Not a lecca expert, but i think its more about the ratio of lecca to medium. Like lot of lecca into little of media not good and little of lecca into the rest of your soil mix is ok.
Zealousideal-Ice4412
I add a little leca to my chunky aroid mix and I’ve had no issues. I’ve thrown some lechuza pon in there too and it’s also fine. Really depends on the ratio and what plant is going in it. It’s probably not cost effective though, I just did it to experiment.
dogscatsnscience
You can mix anything you like, it’s all about what outcome you want, for what plant.
LECA is going to make the substrate very porous.
My guess is they probably won’t hold any water because the soil is more likely to suck it up, so they will act similar to rocks.
Sundadanio
Yes you can
chloenicole8
Adding perlite and orchid bark is the best way to aerate and improve drainage. I don’t know the point of using expensive LECA balls when perlite and orchid bark do the same thing.
DeletedMyPosts
One source is a top research university the other source is Pinterest.
gobliina
For every single goddamn plant I’ve read contradictory care instructions
Christen0526
I do
Fantastic_Web_4971
I add a little bit of leca but I feel it’s more for aesthetic than drainage. Orchid bark is my favorite to add for drainage.
ImAnIdeaMan
What additional information did you get when you clicked on the links and read them?
MedabadMann
I tried semi-hydro with leca, failed, and now it all goes in the pot mixed together. What else am I going to do with it… Haven’t had any problems with it.
quorrathelastiso
I don’t know the logic, but I guess I could see a mix of leca and potting soil being a problem depending on the ratio and type of potting soil. If it’s a super fine, dense potting soil that settles I could see where leca or anything chunky could make it weird? I use leca either by itself or with moss (I’ve had great luck with a layer of leca underneath moss, like 20/80) but that’s totally different than potting soil.
Qopperus
You won’t enjoy the LECA in the mix, acts like rocks. Perlite is the way.
_yourupperlip_
You can do whatever you want. I make a chunky mix for almost everything and the base soil mix I use has leca and orchid bark. I add topsoil and coco coir and compost or worm castings. The balls do their thing and also add some aesthetic. Saying “you absolutely do not” is bizarre. What is going to happen some sort of chemical reaction?
cutelittlehellbeast
I always put LECA in my potting mixes. It helps with drainage
alcmnch0528
I use leca all the time without any issues. It’s part of my chunky soil-less mix.
PoundC4ke
At my garden centre they recommended putting leca in the bottom of the pot, for better drainage. Many also use it to cover the top of the soil for aesthetic purposes. But I’ve seen people using crushed leca in their soil mix for better drainage also.
Nematodes-Attack
I see the Reddit answers are just as mixed 😂 No surprise there
CommitteeSolid3055
Use perlite and some dolemite and a good draining soil
ElizabethDangit
In the southern hemisphere you have to put the leca on top of the soil since you’re upside down
CowSumo
i only really do it when the root somehow grew into the leca. or when the root won’t let go of their ball friend.
Bulky_Ring_1406
So here’s the thing about LECA i haven’t seen anyone mention. There’s different kinds and some kinds are used in building project like houses and carports and stuff like that and the other is for plants.
What’s the difference then? Easy. The stuff they use in building excrets a type of salts that hindres and often kill of vegetation.
Aggravating-Fee-1615
balls
Syberiann
My medium from repotme has leca balls in the mix and it’s fantastic quality. My orchids are very very happy.
paperscribbel
Ive had great success with adding leca to my potting mixes. For an array of plants too, succulents, aroids, etc.
not_blowfly_girl
I mix it with soil. It helps with drainage but doesn’t do anything super special. I like how the roots grab onto the balls
EnvironmentalEye5402
I do it with mine, never have any issues.
Motorcycle-Language
I put a few in along with my orchid bark, chunky perlite, etc. in my soil blends because the way I see it, soil in nature is a blend of all sorts of weird crap. I’ve found it helps keep the soil from getting too compressed and in my case it’s worked really well for my plants, but I’m not doing like 50% LECA 50% soil or anything like that. Literally just a random handful. I could probably just as easily use small rocks or something, but I don’t have any and I do have a giant metric fuckton of LECA in a bag in my storage unit, so that’s what I do. When the LECA runs out idk if I’ll keep doing it but so far, so good.
WeirdPop5934
LECA my balls.
Tbtlhart
If you click the link, it actually says to not use anything in the bottom of the pot to create a perched water table. Which makes both links true.
IncubusDarkness
POV – You look up any instructions for any plant ever
the_greengrace
I don’t know the answer but I will always go with dot edu over dot com, if I have to pick one. The information on a dot edu site is far more likely to be fact/evidence based and cited. Dot com often presents information without an author, let alone a source, and they are selling something.
It’s also important to remember the snippets shown in search results may not be saying what they appear to be saying. Search results are just matches to words or phrases. They will show you the part of that page that says what you were searching for, but it may follow a heading or paragraph that says “this advice only applies to cane type begonias/in western Canada/on the waxing of the moon.”
ResidentEggplants
The answer is “whatever makes you purchase more stuff.”
