Love that you explain this assuming that i have absolutely zero idea how to set up a plant in pon. Its taken literally MONTHS for me to even try because i never felt completely confident after watching videos about it.
Thanks for your feedback! That's exactly why I made this video. I felt like most semi-hydro videos gloss over the basics and rely on prior knowledge to understand the content presented, so this is like a step 0 video before you even start trying out semi-hydro. Love that you loved it 💚
Great video! I especially like how you give the panty in a bunch stuff!! What I enjoy is seeing people being successful with beautiful healthy plants doing the different thing Nice video
Hi Ana, I almost agree with everything. However, you can leave the plant in its nursery pot and add pebbles to the cache pot and water that way. It works great for all my African violets, calathea’s and maranta’s. I do use the other methods as well. Note: My African violets tend to bloom all yr here in north America using pebbles in the bottom. I’m also growing in just perlite (Philo Burle Marx and Florida green) for yrs and recently had to chop because they had gotten so big. I also use sphag moss with perlite to permanently grow. Fortunately, I’ve not killed a plant yet. I use dyna grow/super thrive and keep it simple. Yep, over 150 plants with about 50 in glass vases. I agree, I’ve rotted more in soil vs. semi-hydro. Actually the ones I rotted in soil, I moved to semi-hydro. Good video. Tfs
Hi Shay, I didn't think about that set-up, but that totally works! That's really interesting that 100% perlite can work too. So cool how semi-hydro can work for so many different methods. Thanks for sharing and watching! 😊
Thank you so much for sharing your journey semi-hydro guide. I myself using your method this year. So far giving me joy that my plant is thriving and of course less watering once a week which is great😊more power your channel💖
I do no drainage semi-hydro in a short 4" wide glass vase (from the Dollar Tree): large perlite with mixed substrate on top and through both layers I have a syringe with the stopper removed so I can water through the tube down to the bottom. Then I put the glass vase in a cache pot and I don't get any algae. I recently found that in my pots with a wick the roots had strangled it or something, bc even though there was water in the pot the substrate was dry. It had been in there over a year I guess? Fyi, cotton will rot, best to use micro-fibre.
Hi Rebecca, really cool set up you have! Yeah pretty common to have dry substrate at the top, esp with pon and leca, but I found the area where the roots are receives water just fine. I also haven't experienced cotton wicks rotting, but I do switch out wicks when I repot so perhaps that's why. Open to try out microfiber though, that's a good idea. Thank you for sharing!
Well this is incredibly clear and helpful! And timely. Just bought my first alocasia, and a rescue at that, and figured it would be a good time to finally experiment with semi-hydro
Very interesting video, thank you! I’ve started my semi hydro journey last year for my Alocasia’s (in soil they die in a blink of an eye 🙄) and it has been great so far. But honestly I have only used tap water, only flush once every few months, never tested my PH and use a simple fertilizer that can also be used for my soil plants (but diluted, as described on the bottle). So I’m very interested in all the information you gave and will definitely work on my skills! 😁
Thanks Kim! I've rotted alocasias in soil too. 😂 I've heard people grow in semi-hydro and have never tested pH. Your plants will still be able to absorb nutrients at higher pHs and grow, but I guess what I was trying to say is the "best" nutrient bioavailability happens at a slightly lower pH (5.5-6). I recommend the general hydroponics pH test kit instead of pH meters (many have broke on me) if you're looking to test pH. Thanks for watching!
For those in Europe: Cellmax has amazing hydroponic nutrients available here. By the way, I use microfiber towels as my wicks since polyester doesn't deteriorate. I cut them in strips. It has great wicking action. I only even flush when I see mineral build up on to (white residue on the top clay pebbles). I have 70 plants on hydro, soil is not for me. You have a lot of control over nutrition, water, and it's easy to remove pests. I just submerge the whole plant in soapy water with lil bleach and bye bye thrips.
Great video! I especially like how you give the panty in a bunch stuff!! Proof is in the pudding per se! What I enjoy is seeing people being successful with beautiful healthy plants doing the different things ❤
I'm trying this idea now. I find that this method helps free up some of my time. and most importantly, I can go on vacation and weekend trips without having someone to watch my plants ( who will over water them ) had that happen last summer. 🙃 I don't find it to be the lazy man's method, I find it helpful and smart. thanks for the info.
So right, love how it adds flexibility to your life. Oh no, sorry to hear about someone overwatering your collection... hopefully everything bounced back. You're welcome, thanks for watching! 💯
Great video. I cannot use tap water in Northern Illinois, but I likely could in Virginia Beach (where I used to live). The water here is so hard that I can't imagine that yellow junk it leaves behind in my plant pot. About pH, the pH will change when you do self-watering with wick (and maybe other ways) as time goes on. I just tested a reservoir from 9 days ago that I did pH to 6.0, and it has gone very alkaline 8+. Even pH from 2 days ago is rising. So I believe it might actually be pointless considering the pH is only correct for a couple of days.
