den phal in clay aggregate LECA

[greenhours]

I received my first den phal on my daughter's birthday 2 month ago and I discovered today after opening it up that the roots were in water and some were rotting.

Would repotting in a handful of pine bark and lots of LECA be allright? I don't have enough pine bark to cover up all the roots and I was wondering if I could use LECA instead. Can I leave some water at the bottom of my LECA filled vase if the roots are 6 cms above it - I was hoping that the water would evaporate and thus provide moisture for the roots.

[cb977]

The majority of my plants are in aliflor (LECA) only. The 'chids love it and I never have to repot because of decomposition of the media

[Ross]

Originally Posted by greenhours

I received my first den phal on my daughter's birthday 2 month ago and I discovered today after opening it up that the roots were in water and some were rotting.

Would repotting in a handful of pine bark and lots of LECA be allright? I don't have enough pine bark to cover up all the roots and I was wondering if I could use LECA instead. Can I leave some water at the bottom of my LECA filled vase if the roots are 6 cms above it - I was hoping that the water would evaporate and thus provide moisture for the roots.

I don't recommend a mix. Use LECA 100% not a mix. The advantage of LECA is it's not inclined to rot. The other stuff will and mess up the LECA.

[greenhours]

Thank you so much for your advice. Something is still not claer to me.
Do you also leave a little bit of water at the base not in contact with the roots?
How do you make sure the plants have the humidity they need?

[Neverend]

That is only for semi-hydroponics. When using that, you will have to be very careful with the fertilising regime, otherwise the concentration might get too high as to burn the plant. You need not use semi-hydro (I use 100% LECA and don't), but I judging from your location it might be a good idea since humidity isn't high in your area.

[camille1585]

Hello fellow french person! French are rare on OB I noticed...Where are you from?

I'll jump in and give my , for what it's worth. Why don't you buy some more bark to repot it? If you really want to do 100% Leca, make sure you have new roots growing, or else it's doomed from the start. If the roots are in bad shape you might have better luck with bark, and you can always put it in semi-hydro when it has recovered. I don't know much about semi hydro, but I don't think it raises the air humidity. I have my plants on humidity trays and have a small humidifier running part of the day.

[Neverend]

I agree with camille, never put plants with bad or no root systems in LECA, they're better off in moist medium like sphagnum. You can transfer a plant that's putting out roots to LECA, and it'll adapt well as long as you water it consistently, no worries about rot due to overwatering after that

[greenhours]

Thank you all. I think I will follow Camille's advice and put the plant in sphagnum for the moment transfering it to LECA later.

Again, thank you so much!

Alexandra

PS
for Camille - I am living in Grenoble (University area), 100m from the town's green houses. Nice to meet you!
We are relatively close to each other...