Ok_Nothing_9733
AI summaries are always trash like this, it’s wild they still show them at the top when half the time it contradicts itself directly
Confident-Ruin-4111
I mix leca or irregular puffed clay into all my soil along with bark and other additives (pumice, vermiculite, perlite, etc), AND I put a few inches of leca at the bottom of all my pots. I have hundreds of very sizable plants.
furryBear57
I was at a big box store speaking to an employee. Was informed that the care tag on orchids stated to put one ice cube on the pot. 🙄
Papierfliegerbauer
Molly’s Aroid Mix is very popular and has LECA in it, and I’ve seen a lot of people have success with it. I don’t see why not
39 Comments
I’m just gonna sit over here
Not a lecca expert, but i think its more about the ratio of lecca to medium. Like lot of lecca into little of media not good and little of lecca into the rest of your soil mix is ok.
I add a little leca to my chunky aroid mix and I’ve had no issues. I’ve thrown some lechuza pon in there too and it’s also fine. Really depends on the ratio and what plant is going in it. It’s probably not cost effective though, I just did it to experiment.
You can mix anything you like, it’s all about what outcome you want, for what plant.
LECA is going to make the substrate very porous.
My guess is they probably won’t hold any water because the soil is more likely to suck it up, so they will act similar to rocks.
Yes you can
Adding perlite and orchid bark is the best way to aerate and improve drainage. I don’t know the point of using expensive LECA balls when perlite and orchid bark do the same thing.
One source is a top research university the other source is Pinterest.
For every single goddamn plant I’ve read contradictory care instructions
I do
I add a little bit of leca but I feel it’s more for aesthetic than drainage. Orchid bark is my favorite to add for drainage.
What additional information did you get when you clicked on the links and read them?
I tried semi-hydro with leca, failed, and now it all goes in the pot mixed together. What else am I going to do with it… Haven’t had any problems with it.
I don’t know the logic, but I guess I could see a mix of leca and potting soil being a problem depending on the ratio and type of potting soil. If it’s a super fine, dense potting soil that settles I could see where leca or anything chunky could make it weird? I use leca either by itself or with moss (I’ve had great luck with a layer of leca underneath moss, like 20/80) but that’s totally different than potting soil.
You won’t enjoy the LECA in the mix, acts like rocks. Perlite is the way.
You can do whatever you want. I make a chunky mix for almost everything and the base soil mix I use has leca and orchid bark. I add topsoil and coco coir and compost or worm castings. The balls do their thing and also add some aesthetic. Saying “you absolutely do not” is bizarre. What is going to happen some sort of chemical reaction?
I always put LECA in my potting mixes. It helps with drainage
I use leca all the time without any issues. It’s part of my chunky soil-less mix.
At my garden centre they recommended putting leca in the bottom of the pot, for better drainage. Many also use it to cover the top of the soil for aesthetic purposes. But I’ve seen people using crushed leca in their soil mix for better drainage also.
I see the Reddit answers are just as mixed 😂 No surprise there
Use perlite and some dolemite and a good draining soil
In the southern hemisphere you have to put the leca on top of the soil since you’re upside down
i only really do it when the root somehow grew into the leca. or when the root won’t let go of their ball friend.
So here’s the thing about LECA i haven’t seen anyone mention. There’s different kinds and some kinds are used in building project like houses and carports and stuff like that and the other is for plants.
What’s the difference then? Easy. The stuff they use in building excrets a type of salts that hindres and often kill of vegetation.
balls
My medium from repotme has leca balls in the mix and it’s fantastic quality. My orchids are very very happy.
Ive had great success with adding leca to my potting mixes. For an array of plants too, succulents, aroids, etc.
I mix it with soil. It helps with drainage but doesn’t do anything super special. I like how the roots grab onto the balls
I do it with mine, never have any issues.
I put a few in along with my orchid bark, chunky perlite, etc. in my soil blends because the way I see it, soil in nature is a blend of all sorts of weird crap. I’ve found it helps keep the soil from getting too compressed and in my case it’s worked really well for my plants, but I’m not doing like 50% LECA 50% soil or anything like that. Literally just a random handful. I could probably just as easily use small rocks or something, but I don’t have any and I do have a giant metric fuckton of LECA in a bag in my storage unit, so that’s what I do. When the LECA runs out idk if I’ll keep doing it but so far, so good.
LECA my balls.
If you click the link, it actually says to not use anything in the bottom of the pot to create a perched water table. Which makes both links true.
POV – You look up any instructions for any plant ever
I don’t know the answer but I will always go with dot edu over dot com, if I have to pick one. The information on a dot edu site is far more likely to be fact/evidence based and cited. Dot com often presents information without an author, let alone a source, and they are selling something.
It’s also important to remember the snippets shown in search results may not be saying what they appear to be saying. Search results are just matches to words or phrases. They will show you the part of that page that says what you were searching for, but it may follow a heading or paragraph that says “this advice only applies to cane type begonias/in western Canada/on the waxing of the moon.”
The answer is “whatever makes you purchase more stuff.”
AI summaries are always trash like this, it’s wild they still show them at the top when half the time it contradicts itself directly
I mix leca or irregular puffed clay into all my soil along with bark and other additives (pumice, vermiculite, perlite, etc), AND I put a few inches of leca at the bottom of all my pots. I have hundreds of very sizable plants.
I was at a big box store speaking to an employee. Was informed that the care tag on orchids stated to put one ice cube on the pot. 🙄
Molly’s Aroid Mix is very popular and has LECA in it, and I’ve seen a lot of people have success with it. I don’t see why not
You can do what ever you want .