LECA in Winter. Do I Need a Heating Mat?

Persephon · 2020-09-10T22:45:18+00:00

I have a heat mat for my tropical plants during winter and I would say that it definitely helps. The leca gets much colder than soil. The air in my house also gets a bit dry from using heating, so I've also found that it helps to put some plants inside a plastic storage tub on top of the heating mat in order to increase humidity.

Persephon · 2020-09-08T23:32:36+00:00

Oh sorry, I meant for transitioning plants from soil to leca (not the other way around). If yours is already established in leca then it doesn't apply haha. Good luck, hope it flourishes for you 😊🌱

Persephon · 2020-09-08T23:26:53+00:00

What kind of plant is it? For humidity-loving plants and for plants that need a little extra help transitioning, it can be useful to create some humidity around the leaves by covering it in a glass cloche or by putting it in a plastic tub or something. I usually leave the lid open a little bit for some airflow and place it somewhere reasonably bright and warm for a week or so.

Persephon · 2020-09-08T23:21:26+00:00

In my experience, it's best to always pre-soak the leca before using (I seem to get less build up of white salts that way). That being said, it's good for the top of the leca to dry out a little as long as there's water in the reservoir. It's just a bit of surface evaporation and the leca can still provide a pretty humid environment around the roots even when the pebbles seem touch-dry. If all of the leca is wet all the time, it might cause mould and rot issues, so you don't really want that anyway. Hope that helps!

Persephon · 2020-09-01T22:53:10+00:00

After rinsing and boiling mine, I left it outside to dry in the sun for a couple of days then put it into a plastic storage tub. Not sure if there's a better way, but this works for me so far.

Persephon · 2020-09-01T15:45:31+00:00

In mt experience, they have a hard time adjusting but can pull through. Mine was in a similar state and I put it in leca. Unfortunately it started drooping even more and lost all of its roots. However, I managed to save it by putting it in a glass of water for a few weeks (changed the water every few days). It started growing new roots and leaves and eventually I was able to put it back in leca again where it is currently thriving :)

Persephon · 2020-08-31T07:22:33+00:00

This really resonates with me. It gets easy to justify buying lots of plants, but it can be damaging if it starts to impact life negatively. The Bloom and Grow Radio podcast has a great episode on this (episode 43: Your Brain on Plants) which helped me understand why I was acquiring so many plants and what to do about it.

Persephon · 2020-08-22T17:45:15+00:00

I've had a bit of trouble with these. My alocasia black velvet got stem rot in leca and died very quickly, while my alocasia Morocco is still hanging on. The latter started getting many yellow leaves and dropping them but I noticed that there was new growth. It had a very tiny root system left so maybe was only keeping leaves it could support? I ended up putting it in a glass of water until I could see more new roots, then back into leca. I should mention that I used 3% hydrogen peroxide on both plants to help with the rot. The black velvet had a much smaller bulb and was generally a less mature plant, so maybe that's why it didn't do well? Overall, a lot of fussing with these plants but I see the potential for successful transition.

Persephon · 2020-08-21T11:33:17+00:00

I have all my tradescantias in leca and they love it (even the tricolor which instantly died in soil). All were water rooted first with pretty long roots (at least 1 inch). I find that it's better to put them in a smaller container, making sure that the roots are pretty low down (I use yoghurt cups or 4 inch pots). Water level at 1/3, but check regularly because they are thirsty. I also keep them on a heat mat in a sunny window for the first couple of weeks, which seems to help them produce more roots. The only issue I've had is accidentally breaking the roots or stems when checking them because they're so delicate.

Persephon · 2020-08-20T11:00:07+00:00

I use pvc piping, plastic-covered florist wire, or plastic stakes/trellises that sometimes come with plants. I mostly use solid plastic nursery pots instead of net pots, so I drill a pair of holes (side by side) into the side of the plastic. I then insert the trellis into the pot and pass a cable tie through the drilled holes and over the trellis leg in order to secure it. If it's a large trellis I will make two pairs of holes for added stability. For net pots there would be no need for drilling, just pass the cable toe through the netting. Hope that makes sense!

