Recycling S/H medium

[Dorothy]

I am aware that bark and bark mixtures should never be reused but can I recycle s/h medium. I have had a phrag die on me recently and I have a small cup full of clay pellets. If I can reuse them, what do I do to them to clean off bits of funk that had developed on some of them (a little moss, bits of algae)? Should I boil them in water to sterlize them?
Any suggestions, hints or advice is appreciated
Thanks

[cb977]

Hi, D

I clean my aliflor all the time. I soak it in a bleach/water solution for a day and then rinse it well.

[JamesK]

Baking the media work also. Just heat the oven up to medium (well above the boiling point) and lay out the pellets on an old pan, or old pie tin. Bake for about an hour, take out, allow to cool, then rinse, 3 or 4 times to get the minerals and detritus off the pellets, soak them like new ones, and there you go!

[Dorothy]

Hi Sue and Thanks
Thanks also, James
Sounds easy enough
James, do you rinse them in plain water?

[kavanaru]

Hi Dorothy, I would use the bleach method first, as some fungi spores are VERY heat resistant (especially, if they had been on dry medium before!), then I would rinse it with clean water to take most of the bleach, and after that I would check the oven method. I think this second one, can help to burn many of the organic particles attached and make it easier to clean the LECA - Just an idea of what I would do.I have not been yet in the position of recycling LECA (but it was the way we used to recycle some othe media in the lab)

[JamesK]

I would suggest that the way Ramon does it would work also. If you didn't have fungus problems, then baking would work. If you heated to over 400 degrees F, then you would be pretty sure of killing the fungus. Most of them that would affect your orchids, anyway.

I would then rinse them in my normal tap water, by soaking overnight, then rinsing and soaking again.

Remember you are trying to remove the salts and chemicals from the clay particles. It takes a while. A small dash of vinegar would help things dissolve too, but you have to make sure that you rinse several times after that to get rid of the vinegar acids, before you use the pellets again.

Hope this helps,

James

[kavanaru]

...or the other way, in case you don't fancy bleach, is to wet the LECA and leave it for 24 - 48 hours in a dark/warm place, in order to activate all possible spores. And then bake them as James. This way, you ensure that no spores are in the medium....

[Dorothy]

Thanks for your responses .. you guys are the best

[Becca]

Hi D! You received a lot of great responses from everyone! I have baked mine in the oven at like 500 degrees (it really stinks the house up) and then I let them cool outside (but that was when it was dry outside. I have started using a Physan 20 soak recently instead, it is less stinky...lol. I still have bits of dead roots here and there mixed in, but I try and pick them out as I go along. Good luck!

[Grandma M]

I have boiled them but found it is very hard on the pan. Now I soak in Physan overnight or longer. Rinse, Rinse, Rinse..........