Loving my string of pearls in leca
So I did a thing with my SOP yesterday that I’m kind of loving 🥰 the functional reason is I’m a crazy person growing them in leca and it was tough to wash it monthly without the pearls getting stuck in the pot BUT they are so pretty this way I’m happy I decided to do it. #SucculentLove #SucculentSquad #Succulents #StringOfPearls
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@Camron yep! All of my succs are in leca and all are doing really well actually. They are in self watering pots and the SOP has adapted to having water roots so he drinks when he’s thirsty and seems to be thriving! I was amazed with how well they all adapted, in dirt I watered them too much/ didn’t give enough light not realizing it and they became etiolated. Now everyone has grow lights and leca and are coming back!
@PinkWater this is such a beautiful picture, thank you for sharing! I lighted the picture up to get a better view of it.
Hi Folks! Happy to share. First here are the photos of the products I ended up using. I prefer the clear, nested self watering pots because I like to see everything BUT keep in mind you’ll 100% get algae in the direct sunlight plants, and have to treat periodically with peroxide mixture if you go with this set up (direct sun, oxygen, nutrients = algae). The enclosed in plastic nested pots don’t produce algae in the water so keep that in mind. I can post a pic of the other type if anyone is Inter as I do have a few.
Here is my full set up using my SOP as an example. Some things to keep in mind: the pots will need to start off with a cotton string (included) to pull the water up into the pot but once they get a nice start of water roots you can remove it. My preference on how to layer the leca in the pot is about an inch of leca on the bottom of the pot. The cotton can go above or below that line, really depending on how big your plant/roots are and also depending on how wet your plant likes to be. If you put someone like a succulent roots right against the cotton you’ll get root rot (remember normal roots are not the same as water roots!! They’ll 100% rot if too wet). You can easily tell if they are rotten as they SMELL and if that happens you’ll have to pull everything out, trim the dead, and start over. Always sterilize your leca (I boil 2x, 10 mins each, rinse OUTSIDE each time - never rise the silt down your drain!!) clean your root system completely of dirt or as close as you can get. Soak them if they are being difficult. You will need to fertilize with every watering and leca will build up with fertilizer salt so they’ll need rinsed. With my system you can just pull up the insert and wash directly under the faucet (another reason I like these pots). I rinse water loving guys every 2 weeks and succulents/zz/snakes every 4. You don’t need to replace your water in the pot unless it gets algae or gets low. Clean each time you put new water in.
That’s gorgeous!!
