this
I got it on Amazon. Sometimes stores will list it. It’s usually a little more expensive than the lechuza website but worth it ❤️🪴
great info!
Where do you buy that Pon?
I got it on Amazon
If you have a plant in a soil plug, can you leave the plug and put it right into the pon?
I wouldn’t do that, I think that’s a recipe for rot because the soil will retain water differently than the pon. For soil I would just rise it off first, but that’s assuming the plant is decently mature.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet Thanks much. I have always removed the soil before putting the plant in pon, but this seller said leave it in the plug. Just wanted another opinion!
where can i buy this plant?
I have an import w anthurium coming,,I'm also going to put in pon...How long should I keep the anthurium in water b4 potting in pon..Or any tips??
I don’t rehab anthurium is water so I can’t tell you. I put my import anthurium in moss, and keep in high humidity until I have new root growth, then I put in pon.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet thank you
@@leahwatkins9911 of course! ❤️❤️❤️
I've been really wanting to try pon without spending all that $$ not to mention lechuza is extremely pricey for my broke bish a$$$ lol but seriously I'm really wanting to try this on a few of my cuttings. Is there another brand anyone can suggest trying before purchasing lechuza?
I don’t think there’s another brand. I think I paid under $20 for each bag of pon. DIY is way more expensive… I think people only started doing that because genuine lechuza was always out of stock. I would just search for it periodically on Amazon. I usually find some when I look and a bag goes a long way!
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet thank you. that is what I will wait for. I haven't bought any diy on etzy bc I have a hard time trusting people lol especially with my plants. Every time I search for it, it is out of stock. Maybe location matters? Idk but will keep searching. Thank you
@@arie_rogers87 the 12 liter bags are in stock on Amazon right now for $27.99. Just search “lechuza pon” and it comes right up.
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet lmao too funny. Every time I search it's never there. I immediately went and bought it. Ha ha ha thank you. I swear looked this morning and none were in stock. I need pots now thank you thank you thank youc
@@arie_rogers87 😘😘😘😘 it’s what plant friends do
Why is it called LECHUZA pon?
That’s the name of the company that makes it, silly boy 😘😘😘
@@PlantFriendDownTheStreet ooooOoooOooooOOoooooOoooOoooooo
Why bother with all that when a good aroid mix is all you need 👍🏻