All things LECA
Bill M.
3 years ago
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Comments (57)
Bill M.
3 years agostupidlazydog CT zone 5b/6a
3 years agoRelated Discussions
den phal in LECA with water at the base?
Comments (7)Greenhrs, Did you get your questions answered in the other thread? A fir bark mix would be better than pine. You can pick up a small amount at most big box stores. It'll be called orchid mix or bark or some such. Mixing LECA w/ bark isn't a good idea. In another thread, the general conclusion was that the LECA holds moisture longer than other media and can keep roots too wet for too long, if I understood the thread. At any rate, Dens need to dry out more quickly than LECA allows. Hang in there. Dens are tough. Whitecat8...See MoreGardening - all things for all people... :-)
Comments (53)Talking about color and the use of color in the garden is one of those things that tends to put people in defensive/hostile mode because it's difficult at times to clearly describe what exactly one means when talking about color and the use of color in the garden. So things get misinterpreted or overly simplified as each person brings their own biases and interests to interpret what was said. There is (an annoying :-) ) tendency in some quarters to dismiss color - particularly flowers - as a sort of frivolous, unimportant 'icing on the cake' element in designing a garden. That sort of dismissal of color irritates me greatly. But it also irritates me when the 'any color goes with any other' sort of line is thrown out as an oversimplification. Because the perception of a color can very much depend on what color it is partnered with. Change the partner and you change the effect. So, for me, how I use color in the garden/where I place a particular plant depends on what effect I want to create there. In my early gardening days I went through the polychrome 'anything goes' color phase but became unhappy with that because I began to see, as GP1 said above: ' "Too much color is the equivalent of no color at all". It becomes like a street lined with billboards each competing for attention and no color stands out. ' Now I try to think through what I need to do to create a desired color effect. I don't always get it right - and it can take years to gradualy change the plantings to get to where I want to go - but it has made a noticeable improvement (to me at least!) in my gardening outcomes. GP1 - as a trained artist, you (and the gardening artists in your neighbourhood) probably intuitively use color in your gardens to create desired effects whereas for plebes like me it's something that requires deliberate thought and 'misses the mark' more often! :-) Playing with color to create effects is fun - and not limited to gardening :-) Below is a picture of DH wearing a 'tumbling blocks' sweater I knit about 17 years ago. I was aiming for an 'autumn leaves' color effect. Not perfect by any means but it's still one of his favorite sweaters. The link below is to a Google image seach that shows other sweaters of the same design in different color combinations (the fifth one is DH's sweater....) so you can see how different the sweater looks depending on what colors are used and how they are combined. And that brings me to the issue of 'rules' and styles etc. 'Rule' is one of those words that also immediately gets one's back up because most of us don't particularly like the idea of being ruled! :-) Styles tend to imply a lack of originality - a 'follow the herd' sort of mentality and we all want to be thought of as individuals. But understanding what a particular 'rule' is trying to achieve, and the consequences of breaking it is useful when assessing whether it helps or hinders what you are trying to achieve. 'Rules' can be a sort of distilled 'wisdom'/short cuts that can be useful in getting you where you want to go without having to reinvent the wheel each time! Styles, in a gardening sense, are often a response to particular times, places, cultures environments, etc. Understaning why they are/were popular can be very useful in helping you decide which styles - or elements of a style - can be used or adapted to positive effect in your own garden. That's one of the reasons I like to read widely in garden history - the more I know, the clearer I see what appeals to me and how to achieve it. Certainly my interests and tastes have changed over time but change is a constant in the garden so I'm always looking for ideas that I can incorporate - harmoniously - in the garden. The constant that drives my garden is the desire for it to have a peaceful and harmonious feel while still being a vibrant space. Here is a link that might be useful: tumbling block sweaters...See MoreHoyas and LECA
Comments (3)Glad you started a new thread. Rays has a starter kit that I used. It was a good low cost way to start a bunch of small plants. Coarse/medium is strongly preferred, for everything. I've had less than ideal results with the Fine medium and it's harder to control. Bigger rocks = easier to catch before it clogs your drain. :) You brought up containers earlier. I consider this an issue with leca. His containers have holes that pee when you fill them, so they must be taken to the sink. That's not my general habit. I bought a case of jam jars from walmart that I really like for cuttings. The pots are better if they're deeper, so you have room for the reservoir at the bottom. If you choose a closed-bottom (no drainage) system like waterroots, then you can imagine a taller container will leave more room at the bottom for that reservoir. Oh, look at Ray's starter kit again. He gives a recommendation for how much leca fills his containers. I think two 6" pots can be filled with 5liters. His recommendations worked for me. Sorry I'm sooo Ray's Ray's Ray's, but I haven't tried anything else and I've only been playing with leca for the past year. Why I like leca... One day I came home to a 6m old dying violet and finally realized the soil was actually a chunk of wood. I pulled the wood out accidentally, thinking it was a dry glob of soil or rock. More than half the pot was now empty. The pot was broken and I didn't have another pot on hand. I had a 2L on hand, though, that I could cut in half and fill with some leftover leca. Fine is recommended for violets, but all I had was coarse. Ray's says some use coarse with violets. So, I filled the bottle with leca, potted the violet, and didn't worry about the lack of drainage because I could visually see the water level. If I had used that 2L bottle with ordinary soil, I would have worried so much about the drainage and rot. Anyway, I think this chunk of wood is also why the violet never flowered since I got it about 6 months ago. But, it started flowering and growing almost immediately after. Definitely didn't skip a beat, it seemed to cheer. :) I've read that many plants pout a little if they're having adjustment issues, but rarely do they completely fail. When I'm worried about that, I take comfort that I can typically SEE what the roots are doing anytime my mind starts to worry. I agree with Denise about the container cost. You've got to get creative! I'll try to take some pictures tonight. :)...See MoreDendrobium in LECA - Watering and Fertilizing
Comments (7)Thanks! Will do! It dries completely everyday, I was thinking of watering it every other day, but I dont know if it would harm the plant in its growth cycle to be completely dry for two days. We have no considerable amount of rain for about one month now so the air is a little bit dry. About the fertilizer, should I fertlize it with every watering or just once per week? I am aware of the salt build-up of the clay balls so I try to flush the soil everytime I water since rainwater these days is so rare here. The pot is hanging in a sun-protected porch where it gets a lot of bright light all day....See Morehibiscus909
3 years agoEllen Bshaw
3 years agohibiscus909
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoTika Land
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3 years agoBill M.
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoLiz M
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agostupidlazydog CT zone 5b/6a
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoTika Land
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoColin Dolding
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoColin Dolding
3 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoBill M.
3 years agoBill M.
3 years agosunfleurpower
3 years agoMia Naturally
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