I converted about 30 plants to lechuza pon. I cleaned the roots as best I could to remove the soil without doing any damage to the roots. I wash the dust off the pon before potting. No plants died and they are all doing great. It is normal for the plant to lose 2-3 leaves during the acclimation period. I take care that the soil is always humid but not soaking wet. I fill the tank to 1/3 the first months. I always water the plants from above and do not fill the tank directly. I add that the following species love pon: schefflerra, ficus elastica, croton, pothos, Dieffenbachia, aglaonema. Over time, the plants will create water roots. Unlike Memo, I fill the tank halfway as soon as it is empty. Indeed, I am afraid to let the water roots dry out and that they suffer damages. I also specify that I use the following fertilizers: liquid gold leaf and Multikraft roots. I fertilize with the doses reduced by half in winter but I do not stop the fertilization. The huge advantage of pon is that I don't have to renew the soil anymore and it has practically eradicated my fungus gnats.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Wow very cool and thanks for the detailed explanation, I might try that with some of mine, thanks for taking the time to explain. That's why I love plants we are all, always learning 😊😊😊

Anthurium. I’ve cracked the code, I think. I keep them in a very chunky organic mix, but keep the nursery pot in a orchid cache pot. I.e. the inner bit of the catch pot is raised. So there’s a reservoir, but loads of air, too. My nursery pots are orchid nursery pots: holes all around and transparent.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Ohhhhh never would have thought of that as an option, such a great idea 💡 👍 🌿💚

@aprilgramse7928

Жыл бұрын

This is such a great idea!!!

honestly i have had great success using a mixture of self collected decidious-forest-dirt (it has leaves, rotting wood, fungy and other organisms, etc. in it) mixed with any kind of cheap soil available for all my aroids, which are mainly of the genera Monstera, Philodendronm, Scindapsis and Epipremnum i also use terracotta exclusively is it heavy? yes abslolutely! personally i dont see the point in those "fluffy" aroid mixes or leca, pon etc. since my main goal is to grow them for a long time and getting large mature plants, if i was propagating a lot and wanted to maximise speed of growth maybe, but once they have established themselves in normal soil they do perfectly well and i feel like they are then more stable in case i can't water them for a while etc. anyway just my 2cents, thanks for your videos, i enjoy the informed plant-reviews

Thank you for sharing your tips and experience. I am a helicopter/over waterer plant parent in semi tropical climate growing outdoors/patio. My mix is so chunky/bark heavy I would almost say it’s semi hydro. I do leave a reservoir some times and am experimenting with no drainage. I have no luck with pon. Everything rots. I do well with straight perlite though. I have added a little bark to perlite and treat it like pon with great success, especially for my Hoya linearis which was very finicky for me otherwise. It bloomed this year! I appreciate your video comment section as a resource for us to share our experience with each other. I think you are spot on with the idea that your own growing style and conditions are the biggest thing to understand in order to have success. Thank you!

Nice sharing and beautiful plants 🍃🤗

Totally agree with you on the difficulty of growing alocasia in leca/pon. I know many others have had success, but that is the one genus that always trips me up. On the flip side, every one of my many sansevieria/dracaena have been thriving in coco coir for years. Thanks for sharing your experience.

As alwyas a pleasure to follow your thoughts. Regarding Pon I can say I have a lot of success with it, even with my Allocasias. The thing that worked wonders for me is I used very young plants so they could get used to Pon from the very beginning. Even my Bonsai trees love it, especially the Terra-Pon. All the best to you, stay safe!

I just love how different plant care looks around the world. Even from person to person it can differ so much. For example: 99% of my Allocasias love being in Pon (very much to my dislike haha), while I fail to keep them happy in any other media. That's so crazy 🤣 Plus: my big Micholitziana is sitting in Pon and I have to constantly have it be in touch with water. Otherwise it's really giving me some trouble. I read about the dry phase as well and some of my plants tolerate this, not so the Micholitziana though.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

That is so so interesting so many people have had great success with alocasia in Pon, do you remove the soil completely before transitioning and do you always have a reservoir?

@berlinaroids

Жыл бұрын

@@Houseplantygoodness For the soil: yes I remove it completely. When I started I seemed be luckier than I deserved, because I wasn't very gentle with the roots and put them in mineral as soon as I had removed the soil in the sink (I was simply unaware they don't tolerate it as much). Yet all of them handled that well. Just recently I noticed this wasn't the best ways and tadaaa the last two I "transplanted" died on me. For the water: I keep them both with a reservoir as well as sitting in water, really depending on the pots I have left actually. Though there are some things I noticed: My Micholitziana loves sitting in water yet really seems to struggle, as least for me, with the reservoir. Overall this is the plant that uses the most water. Up to an amount where it gets ridiculous. And when I say reservoir I mean the method with the string/cord, whatever people might use. My Frydek though was very small when I got her and I was very gentle when I removed the soil. I keep it in the lechuza minideltini as I really have had the absolute best results with that one (btw: completely different story when it comes to the same pot in the bigger version, I'll have to replace them as my plant don't seem to get enough water in that unless I fill it up so that the roots are standing in water again). So when it will get older I will probably also put in in la pot that sits in water, rather than any string-method.

