Self-Watering Pots - What are they good for? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by malcriada_lala@lemmy.world to c/houseplants@mander.xyz

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Self watering pots have a lot of downsides, but I find myself with several decorative plastic ones that I want to find a use for. What sort of plants thrive in these pots? What have you had luck with?

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[-] Radium@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

I’m a big fan of using them for growing stuff semi-hydroponically.

https://www.lecaaddict.com/leca-information/why-grow-in-leca

[-] malcriada_lala@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

ooo, I've never used leca before. Is it hard to keep clean? I have some of my pants in water with pebbles and when I replace the water and clean it out, the smooth surface of the pebbles makes cleaning the gunk pretty easy. The rough surface of leca seems like it would be hard to clean.

[-] SomeoneElse@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Lechuza pon! It’s like tiny pebbles you water like soil, rather than leca which is kept in water. I grow 95% of my 100+ plants in lechuza. No gunk, no mess and when used with self watering pots it truly is a dream!

[-] Radium@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

It doesn’t really build up gunk. Things like salt will build up on leca between waterings but I just run the plant under water to rinse it off. Since the leca works like a wick and wicks water from the reservoir instead of sitting submerged in fluid you don’t really get algae issues on it either. I’ve had algae when using a glass basin but since the plant isn’t in the basic and it just holds nutrients / water they are super easy to clean

When I start a new plant / replant I boil the leca first to kill anything but that is probably unnecessary.

this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023

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