Hydrogranules made from expanded clay or L.E.C.A. - Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate/ expanded clay (exclay) - are obtained by heating clay to a temperature of 1200℃. The high temperature causes the clay to expand, forming a honeycomb-like structure with multiple properties valued in hydroponic cultures.
Clay hydrogranules (LECA) come in the form of round, porous, lightweight, and inert granules, chemically neutral, with neutral pH, ecological (no additives are used in the production process), and non-toxic. They do not burn and cannot be affected by insects.
Advantages:
- can have both decorative and practical roles
- provide very good aeration of the roots and very good drainage
- act as reservoirs of water and nutrients with slow release
- can be used as an inorganic substrate - DO NOT decompose. They can even be sterilized and reused.
Clay hydrogranules (LECA) are not affected by insects. They are ecological, non-toxic, fire resistant, and chemically neutral.
Possible disadvantages:
- clay hydrogranules can be unstable during plant transplantation, also causing a certain degree of destabilization of the plant's root system
- in the warm season, frequent watering is necessary because water evaporates quite easily
- clay hydrogranules are not always suitable for plants that require constant (high) moisture at the root system level
Hydrogranules are also successfully used in substrate compositions (e.g. Cattleya substrate).
Placing a layer of hydrogranules in pots before adding other types of substrate ensures good water drainage. This way, potential problems of the root system caused by water stagnation can be avoided.
Attention! Special fertilizers are used for hydroponic cultures, usually with slow release (to avoid root burn) and a more complex content of micro and macro nutrients (so that the classic substrate can be successfully replaced).
Do you want to see more articles and gain more knowledge? This article is offered for free, but you can support secretgarden.ro with a review here:
Google: Review on Google
Facebook: Review on Facebook