Best available alternative to PrimeAgra leca

[nogreenthumbs]

Now that Ray's PrimeAgra is NLA, what is the best commonly available alternative? Ray did a lot of testing of LECA, and there seems to be a wide range of performance between different brands.

Are there any alternatives that are as good or better and not too expensive?

I'd like to give SHC a shot.

I wish I'd gotten started 6 months ago so I could order from Ray before he moved and scaled down his business.

[murph7]

I buy the one from IKEA. My phals are doing well. A Neo is flowering, etc. But of course, no controls, so I cannot make any claim. I would buy a bag and try it out.

[nogreenthumbs]

Thanks, that's certainly easy for me to get.

[Salixx]

I bough a huge bag of Grow!t Clay Pebbles . It's gone up in price a bit (I paid less than $30 at the time) but I'm not even half way through the bag and I have put a lot of orchids in S/H since I bought it.

I'll be honest - I don't think it's spectacular at wicking but it's about as equivalent as the other brand I have tried and is functional. I counter it's poor wicking by growing moisture loving but shy root producers in shallower containers (primarily my Masdies). My Catts and Oncidiums aren't afraid to grow nice long roots and are doing fantastic in it.

I am experimenting with Hydroballs (from ZooMed) for the Masdevallia. It seems to wick better, but these are much finer in size and I wouldn't use them for big-rooted plants like Catts.

[fishmom]

I use Hydroton (from EasyGreen). I only have a few plants in LECA at the moment, but one is a phal that has grown that way since 2012, another is an Fdk. After Dark that has been in it almost that long. They both do well, bloom, and the Fdk. has been split also. They are in homemade S/H pots with the drainage holes about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom.

[snowflake311]

I use hydroton you buy a 50 litter bag for $30 at the hydroponic store. It works well for me for over a year. Just make sure to wash it. It took me a year but I used up all of my first bag. I bought another bag.

[Subrosa]

I have many plants doing well in RK2 clay pellet filter media.

[nogreenthumbs]

Thanks, all.

[Ray]

OK, here's the scoop:

There are dozens of different types of LECA available globally. Each has its own set of properties, and some may work better for you than others, but plants will grow in any of them. Experiment!

Also, there was a series of changes in ownership, but PrimeAgra was ultimately manufactured by ATAMI, and they packaged it as PrimeAgra for me. Their brand name for the stuff is Grow-Rokz, and to the best of my knowledge, the stuff sold by Tom at theorchidhouse.org is that.

[nogreenthumbs]

Ray, thanks. That's great info. I'll shop around.