Water Holding Gels and Semi Hydro

[Plantcrazed101]

Hi y'all,

So I have LOVED growing in semi-hydro! I have noticed the salt build up at the top of the pots, and I'm going to use the plastic coverings Ray suggested as an evaporation reducing barrier, but I was curious, has anyone tried putting a layer of the water holding gels at the top of the pot?

I love having plants as lab rats (african violets are great lab rats because unlike orchids they are ridiculously easy to propagate) so I'm probably going to try one or two with some water holding gels on the top of the pot.

I was also curious, is there anything (besides Seramis because that is not easily attainable in the U.S. as of right now) that has the same size as LECA but holds more water? I wonder for those plants that need tremendous amounts of water if a little "mulch" of something moisture retentive would be appreciated.

I *think* lava rock holds more water than LECA? I don't remember though.