Thank you! I did forget the fact tap water can be very different depending on where you live. I have heard the water reservoir pH rising over time. Perhaps that's why people have been starting off with an acidic pH like 4.5 to combat that, not sure. I refresh the reservoir every week with new nutrient solution. I also don't test pH weekly- I add humic acid as part of my solution, so that brings it down to 5.5-ish without needing pH down. Saves lots of time! But people will find what works for them since semi-hydro is so flexible like that. Thanks for sharing 💚
A big change in 2 days is a little odd, are you using a proper ph down? Some acids aren't stable for very long, I've herd people try to use things like vinegar or even lemon but these are unfortunately not a stable way to alter ph. Also, if using leca, when you initially do the soak adjusting the ph of that water will help stabilize the plant faster. I even mix a weak solution of nutrients in and let soak for 2-3 days. I like to let as much leca as possible sink before using. But yeah, I wouldn't say it's pointless, especially when adding nutrients. The ph will change over time, this is completely 100% normal, and can be caused by several factors. For example microorganisms metabolic process can alter ph levels, leca can slightly break down over time releasing substances, or even as simple as the nutrients themselves being absorbed by the plant changing the ph. Personally I wouldn't recommend chasing ph once you've done the initial adjustments, unless you're doing production of course, but just some houseplants will be fine with adjusting with the water!
Correction, a semi-hydro is self-water but not all self-watering is semi-hydro means that self-watering can also be a plant potted in soil with a self watering system using a wick, a system with a capillary action arguably a cache pot with some space between both pots can be considered a self-watering system people add bought or DIY water level indicators. It's not based on the composition of the water. Whether you're growing plants in water (popular when rooting) eventually you're going to need to add fertilizer if you want your plant to continue growing.
Tap water is so different everywhere you go. Where I live it has extremely high amounts of a certain thing, my english is not great so I´m not sure. If I water my plants with it, I see it, especially in the calathea. I only use rainwater and sometimes from the supermarket. Leca is great, I was so fed up with all the mess soil gave me. Also overwatering is so easy with soil IMO.
Hi Lucas, you bring up a good point about the tap water. Calathea will for sure let you know what they think about your city's tap. 😂 Rainwater is very good I've heard! Agreed on your last points. Thanks for watching!
So I filter my water and have it in gallon containers (3) that I put in a small amount of plant food and fertilizer in the water. I let the water stand for about a week to help get more of the chemicals out of it. Because the water has fertilizer and food in it, and used in self watering containers, I’m doing semi hydroponics? I use a mix of coconut coir, pumice, orchid bark/pine mulch fine grade, and succulent soil. It seems to work very well for my succulents and Hoya Krimson Queen, Alocasia Ninja and some dwarf alocasia I got from Walmart to save it, my ZZs and Hoya Obuvata Splash and a Peperomia Baby Rubber Plant variegated . No idea what I’m doing with my tropicals but they seem happy. -(‘.’)-
everyone doesn't really know what they're doing! lol part of the process but it does sound like you are using semi-hydro, yep. as long as your plants are happy, that's all that matters 💚
I am currently experimenting by plating propagations in semi-hydro and am so happy I found this video! "green thumb up my ass" has me subscribing immediately
Love that you explain this assuming that i have absolutely zero idea how to set up a plant in pon. Its taken literally MONTHS for me to even try because i never felt completely confident after watching videos about it.
Thanks for your feedback! That's exactly why I made this video. I felt like most semi-hydro videos gloss over the basics and rely on prior knowledge to understand the content presented, so this is like a step 0 video before you even start trying out semi-hydro. Love that you loved it 💚
Thank you so much for this video. I'm new to house plants. And this will be very helpful.
I love this sort of content. There are no hard and fast rules with plants because no two situations are the same. PS you did an AMAZING job
Thank yooou that means so much 💚 Also 💯on no rules, everyone's growing conditions are so different!