PAFCAL is my favorite substrate these days. I use no-drainage glass vases. Once things start looking dry, I water with nutrient water. New roots look amazing and so far, no decline after transplanting even when I leave some soil on the roots. It’s kinda magical and the dark black looks nice (to me). I also dig that algae is difficult to see (but I still try to keep the vessel away from the light sources). It isn’t inexpensive but it’s supposed to last years (I think 10). I am pretty sure most of my smaller plants will eventually go in this substrate. I especially like transitioning seedlings and props from Stratum to PAFCAL. This happens when the Stratum becomes a little broken down looking. Thanks for another great video!

Thank you for sharing your experience - it´s really invaluable, always very helpful and inspirational for my own plant care 🙂 Aroid mix versus pon: I am growing in a very fluffy mix of: peat moss, coco coir + bark, perlite, worm castings and charcoal. It´s proved to be a good mix. I started with pon this summer: water propagated marantas love it, never grew this fast and didn´t sprout babies like this. I grew maranta before in soil and this is way better - I believe pon is the best possible medium for marantas (they also don´t get the dry tips in it). I also grow peperomia argyreia in pon - still I don´t know whether it´s a good decision: peperomia sprouts babies way faster, grows larger leaves, but there is some corkiness on the bottom of the leaves/ shredded leaf edges (I don´t know whether it´s pon or thrips that were there before....?). So I grow another peperomia argyreia in soil beside this one, and observe the results (so far slower growth). However, until the autumn I didn´t realise I have to let the pon dry out a bit before I refill the reservoir - good you speak about it, as it is not often mentioned, but it seems to be very important. I like that I can reuse pon and sterilize it by cooking it for 10 min, killing all pests etc. living in it. I find pon more eco-friendly, good for propagation, but it´s hard to know how long to let it dry inbetween refilling the water reservoir. I think pon itself is better medium than the aroid mix (min. to better eradicate pests and overwatering, has better structure/airation), but the problematic part can be the water reservoir and its proper use - at least for me, that´s the most challenging bit.

Fern fibre is a game changer. It has become popular here in New Zealand for propagating, esp hoya. I've started adding it as an amendment to my own mixes as it is cheap and easy to find online.

I use New Horizon peat-free compost (I work as a gardener in the UK - the word soil means something very different to me!) mixed with varying amounts of perlite, bark and grit. It doesn't have the shrinkage problem of leaf and is easier to re-wet. Works great for me.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Amazing, yeah I have used that in the garden and was thinking, with some minor amendments this could work indoors too 😊

Recently found a mix that serves me well as a base for my organic mix: DNA/Mills Ultimate mix Soil&Cork

@Carey.S75

Жыл бұрын

I too use this as a base mix for soil. It's great mixed with pon and large perlite 😁

in Australia we have a native plant mix which is sort of chunky like orchid bark and I found it was really good for philodenrens, all of mine have gone bannanas in it (since alot of tropical indoor plants are native to Queensland here it makes alot of sense to use it for things like monstera and epperium pinatums). I can't afford to by 4 different types of mix to blend together so this was a great alternative for me. it's not to dissimilar to orchid bark, but does have a little more soil in it than that does. it drains well too so it really good.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Awww wow that really does seem like such an easier option and definately makes sense considering how many tropicals can grow there too 😊💚🌿👌

Here in India, lot of people successfully use soil + river sand (for drainage) + furtilizer (vermicompost/cow manure/ neem cake powder - anti bacterial, soil based pest control) for gardening on budget, as inorganic media is relatively expensive here. cow manure is tricky as it should be well aged or completely decomposed before use. We also add rice/paddy husk for drainage and its moisture holding capacity as its very easily available - sometimes for free from rice mills. For moisture loving plants, sometimes a bit of coco peat is added as a renewable and cheaper alternative to peat moss.

I have been transitioning all my Alocasias to pon and they not only did well, they proved extremely quick to adapt and grow thick water roots. And keep growing and having new leaves without skipping a beat :) I only have jewel Alocasias though. I do remember hearing somewhere that they grow by rivers too, so I kind of expected that.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Awww amazing, how do you grow them in Pon, with reservoir? Do they ever dry out?

@crisl3557

Жыл бұрын

@@Houseplantygoodness I let all the water from the reservoir be drained and refill basically when the top of the pon gets dry. They also get a lot of light (a SE uv protected window), and they behaved like being cofeinated since I put them there :))

@dominiquerenaud6481

Жыл бұрын

How did you do the transition?from Canada also

@crisl3557

Жыл бұрын

@@dominiquerenaud6481 I transitioned them almost the same, I leave them with a water reservoir for a day, take it out for a day or two and so on. From what I figured out so far, the transition means that the thin roots die and the main (thick/er) roots grow new spagetti-like roots on them instead. So basically you need to have enough air so that the roots that die won't rot. The plants I transitioned were already in a chuncky mix, so had enough thick roots to transition smoothly. I am hesitant to let the new spagettti roots dry, as they seem to be quite different from the normal soil roots and I don't think they can dry safely...

