What the heck is LECA?

Jess Stout, the lawn & garden and bedding house manager at Ray Wiegand’s Nursery & Garden Center, thinks the chocolate-colored clay marbles look like Cocoa Puffs. But the little brown spheres popping up in swanky plant circles are not a sugary breakfast cereal for horticulturalists. They’re LECA balls — the latest trend in houseplant soil amendments and replacements.

LECA, which stands for lightweight expanded clay aggregate, is a high-fired clay that can absorb and then slowly release water. Some people use it as a decorative topper, a gravel alternative in the bottom of containers, or as a watering aid in traditional potting soil. Others are using it as a complete soil replacement.

Stout says her IGC, located outside Detroit, started carrying the product in August of this year due to customer demand, after multiple customers came in and specifically asked employees if the store carried LECA balls.

LECA had been used in Ray Wiegand’s glasshouse “several, several years” ago, she said. But the wave of customer demand is driving renewed interest. To meet that interest, Stout purchased one case of 16 bags in August to test the waters. Since then, her IGC has already sold all of them.

Socially powered potting

“I think that customers have been asking for this product because they've seen it somewhere. Maybe on social media,” Stout says, impressed by the social-influence appeal. “What products can you carry that are going to have that kind of power where somebody just sees it and wants to come into your store?”

Importantly, LECA is not new. It’s been used in hydroponics and indoor crop production for a while, but it’s a relatively new addition for houseplant growing, according to Lex Gross, a Phoenix-based plant influencer who goes by @plantsbylex on Instagram (32.6K followers).

Gross started collecting houseplants in 2018, and as she acquired more, she had trouble taking care of all of their needs at the same time. She started looking for an alternative and found LECA. She started her Instagram account in 2019 to find plant friends and soon started getting questions from people about LECA.

“When I first started, there wasn't a lot of information online, so it was kind of a lot of trial and error,” she explains. “I had a couple of questions about, hey, what are those pebbles that are in your pots? And that's kind of when I started seeing a need and being like, oh, I can answer these questions. Let me help other people do this, too.”

Stout attributes Wiegand’s LECA success to social media, too. She says they’ve reached customers via Facebook and email, with many referencing both when they come in to buy LECA balls. It’s been so successful that she plans on ordering more from her initial supplier, Minnesota-based Sol Soils, co-founded by friends Travis Thein and John Porter.

But going with Sol Soils is not just because of the demand. It’s also because she sees it as “more of a premium product,” thanks in part to its attractive packaging.

Sol Soils, which was founded in 2021 and sells a variety of 100% peat-free premium potting mixes, has carried LECA balls since the company’s creation. Its LECA ball package sizes include one quart, two quarts, four quarts (one gallon) and seven gallons (the last of which comes unbagged and loose in a case pack box). The brand also incorporates LECA balls into its mixes.

At the beginning, LECA balls were Sol Soils’ No. 2 bestseller, behind only its Houseplant Chunky Mix, with Thein and Porter calling it a surprise frontrunner. It's still either the brand’s second- or third-best seller.

Other soil amendments from Sol Soils — which partners with global nonprofit One Tree Planted by donating a portion of every product sold to plant a tree in some of the world’s most deforested areas — include chunky perlite, pumice, calcined clay and black lava rock.

What IGCs need to know about LECA

Most plants can be grown in LECA, but some are easier than others, especially ones with sturdy roots. Good starter plants include philodendrons, snake plants, sansevieria, orchids, monstera, pothos and ficus.

Gross recommends beginners start out using LECA with plants that aren’t “super finicky” or have thin root structures. Begonias, alocasia and cacti would likely be challenging for beginners, she says. Gross also recommends starting with a healthy plant, as a declining plant is likely to die post-transfer.

Because LECA is a compost-free, peat-free, inorganic medium, it can help prevent root rot and pests, like fungus gnats. They’re also reusable — they can be washed and boiled to clean and sterilize them and used again and again after they’re dry, something that makes them attractive to more eco-conscious customers.

Gross says LECA balls are also a good option for parents, because “whenever my kid tips over a plant in the house, it's easier than vacuuming up the soil. I can just kind of scoop it all up and put it back in.”

But because it’s an inorganic medium, it also means the LECA balls have no nutrients. Customers have to use a liquid fertilizer and keep to a strict nutrient regimen if they’re solely using LECA balls. So make sure they are merchandised with those companion products and prepare staff to relay the information to LECA-curious growers. There are also LECA fertilizer kits available that can be a good option for beginners.

“If you’re just adding plain water constantly, the plant will eventually stop growing, and then you'll see nutrient deficiency-type signs,” Gross explains.

If you (or your customers) are wondering how to use LECA, here’s how it works, per Thein, Porter, Stout and Gross:

• Have what you need: The only required products are the LECA balls and a hydroponic fertilizer — you can likely use your current pot.
• Root it: Make sure your plant’s roots are extremely clean, as Gross said that residual soil will cause the plant to hold too much water in an already wet environment, which can lead to rot.
• Get soaked: Pre-soak the LECA balls for about 24 hours.
• Pot it up: Fill the bottom half of the pot with LECA, then pot the plant in the top half of the pot. Fill the pot with water about a third of the way, and keep filling it to that one-third mark. The roots eventually grow down into the bottom of the pot.
• “You can’t really overwater your plant or underwater your plant, as long as you’re keeping the reservoir full, so it takes the guesswork out of it,” adds Gross, who has about 200 houseplants, including about 125 in LECA.

If your customers are too nervous to go all-in on LECA, IGC staff can suggest they start out using it just as a soil topper — which can still help with pests by preventing them from accessing that surface layer. They can also be mixed with traditional soil to help with drainage.

“It can be tricky to get started,” Gross says. “It’s definitely a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it, I feel like it is an easier — for me — way to have multiple houseplants.”

Emily Mills is associate editor of Garden Center magazine. Contact her at emills@gie.net.