Great video! I especially like how you give the panty in a bunch stuff!! What I enjoy is seeing people being successful with beautiful healthy plants doing the different thing Nice video
Hi Ana, I almost agree with everything. However, you can leave the plant in its nursery pot and add pebbles to the cache pot and water that way. It works great for all my African violets, calathea’s and maranta’s. I do use the other methods as well. Note: My African violets tend to bloom all yr here in north America using pebbles in the bottom. I’m also growing in just perlite (Philo Burle Marx and Florida green) for yrs and recently had to chop because they had gotten so big. I also use sphag moss with perlite to permanently grow. Fortunately, I’ve not killed a plant yet. I use dyna grow/super thrive and keep it simple. Yep, over 150 plants with about 50 in glass vases. I agree, I’ve rotted more in soil vs. semi-hydro. Actually the ones I rotted in soil, I moved to semi-hydro. Good video. Tfs
Hi Shay, I didn't think about that set-up, but that totally works! That's really interesting that 100% perlite can work too. So cool how semi-hydro can work for so many different methods. Thanks for sharing and watching! 😊
Thank you so much for sharing your journey semi-hydro guide. I myself using your method this year. So far giving me joy that my plant is thriving and of course less watering once a week which is great😊more power your channel💖
Thank you so much for watching and super glad it's working for you! 💚
I absolutely love your down to earth vibe. Love your videos too.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment. Must be the taurus vibes ♉️ Thanks for watching 💚
I do no drainage semi-hydro in a short 4" wide glass vase (from the Dollar Tree): large perlite with mixed substrate on top and through both layers I have a syringe with the stopper removed so I can water through the tube down to the bottom. Then I put the glass vase in a cache pot and I don't get any algae.
I recently found that in my pots with a wick the roots had strangled it or something, bc even though there was water in the pot the substrate was dry. It had been in there over a year I guess? Fyi, cotton will rot, best to use micro-fibre.
Hi Rebecca, really cool set up you have! Yeah pretty common to have dry substrate at the top, esp with pon and leca, but I found the area where the roots are receives water just fine. I also haven't experienced cotton wicks rotting, but I do switch out wicks when I repot so perhaps that's why. Open to try out microfiber though, that's a good idea. Thank you for sharing!
Im barely into the video and i already love it. This is great. Thank you so much
Yessss, that makes me feel like the extra hours editing were worth it. 🙂 Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this informative video! I learned a lot from your videos ❤
Well this is incredibly clear and helpful! And timely. Just bought my first alocasia, and a rescue at that, and figured it would be a good time to finally experiment with semi-hydro
Thank you so much! I've heard alocasia do very well in semi-hydro, using pon specifically so happy growing! 💚
Hi Ana, love your channel. I just started using semi-hydro and so far so good. I’ll keep you posted and if I have any questions I’ll ask 😊 take care
Thanks so much Peter and good luck! 💚
Very interesting video, thank you! I’ve started my semi hydro journey last year for my Alocasia’s (in soil they die in a blink of an eye 🙄) and it has been great so far. But honestly I have only used tap water, only flush once every few months, never tested my PH and use a simple fertilizer that can also be used for my soil plants (but diluted, as described on the bottle). So I’m very interested in all the information you gave and will definitely work on my skills! 😁
Thanks Kim! I've rotted alocasias in soil too. 😂 I've heard people grow in semi-hydro and have never tested pH. Your plants will still be able to absorb nutrients at higher pHs and grow, but I guess what I was trying to say is the "best" nutrient bioavailability happens at a slightly lower pH (5.5-6). I recommend the general hydroponics pH test kit instead of pH meters (many have broke on me) if you're looking to test pH. Thanks for watching!
Glad you uploaded this video because I was thinking of switching to Semi Hydro and this video was very informant.😊
Glad it helped, good luck! 💚
For those in Europe: Cellmax has amazing hydroponic nutrients available here. By the way, I use microfiber towels as my wicks since polyester doesn't deteriorate. I cut them in strips. It has great wicking action. I only even flush when I see mineral build up on to (white residue on the top clay pebbles). I have 70 plants on hydro, soil is not for me. You have a lot of control over nutrition, water, and it's easy to remove pests. I just submerge the whole plant in soapy water with lil bleach and bye bye thrips.
I gotta try microfiber for my wicks in the future. Glad to hear semi hydro is working for you too. 🙂 Thanks for the recs!
Very interesting video on semi hydroponics. Thank for sharing 👌🏼❤
Great video! I especially like how you give the panty in a bunch stuff!! Proof is in the pudding per se! What I enjoy is seeing people being successful with beautiful healthy plants doing the different things ❤
I love your sentiment in that last sentence! 💚👏 “Proof is in the pudding” … fellow Sydney Plant Guy viewer? 😉
Omg!! I AM!!😂 I forgot about him saying that 😂❤️
Thanks for the informative video. I've always been curious about semi hydro, but it has always looked so intimidating. 😅
I can see how it might look like it, hopefully this video helped. Happy growing!
I'm trying this idea now. I find that this method helps free up some of my time. and most importantly, I can go on vacation and weekend trips without having someone to watch my plants ( who will over water them ) had that happen last summer. 🙃 I don't find it to be the lazy man's method, I find it helpful and smart. thanks for the info.
