Quote:
Originally Posted by estación seca
Realize layering two distinctly different media in a container creates a barrier to water passage at the interface. The bark above a layer of LECA might stay wet longer. Layering potting soil over a layer of gravel for a standard house plant most definitely leads to worse drainage of the potting soil, not better.
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As far as I can tell that is a myth.. If you use bark on top of a solid layer of coarse leca the bark dries faster not slower, assuming you use a proper orchid pot with good drainage then the leca allows aeration at the bottom of the pot. It's easy to see with clear orchid pots as well.
I don't know where this myth comes from, no doubt it has some foundation, yet it doesn't make sense. If the medium is coarse and actually allowing air movement why would it retain moisture longer? Try it for yourself and see. Take two clear orchid pots, put a leca or coarse gravel drainage layer in one with bark on top and just bark in the other. Soak them down and then let the dry. When I did it the leca dried more evenly and quickly.
The only way this story makes sense is if you are mixing many sized media, including very small sizes together and the result is the coarse layer gets thoroughly clogged, which seems unlikely with orchid bark. Imo as long as the particle size of the bark and drainage layer are similar it shouldn't be a problem. My happiest plants are potted like this and I'm slowly migrating all my plants to this style.
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