could leca/hydrokorrels replace bark withought being a semi hydroponic setting?

[Zoizikid]

Hello everyone,

I have a big questions.
today i wanted to do some pottings. i had limited amount of bark, and i lots of leca/hydrokorrels and sphagnum.
I usually have mix media with fine bark and sphagnum and always add some hydrokorrels for more aeration.

So i would like to know if that would be okey to have a medium mix with sphagnum hydrokorrels and very little bark. But no a semi-hydroponic setting.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[JScott]

I don't think that should be a problem. A lot of people grow with strictly inorganic medium, and some of them even use LECA as a growing medium, but not for semi-hydro. Plants can grow just fine in straight LECA, so I'm sure a mix of mostly LECA would be fine too. With less organic matter in the mix, it might dry faster and you may have to water more, and you might have to be more diligent about fertilizing since your mix would mostly be inorganic, but I don't see that there would be any problem.