Where to find fine (3-4mm) prime agra or hydroton?

[ALToronto]

I found some 4-8 mm LECA in a reptile pet store. The product is called 'Hydro Balls', and the particles are nearly perfect spheres. It's made in Norway, and the clay wicks very well. My seedlings like it.

[Ryan.Walsh]

It seems as though most manufacturers have stopped producing the very small LECA. As mentioned the HydroBalls for reptiles are smaller but not the exact size you mentioned.

Another product you might want to check out is Akadama. It's a fired clay product from Japan that's used extensively for bonsai but I have also heard of it being used for orchids in Japan. There's different grades (different firing temps) and different sizes. Soft can be crushed between your fingers so I would probably stay away from that. Hard is fired at 1500c and baked at 2200c. From what i heard the US has banned importation of soft anyway do the the lack of sterilization anyway.

[seaj]

Originally Posted by lepetitmartien

Seaj, why don't you select in a regular 8-16 mm bag the smallest for this ? It's not that difficult either by shacking or in water (mine tend to drown faster when smaller).

I too noticed that the smaller particles tend to sink when submerged, but I'd rather not go through all that trouble to sort them out.

Originally Posted by ALToronto

I found some 4-8 mm LECA in a reptile pet store. The product is called 'Hydro Balls', and the particles are nearly perfect spheres. It's made in Norway, and the clay wicks very well. My seedlings like it.

That sounds exactly like the kind of product I need, though it looks really expensive. Time to go to the pet store.

Originally Posted by Ryan.Walsh

It seems as though most manufacturers have stopped producing the very small LECA. As mentioned the HydroBalls for reptiles are smaller but not the exact size you mentioned.

Another product you might want to check out is Akadama. It's a fired clay product from Japan that's used extensively for bonsai but I have also heard of it being used for orchids in Japan. There's different grades (different firing temps) and different sizes. Soft can be crushed between your fingers so I would probably stay away from that. Hard is fired at 1500c and baked at 2200c. From what i heard the US has banned importation of soft anyway do the the lack of sterilization anyway.

Thanks for the info. There is a bonsai nursery down the street so I'll check if they are familiar with the product.

[seaj]

Just an update on my search.

I haven't checked out the Akadama yet but it seems pricey.

Hydroballs is $9.99 at Petsmart. If you need more than one 2.5 pound bag (looks like about 2 quarts worth?) go to Drs. Foster and Smith. They sell each bag for $4.99 and offer free shipping of you spend more than $49 (shipping on orders less than $49 are $5.99). The LECA is a little larger than I'd like, around the 8 mm -12 mm.

Gold Label Hydrocorn is suppose to come in in 4 mm -8 mm size but I haven't found a source.

Hydro-Orchids carries small LECA pebbles about the size of a pea that sound ideal. I don't know if I will let myself pay for shipping that is more expensive than the actual product, but it may be the best option.

[SJF]

This may be the size you are looking for:

LECA Clay Aggregate - Small Size - 10 liters

[HighSeas]

I recently found a Hydroponics store just a few miles from my house. They had Hydroton in small and large bags. (Very large) While talking with the owner, he did mention to me that the company has gone out of business. Very nice man. Told me he had several bags of it as well as another brand (don't remember it). He didn't push me to buy....and by the looks of the place, it didn't appear that he needed to. My point is....he told me to research these clay balls because they are used for many different purposes. He said you could even find them in pet stores BUT some are unfit for horticultural use because of the way they are fired....sometimes using gas which leaches into the clay. I don't know if this is accurate. Just thought I'd mention it.