Glass containers with No Holes?

[gumbii]

Originally Posted by Ray

As the plant grows and uses nutrients in the LECA medium, it changes the chemistry of the solution by extracting nutrient ions and dumping its wastes into it.

If you fill and mostly dump, you are diluting it, but not really fully correcting it, and as our friend from Phoenix pointed out, the medium will shift around, which discourages the roots from growing.

If you have the drainage holes, and follow the correct method of rapidly filling the pot to the top and letting it drain, you do a very thorough flush at each watering without disturbing the LECA or the plant.

Read more from the inventor of the technique.

i'm just doing it how my grandma used to do it... my family has been growing plants in leca, barro and other clay substrates in mexico for generations... mostly for chayote... LOL... but still... it would be flooded then flushed... that's also how i water my cannabis farm right now...

[Keiki Paste]

Word. Good luck with that. :

[estación seca]

How do you grow chayote in LECA? And why?

[gumbii]

Originally Posted by estación seca

How do you grow chayote in LECA? And why?

don't know... my family were brick makers... they would make these tall containers to grow veggies in... when i went, they're all ponds now... but i think they would grow it in leca so they could take out the bottom roots... you can eat them too... but when you grow them in the soil, it's hard to follow them and pull them up since they're so far apart... my friend's family from oajaca grows them in the sand... so it's easier to pull up the camotes...

from my experience with leca... everything can grow in it... i have grown tomato, carrots, strawberries, aloe, stapeliads, even my edithcolea plants are doing great in that media...

[Keiki Paste]

Well, I've done it now. I just transferred two Cymbidiums and a Beallara (Odontoglossum?) to S/H. I got a 10L bag of Hydroton for $13 at the local Hydroponic shop and gave the pellets two rinses: the first one before they went into the 24 hour soak, and then again when I thought I was going to use them, but instead ending up soaking them another 24 hours. COMPLETELY FORGOT what Ray said about adding Epsom Salts and and the Kelp Max. I think it was because a)I've been binge watching videos on s/h and there is little mention of either additive among the 'users', and b)I've grown houseplants since I was a kid and have never used fertilizer and my plants are beautiful and long-lived.

So I had this "Oh Crap!" moment a few minutes ago when I went back to Ray's site. I didn't follow his instructions to the letter like I intended, so I will update this thread as things progress.

I ordered a Cym. Everglades x Cym. Everglades 'Diamond Jubilee' AM/AOS from Carter and Holmes and got a freebie because they had experienced a website outage: Cym. High Hopes 'Everyglades' 4N x Cym. parishii 'Emma Menninger' HCC/AOS 4N I only intended to repot the freebie but after seeing how needy it was for a repot, I repotted the other as well.

And then there is the Bllra. Tropic Lily Hilo 'Space Ship' that was doing well until I decided that the media looked way too compacted and degraded. I repotted it in sphagnum and bark and it had been a month of steady decline. So that was my primary concern today.

My most cherished possession is my Maxillaria variabilis 'Black Eyed Susan' that I bought half dead at an orchid show because I didn't know what half dead Maxillarias look like. I won't repot that until I see success from my foray today. There was a bit of green to the half dead part of the Maxillaria that I removed, and it is in a shot glass being fed tiny amounts of water... and the small green p/b with the crinkled leaf is thriving - haha!

So Happy Memorial Day, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome!

[estación seca]

The time to move to S/H is whenever new roots are growing.

---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

Originally Posted by gumbii

...but i think they would grow it in leca so they could take out the bottom roots... you can eat them too... but when you grow them in the soil, it's hard to follow them and pull them up since they're so far apart... my friend's family from oajaca grows them in the sand... so it's easier to pull up the camotes....

Now you've done it! I have a chayote sprouting on my kitchen windowsill. I was going to plant it against a fence. They usually make it through the winter here, getting bigger and bigger every year, more chayotes every year.

But I've never had chayote camotes...... hmmm.....

[Tindomul]

I've got two night blooming cactii in S/H. They bloom from time to time.
As far as the glass containers, I tried that with a Catt many years ago and they rotted promptly. I personally would not suggest it.

[gumbii]

you don't say...





same plant, but in bloom... yeah, they were dirty, but they were hanging from a blue hibiscus tree...


they grow better for me in SH than any other way.... although, i've been on a mounting spree lately....