So right, love how it adds flexibility to your life. Oh no, sorry to hear about someone overwatering your collection... hopefully everything bounced back. You're welcome, thanks for watching! 💯
Lovely video!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching 🤗
Great video. I cannot use tap water in Northern Illinois, but I likely could in Virginia Beach (where I used to live). The water here is so hard that I can't imagine that yellow junk it leaves behind in my plant pot. About pH, the pH will change when you do self-watering with wick (and maybe other ways) as time goes on. I just tested a reservoir from 9 days ago that I did pH to 6.0, and it has gone very alkaline 8+. Even pH from 2 days ago is rising. So I believe it might actually be pointless considering the pH is only correct for a couple of days.
Thank you! I did forget the fact tap water can be very different depending on where you live. I have heard the water reservoir pH rising over time. Perhaps that's why people have been starting off with an acidic pH like 4.5 to combat that, not sure. I refresh the reservoir every week with new nutrient solution. I also don't test pH weekly- I add humic acid as part of my solution, so that brings it down to 5.5-ish without needing pH down. Saves lots of time! But people will find what works for them since semi-hydro is so flexible like that. Thanks for sharing 💚
A big change in 2 days is a little odd, are you using a proper ph down? Some acids aren't stable for very long, I've herd people try to use things like vinegar or even lemon but these are unfortunately not a stable way to alter ph. Also, if using leca, when you initially do the soak adjusting the ph of that water will help stabilize the plant faster. I even mix a weak solution of nutrients in and let soak for 2-3 days. I like to let as much leca as possible sink before using.
But yeah, I wouldn't say it's pointless, especially when adding nutrients. The ph will change over time, this is completely 100% normal, and can be caused by several factors. For example microorganisms metabolic process can alter ph levels, leca can slightly break down over time releasing substances, or even as simple as the nutrients themselves being absorbed by the plant changing the ph. Personally I wouldn't recommend chasing ph once you've done the initial adjustments, unless you're doing production of course, but just some houseplants will be fine with adjusting with the water!
Correction, a semi-hydro is self-water but not all self-watering is semi-hydro means that self-watering can also be a plant potted in soil with a self watering system using a wick, a system with a capillary action arguably a cache pot with some space between both pots can be considered a self-watering system people add bought or DIY water level indicators. It's not based on the composition of the water. Whether you're growing plants in water (popular when rooting) eventually you're going to need to add fertilizer if you want your plant to continue growing.
Tap water is so different everywhere you go. Where I live it has extremely high amounts of a certain thing, my english is not great so I´m not sure.
If I water my plants with it, I see it, especially in the calathea. I only use rainwater and sometimes from the supermarket.
Leca is great, I was so fed up with all the mess soil gave me. Also overwatering is so easy with soil IMO.
Hi Lucas, you bring up a good point about the tap water. Calathea will for sure let you know what they think about your city's tap. 😂 Rainwater is very good I've heard! Agreed on your last points. Thanks for watching!
I have been working with semi hydro for 2 years,for me,the best set up.from nz
Yay thanks for watching Toni 🫶
So I filter my water and have it in gallon containers (3) that I put in a small amount of plant food and fertilizer in the water. I let the water stand for about a week to help get more of the chemicals out of it.
Because the water has fertilizer and food in it, and used in self watering containers, I’m doing semi hydroponics?
I use a mix of coconut coir, pumice, orchid bark/pine mulch fine grade, and succulent soil. It seems to work very well for my succulents and Hoya Krimson Queen, Alocasia Ninja and some dwarf alocasia I got from Walmart to save it, my ZZs and Hoya Obuvata Splash and a Peperomia Baby Rubber Plant variegated . No idea what I’m doing with my tropicals but they seem happy. -(‘.’)-
everyone doesn't really know what they're doing! lol part of the process but it does sound like you are using semi-hydro, yep. as long as your plants are happy, that's all that matters 💚
Great information. I’ve had plants in leca for 4 years now. I still prefer soil. Physan 20 can be used to control algae and is plant safe.
Thank you! Different strokes for different folks, I respect it. Oooo I'll have to look into that, thanks!
Great video! Very comprehensive! ❤
Hola. Great video. I love the self watering method. Where did you get your pots. I think you said Amazon? and if so do you have a link. Thank you !!!
Thank you! I got you: t.ly/Lg867
That's the link for the specific pots shown in the video. 🙂
@@anawithplants thanks and your plants are beautiful BTW I love the background in this video
@@plantaricanplantasymas Thank you so much 🥺
@@anawithplantsthat’s the only self watering pots I found with the clear insert.
I am currently experimenting by plating propagations in semi-hydro and am so happy I found this video! "green thumb up my ass" has me subscribing immediately
Lol thank you!
Can I use macrame as a wicking rope?
Hi Jessica, if it’s cotton and thick enough, I don’t see why not! Try to aim for at least a 5mm thickness.