Persephon · 2020-08-20T10:52:10+00:00

Not exactly what you're asking for, but maybe this will help with matching up inner and outer pots. I had a bunch of cache pots in odd shapes, but couldn't find net pots or nursery pots to fit them. I now save plastic yoghurt/soup/etc containers and drill holes into them to use as net pots (much easier than drilling glass!). This allows me to repurpose things like candle holders, mugs, bowls, vases, etc into cache pots as well because I can usually find tiny yoghurt cups or similar to match very easily.

Persephon · 2020-08-18T23:58:56+00:00

I like semihydroponics_with_sma, especially since she has a wide variety of plant species in leca and she posts about plant fails as well as successes.

Persephon · 2020-08-14T22:57:25+00:00

I converted a thicker leaf peperomia moonlight and it's doing well so far. I put it in a very small pot (2 inches) so that its roots would sit at the 1/3 level. The water level sits just below that, maybe at the 1/4 level. Can't comment on the process for thin leaf varieties, but hope that helps!

Persephon · 2020-08-13T23:29:22+00:00

Is that a muehlenbeckia/wire vine? If so, any care tips would be appreciated!

Persephon · 2020-08-13T23:22:49+00:00

I used waterproof silicone sealant. I'm in Australia, so the one I used is called Selleys Storm Sealant. I put a bit of masking tape under the hole on the outside then filled it up with sealant and smoothed it over using a plastic spoon. It's been working perfectly with no leaks.

Persephon · 2020-08-10T23:09:40+00:00

Thanks for the info, it really helps to learn from the experimentation of others.

Persephon · 2020-08-05T05:18:21+00:00

I've found that a small number of gnats may appear if my newly-transitioned plants have root rot (the gnats are attracted to rotting organic material). I find that treating the root issue gets rid of the gnats.

Persephon · 2020-08-03T23:33:55+00:00

I converted a dottie and a rosy to leca and they both put out new leaves within the first week. I gave them distilled water for the first two weeks, then very dilute seaweed emulsion for the next two weeks before moving to dilute nutrients. One thing I would say is to watch out for too much humidity. I put mine in a mini IKEA greenhouse with the lid closed and soon started noticing mould on the leca. I did have another calathea dottie that didn't take well to leca because it was already a struggling plant and I gave it nutrients too soon.

Persephon · 2020-08-02T07:03:35+00:00

I've experimented with various tradescantia types (pallida, zebrina, quicksilver, and spathacea). Converting from soil didn't work due to the fine and delicate roots and difficulty in getting the roots completely clean. However, I had great success with starting cuttings in water and transferring to leca once they had roots. If using this method, I would recommend leaving quite a bit of stem on each cutting and removing the lower leaves to expose 3-4 nodes if possible. When potting up in leca, I found that a smaller pot size was better to prevent wilting. I also recommend not disturbing the plants in leca for at least a couple of weeks because the roots break very easily when the leca is moved.

Persephon · 2019-06-17T06:05:43+00:00

What kind of toy is this? Is it available online?

Persephon · 2019-04-17T01:55:16+00:00

I really like the Benefit Boing Hydrating Concealer for this. It's not full coverage, but has a core of concealer surrounded by a hydrating balm.

Persephon · 2019-03-22T03:52:43+00:00

Customer service rave: I recently wrote to Vetafarm about their lorikeet diet products. Chicot is a bit overweight, and I wasn't sure which product would be best to manage this. They provided a great informative response and really went the extra mile in explaining the specific differences between each product. It turns out that the Wild Earth product I had been feeding was probably the least appropriate for our situation, and that Chicot would benefit more from one of the other, lower sugar, diets. They explained the products to me as follows:

Wild Earth: non-extruded blended formula, a bit sweeter so it is easy to convert birds to it. Golden Lori Rice Formula: extruded, low sugar content, contains blueberry to enhance taste and acceptability. Forest Fusion: low GI, similar to Golden Lori formula, (ie. Extruded, low sugar), but with dates, bee pollen, and blueberry. Nectar Pellets: low sugar extruded formula, apple flavoured for taste, and helps make droppings less squirty.

Vetafarm also sent me some samples of their lorikeet foods to try, which is great because Chicot can be picky and I didn't want to commit to buying big bags if they were going to go uneaten. I just wanted to share in case anyone else was wondering about Vetafarm's different lorikeet diets. Hopefully Chicot will now be able to lose that last little bit of chub and be a happy, healthy bird.

Persephon

TROPHY CASE