Ever wanted to make your own version of the popular Lechuza-Pon brand but weren’t sure how to get started? Keep reading to find my recipe & tutorial below!
What is Lechuza-Pon?
Lechuza-Pon, also referred to simply as Pon, is a brand name for a type of inorganic mineral-based planting media that can be used as an alternative to soil. This substrate, or media, is made up of mineral ingredients including pumice, lava rock, and zeolite. The Lechuza-Pon brand typically contains a timed-release soild fertilizer as well.
Benefits of Lechuza-Pon & DIY Lechuza-Pon
The varying sizes of the particles maintains a balance of aeration, water retention, and drainage around the roots. This not only aids in consistent growth and maturity of the plant, but it also builds resistance against pests and disease. A healthy root zone also encourages nutrient uptake and even distribution.
My favorite part of Lechuza-Pon or DIY Pon is that it creates less waste for plant parents. Instead of throwing away soil after something goes wrong with a plant, you can rinse and recycle Pon over the years. If you plan to keep your plants in the same setup long term, using this type of inorganic media can reduce your waste over time and help you spend less on soil that can’t be reused.
Just like LECA, Pon uses capillary action to wick water up to the roots as needed, providing the perfect amount. This is helpful if you can be prone to overwatering and root rot. The nature of the pourous lava rock and pumice act like a buffer, absorbing excess nutrients and avoiding nutrient burn or lockout. The zeolite acts as an odor absorber, which prevents the stinky reservoirs you may have experienced at some point in your plant collecting journey.
Pon can be watered from the top once it dries out like soil, but it can also be used in semi-hydroponic growing. Many people who use Pon as a semi-hydrponic media prefer to use two types of pots. The first choice is either clear plastic pots with holes or clear slotted orchid pots with a reservoir. Alternatively, many people like to use the self-watering pots sold by Lechuza brand/similar dupes.
What is DIY Lechuza-Pon? Why make your own DIY Lechuza-Pon?
DIY Lechuza-Pon is a homemade alternative to the branded Lechuza-Pon substrate that contains the same ingredients and serves the same purpose. It contains a mixture of pumice, lava rock, and zeolite. By selecting the ratios for and grannular sizes of each ingredient, you can customize you DIY Pon mix to suit different genus of plant, root structures, etc. Optionally, you can add other ingredients such as LECA to make it chunkier/airier, or timed-release fertilizer to create a dupe of the Lechuza-Pon brand.
Making your own DIY Pon can be a great choice if you need larger quantities or want to reserve some to the side for the future. If you only need a smaller quantity, it may be more cost-effective to try out Lechuza-Pon brand substrate or someone else’s DIY Pon mix available on Etsy etc. before investing.
Let’s do a quick price breakdown and some math. A 4.1 dry gallon/28 lb bag of Lechuza-Brand Pon runs $40 before shipping costs, if it’s even in stock. For about $100 via my Amazon links provided below, you can make 45-50lb or more of your own customized DIY Pon. If you have some supplies on hand or can purchase what you need from a local supplier, those costs will be even lower. For example, when I decided to convert all my plants from chunky Aroid soil mix to DIY Pon, I already had large quantities of LECA and pumice on hand, which reduced the initial cost by about half.
For my budget-stretchers out there, you can make your DIY Pon mix last even longer by increasing the ratio of LECA in the recipe. You can also add a layer of LECA to the bottom of any pot you intend to fill with DIY Pon to prevent the finer size pieces from washing out during watering.
INGREDIENTS:
If you want to watch me completing each step, click the link for Step 1 and Step 2.
Step 1: Start by individually rinsing each ingredient, using a bucket or bin to catch the waste water, until the water runs clear. This step is super important! Due to the nature of processing these ingredients, they often come covered in dust. Because of this, they should be rinsed before use so the dust particles do not harm the plant. How could this dust harm the plant, you may be wondering? I wondered the same thing and thought it seemed foolish to spend the extra time rinsing ingredients for plant soil.
NOT SO FUN FACT: the dust on things like pumice, LECA, lava rock, perlite, etc. can actually harm your plants in two ways. First, the dust coats the roots, preventing proper nutrient and water uptake which can lead to stunted growth. It can also clog up drainage holes and dirty reservoir water over time which can lead to root rot and unpleasant smells. It might seem like an investment of time to rinse your planting amendments, but once I started and saw the benefits myself, I’ll never go back.
Step 2: Once you finish rinsing, the ingredients are ready to mix together. I recommend using a large clear storage tote, ideally ~50-60 quart capacity to hold your finished product. Pour each ingredient in a layer into the storage tote, then mix together thoroughly. You can do this by using a shovel to get deep down, your hands, and shaking the bin from side to side.
Step 3: Please do not dump waste water filled with dust down your indoor residential drains! Keep reading items #1 and #2 in the Important Notes section below for ways to manage your wa
Important Notes:
Dumping waste water from the rinsing process down indoor residential drains, especially older ones (10+ years old) can result in clogs, blockages, and backups that require costly plumbing fixes. I wish I was joking, but I’ve had multiple plant friends over the years get in trouble with a landlord or have to pay out of their own pocket to fix their plumbing as a result of dumping LECA/Pon rinse water.
There are two alternatives to dumping waste water down indoor drains. First, you could dump the waste water in an outdoor gutter next to your street/sidewallk. Second, you could drain the waste water into a large bin or bucket, let the dust settle to the bottom for a few days, then reuse the clear waste water left on top for outdoor watering. You could also let the waste water evaporate over time, leaving behind the dust at the bottom that’s easy to wipe away.
If you want to purchase smaller quantities of the ingredients listed above, here’s a link to my DIY Pon Ingredients list on Amazon where you can shop and help support me at the same time.
You will need space for a large storage tote that will hold your DIY Pon mix (50-60qt size, usually used for storing outdoor gear or holiday decor items) as well as elbow room to work when you’re rinsing the ingredients. If you live in a small apartment or tiny home, this may present a challenge.
My Experiences
Based on my personal experiences, this type of substrate creates an ideal environment for root development, especially for semi-epiphytic/epiphytic Aroids such as Anthurium, Epipremnum, Hoya, Monstera, Philodendron, Scindapsus, and Syngonium. I have not tried it on other genus yet, but I imagine it would be successful for similar types of plants.
While I have only used the DIY Lechuza-Pon method, the Lechuza-Pon brand comes highly recommended and is trusted by experts across the industry; so much that it’s often sold out on the company’s website. I prefer to make my own Pon because I use liquid fertlizer, which has a more immediate effect on the plant, instead of solid timed-release fertilizer.
I really enjoy growing my plants in clear/transparent pots because I can easily check in on their root development and notice any problems before they happen. When I used to use soil, this presented a challenge as I was never sure what was going on with my roots until I unpotted the plant, cleaned off the roots, and inspected. I have not tried the self-watering planters, but those come just as highly recommended as the branded Lechuza-Pon substrate itself.
I have been successfully using DIY Pon for all my personal plants since 2021. I initially switched from organic soil to inorganic media and started using LECA around 2019, so when I decided to start using Pon I went in already feeling comfortable with semi-hydro and soil-free growing which made the transition less stressful. I initially decided to create my own DIY Pon because Lechuza-Pon brand was still newer to the USA and difficult to obtain in larger quantities on demand. I had a lot of plants to convert and I didn’t want to wait, so I jumped headfirst into making my own DIY Pon after doing a bunch of research and reading online. Oddly enough, I learned a ton from reading cannabis growing blogs and still utilize those resources today when I can’t find answers I’m looking for within the houseplant growing world.
