5LB Leca Clay Pebbles for Plants, Expanded Leca Balls for Indoor Plants, Orchid Potting Mix, Soil Amendment, Drainage, Easy Reusability, 4-16mm

I detailed review from an experienced Leca user, and tropical plant mom. The first photo shows what this leca looks like straight out of the bag, it is pretty dusty but there wasnt a layer of sediment build up in the bottom of the bag like you get with a lot of cheap leca. Second photo is with the flash on (so color is brighter than in person) and shows what it looks like after the first rinse.3rd and 4th photos are the water from first rinse, and sediment build up, to show why all new use rinsing of leca should be done out side and this water should not go into your pipes. I ended up rinsing this leca a total of 6 times per colander full, agitating it all really well with each rinse. I had two colander fulls total from the one bag. The 5th picture is after a 72 hour soak if the leca, in which i changed the water three times, to try to rid it from as many particals that wouldve ended up building up on plant stems and roots. (This is good practice for all leca). Afterwords i fully dried it by putting it in a 250 degree oven for 40 minutes, because i didnt have the patience to let it air dry, also will kill off any bacteria that may have been collected during its travels. The last photo shows the leca after its been fully rehydrated after that complete treatment.All and all, this leca was a bit dirtier than maybe some bigger brands, and there were some pretty un-uniform pieces here and there, its also a little darker, but you get a lot more bang for your buck if youre willing to clean it properly, than you will with most other brands, and it seems to be better quality than most of the cheap stuff on here.Functionality wise, this is a great deal for a great price, i got a very minimal amount of tiny or broken pieces, it holds in water well and stays moist for about as long as any other leca this size. So if youre debating, i say buy it. Theyre the perfect size for chunky blend soils, ive put a large amount of the bag into my organic soil less blend for my tropical plants, and will use the rest to propagate or for humidity trays. I also believe theyd work just as well for hydropic growing. Will be buying again.

Great product! Reasonably priced.

These beads are awesome and do what they should do. My plants have grown around them. I couldn’t be more happy with the product and the quality.

These are great for hydroponics, however a lot of them are really small and kinda useless. I wish they were all about the same size and no so full of dirt, but other than that they work perfectly for what I need them to do.

Perfect

Just what i wanted

I didn’t see any of this black burnt stuff in any of the pictures of this product when I was reviewing it. i’ve been picking it out because it doesn’t look nice or good. I don’t know how come so much of it looks burnt and that surely isn’t gonna look very good in a clear glass container with your nice plant in it. I’ve never use this stuff before just wondering what everybody else has used or has seen and what are you supposed to do with it? Pick it out or just leave it in there.as I’ve been rinsing it I’ve been picking through it and what a pain in the butt.

My plants love it.