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DWC with Caladium Tradescantia Hawaiian "Ti"

Look, I just really don't like working with soil in my apartment [DWC with Caladium, Tradescantia, Hawaiian "Ti"]

Semi-hydro is so popular now, but everyone says to replace the water every few days because it runs out of oxygen. Coming from the aquarium/pond world I thought, "what if I put an extra bubble thing+pump into the pot?"

Apparently that's DWC. But so many of the ready-to-use DWC setups are...kind of ugly. I think people use them more for vegetables or weed. The caladium are from bulbs (etsy and Home Depot), the tradescantia are cuttings I took from a coworker's plant, and the "Ti" plants are still just logs I'm propagating that are showing their first little nubs now. Using aquarium liquid fertiizers.

I just want to avoid having a bunch of dirt in my apartment. Sweeping it, vacuuming, dirt stains...

6 comments

  • You don't need to replace the nutrient solution that regularly. Low maintenance is one of the main upsides of hydro.

    I flush my pots once a month, sometimes even less often. For that, I just "swoosh" the pot around in a circular motion, and then discard the liquid.
    You do this to "reset" the chemical makeup, so you don't get nutrient lockout from an overabundance of one or the other salts or risk over- or underfertilizing.

    All the oxygen is supplied through the very big surface and air flow between the LECA balls, because you never fill the pot to more than 1/3 with nutrient solution.

    If you wanna know more, just ask, I have over 100 houseplants in hydro and my balcony too :)

    Btw, aquarium fertiliser is super expensive for how concentrated it is. I think you can also use half strength orchid fertiliser for the start, or get a "proper" hydro fertilizer if you have a few more plants.
    My top recommendation is Masterblend, because it's so cheap and works very well in my experience.

    • Thanks for the recommendations! Reducing the liquid level and increasing the nutrient concentration are make sense as the plants are getting started and developing roots.

      It's been fun to see caladium bulbs growing successfully, when it's one of many plants that people say "do not like wet soil," so yeah what about no soil lol.

      I found a bunch of your helpful pictures and posts, as well as a few good sounding Lemmy communities to join thanks to you. Are all of those pictures of your plants really all hydro? Wow! Other than a few YouTube videos, I've been reading University of Minnesota's "small-scale hydroponics" guide. Any other good websites, books, or guides I should look to for inspiration?

      • increasing the nutrient concentration

        Be careful. A nutrient burn is way more harmful than a deficiency.

        It's one of many plants that people say "do not like wet soil,"

        Water isn't the problem, it's the anaerobic conditions that lead to root rot

        Are all of those pictures of your plants really all hydro?

        Yeah, the only exception is my one Drosera, which lives in the peat mix I bought it in (can't survive in most other media) and a few of my balcony plants, mainly my blackberry (perennial) and some pollinator flower mixes that live as weeds.

        All other ones, houseplants (including calatheas and some carnivorous plants!) and balcony crops (cannabis, melons, chilli, etc.) are in hydro.

        Here, for example, my Tradescantia (because it was a main subject of your post) and Nepenthes

6 comments