Pots

First plant kit · semi-hydro

The same kit without soil: self-watering pot, mineral mix, wick and hydroponic feed.

The version for anyone who wants to start straight into semi-hydro, or who has already lost a plant to overwatering and wants the problem gone at the root. No organic component at all: the coarse mineral mix does not break down and does not compact, so the watering is decided by you and not by a substrate quietly degrading underneath.

The 15 cm self-watering pot keeps the reservoir separate from the substrate, the 6 mm wick lifts the water by capillary action, and Hydro Growth is formulated for inert substrates — the salts are already in the form roots take up, with no need for the microbial life of potting soil.

It is meant for a single plant, the first one: convert that, watch how it responds for a month, and then decide.

What's in it

• 1× Self-watering aroid pot — Ø 15 × 15.5 cm Clear pot with a built-in, removable reservoir, eight rows of slits and an anti-spiral structure.
• 1× Semi-hydro mineral mix 8.5 L — Coarse 8–16 mm · 8.5 L Inorganic substrate of pumice, zeolite and lava rock. It does not break down or compact.
• 1× Self-watering wick — 60 cm · Ø 6 mm Polyester cord that carries water from the reservoir to the substrate by capillary action.
• 1× HESI Hydro Growth 1 L — 1 L NPK 3-2-4 feed for the vegetative stage in hydroponics and inert substrates.
• 1× Graduated pipette — 2 ml Graduated pipette for measuring concentrated feeds instead of guessing.

Bought separately €40.85 · You save €4.89

How it goes together

1. Rinse the mineral mix before using it: it comes out of the bag dusty, and the dust goes straight into the reservoir.
2. Pass the wick through the hole in the base, then fray the end that stays inside and spread it through the substrate: as a tight bundle it carries almost nothing. Here the wick is not optional even though the pot is small — coarse mineral substrate lifts very little water on its own.
3. Pot up in the mineral, with no soil. If any is still stuck to the roots, rinse them: it is organic matter, and in an inert system it just breaks down.
4. Water from above the first time to prime the capillary action, then fill the reservoir.
5. At every top-up, Hydro Growth at 5 ml per litre. In a mineral substrate that is not an extra: the substrate contains nothing, and what you give is all the plant has.
6. In the first week after the conversion the plant may stall: it is rebuilding its roots for water instead of for soil. That is normal, and more feed does not fix it.

What else you need

• Root Complex for the first month: converting from soil is a stress, and the roots have to be rebuilt from scratch. It is the thing that most often decides whether a conversion works. — HESI Root Complex 500 ml €24.95
• Water at the right pH, if your tap water is hard: outside 5.8–6.2 the plant does not take it up even though the nutrition is there. We sell neither correctors nor meters.
• A saucer: in semi-hydro it matters little, but the pot still has holes.

All equipment · The plant catalogue