New to SH and Leca so pls bear with me here… If the Leca had only been used for a few months, is it necessary to boil the Leca if I wanted to reuse it? Generally, how do we know if it’s ‘safe’ for re-use or not?
I have never ever boiled my leca or pon. I let it dry completely and take out any roots etc and use it again, never have had an issue, Your experience may vary.
i boil btw each use bc it makes roots easy peasy to remove and gets rid of any rot, even from just roots getting constricted btw individual LECA balls. I boil 20mins or so, strain em, then either reuse right away if needed or dry them out in the sun or in the oven (oven when it’s only rainy or cloudy days ahead or i’m leaving for a trip or am doing them in bulk or in a very tiny amount). when there are no roots nor was there any root, i was em off and then I dry them for like 5 days in the sun so I can store em.
I grow orchids in leca and soak them in Physan 20 for days to disinfect and rinse them before boiling if there's a lot of algae or moss to dislodge majority of debris. I let it remains in the boiling water until it cools down naturally to prevent shock as would all clay materials could react in sharp temperature change.
I have never ever boiled my leca or pon. I let it dry completely and take out any roots etc and use it again, never have had an issue, Your experience may vary.
i boil btw each use bc it makes roots easy peasy to remove and gets rid of any rot, even from just roots getting constricted btw individual LECA balls. I boil 20mins or so, strain em, then either reuse right away if needed or dry them out in the sun or in the oven (oven when it’s only rainy or cloudy days ahead or i’m leaving for a trip or am doing them in bulk or in a very tiny amount). when there are no roots nor was there any root, i was em off and then I dry them for like 5 days in the sun so I can store em.
I grow orchids in leca and soak them in Physan 20 for days to disinfect and rinse them before boiling if there's a lot of algae or moss to dislodge majority of debris. I let it remains in the boiling water until it cools down naturally to prevent shock as would all clay materials could react in sharp temperature change.
I have only boiled if there were some particularly tough to remove roots or if the prior plant roots had rotted within the leca.