@crisl3557

Жыл бұрын

I also use a mix of pon, perlite and vermiculite for corms, layered on top of some leca (that enables you to see how much water is in there). I just leave the very top of the corms out. They grow out quite nicely there, and I only move them when they have a leaf open. They can be moved direcly into pon with a reservoir from there.

❤ Soil Ninja, do chunky and fine semi hydro mix (pon). The fine is recommended for Maranta and Calathea’s. Mine are doing great in it👍🏻🤞🏻🥰

I have close to 100 plants in leca, I only flush them every few months and it doesn't seem to negative impact any of my plants. From my experience, it's a really low maintenance medium for growing plants.

Thanks for this video; as a plant parent that has always used soil, with different additions depending on the plant requirements, I was wondering about all the hype with pon and leca. I have purchased all the ingredients to make pon; however all my plants seem to be doing quite well as I don’t tend to overwater . So if there is nothing wrong, leave it alone?

I do have a Calathea Pinstripe (ornata) in Leca that is doing great.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Wow really 😳😳😳 I tried the Makoyana and it hated life in Leca for me.

@tanya.quintieri

Жыл бұрын

@@Houseplantygoodness yeah, every other Calathea croaked on me in Leca. But the pinstripe has been in Leca since September 2020. Hasn't thrived, but hasn't declined one bit either. I think her rather leathery leaves are to blame/thank for that.

Using succulent soil mix for my house plants works for over waterer like me. Staying in the tropical w high humidity.

I love lecca a lot of my syngonium are in it x

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Ohhh maybe when I retry Leca I will try it with syngoniums 😁💚🌿

Rey interesting the Pon growing and the LECA.I tried LECA for some plants. Some were happy in it but I got a lot of pots that developped green algae, more like root wing green stuff. even if I washed the pots with peroxide. Watch do you do to keep this problem away?

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Hmmm that is an interesting one. I have not tried it personally, but I know there are some chemicals that are safe for plant roots that are used with aquariums, that might be one to try. As I mentioned not tried it yet, so maybe only try it on a plant you don't mind sacrificing in case it doesn't work

You forgot to talk about plants grown in pure sphagnum moss. Lately all the plants i bought are coming from the growers in sphagnum and they seem really happy. It's a hell for me to separate and clean the roots, but i started to wonder if i should let them be. About alocasias, i have 8 types so far, all in pon, all happy. I never let the reservoir go dry. When i had them in chunky soil, i couldn't escape the one leaf club.

Hi.. my alocasia sarian is in pon it's doing well so far, the thing i observed is it's leaves are heavy, the stems are bent.. oh and they love to be overwatered.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Interesting, do you have a water reservoir always with it?

Someone recommended getting pet versions on things. I get my orchid bark from a reptile shop on line for a fraction of the cost of the standard stuff. It's the same thing and I get my coir there too which I always hope will have less to no salt. I've had great luck with this. Great vid Have fun.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Ohhh yeah great shout, I am actually going to be doing a video on using pet materials for plants, so this divetaiks beautifully into that 😉💚🌿

@pinkyysk

Жыл бұрын

Yes it does. I use Internet reptile it's based in Nottingham and they are really helpful but mostly super cheap.

I’ve had a pothos in Leca that I haven’t flushed in two years. Depends on the plant.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Ohhh I did not know that very interesting thanks for sharing Tanya 🙌💚🌿

For me Pon worked with Pothos, Alocasias, Syngoniums and Monsteras, however my Begonias and Nerve Plants hated it. One Peace Lilly did very well, one didn't. 🤷‍♀️

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I think i would agree with your statement for sure. I should have mentioned cane begonias is what did well for me in Pon, have not tried it with rhizomatous

@monalischen1746

Жыл бұрын

@@Houseplantygoodness Yes, that could be a thing that they react differently. I have to say I am not that impressed with pon in general and switching some plants back. Semi-hydro however was helpful in the beginning when I was an over-waterer. 😊

You start with Alocasia not doing well in pon and then alocasia appears in the list of plants that do do well in pon ?

@meikahidenori

Жыл бұрын

it might vary between the genius. I own a lot of philodenrens and not all of them enjoy the same potting media for me.

@Houseplantygoodness

Жыл бұрын

Aw my bad was that in the note? I might have added it in accidentally. Generally with pon most alocasia in my experience do not do so well, but there are some within the genus that can do well, if that makes sense.

cow manure - is very Acidic ph 2-3 , you literally burn your plants .I am only using CM outside after 6-12 month of purchasing the product.

Hi mate…ecuagenera say there are Problems shipping to UK as new legislation is required which means shipments are delayed..I had to email them to see wtf is going on though, they didn’t tell me shitawful customer service really , I just got a refund, no way they just keeping over £1000 until who tf knows when.. and ship in January or something🥶 im pretty pissed off tbh -hope you see this as same will apply to your order 🫤 they did however refund me quickly and were apologetic after the fact