Why S/H isn't for me and now.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by Ray

Have you repotted them into fresh medium in that time, or is it the original stuff?

If you have not replaced it, the general decline might be due to accumulated salts and wastes, leading to toxicity.

LECA may not decompose, but it does accumulate stuff over time.

How long, on average, would you say is the life of the LECA?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Dusty Ol' Man

How long, on average, would you say is the life of the LECA?

That depends upon a lot of factors - watering frequency, volume, water quality (purity), fertilization concentration and frequency, humidity, air movement, temperature and light levels.

Ideally, if you water frequently, with pure water and low fertilizer concentration, and your growing conditions DO NOT favor evaporation, the buildup will be very slow. I had plants that were watered (flooded) at least every other day, using 25 ppm N fertilizer in RO, and kept in an almost saturated air environment, that had not been repotted in 15 years.

At the other end of the spectrum are folks who let their pots dry out, and only "topped up" the reservoir, never flooding and flushing, and they started seeing plant declines in 2-3 years.