Clearex Salt Leaching Solution

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Hein, boiling leca is worse than heat sterilizing on the grill. Odor, mess, work etc. and it doesn't take care of the salt build up. Hubby would have fits if I did that in the house. He works from home and doesn't enjoy being fumed out of his job.
 
From what I remember of chemistry The post of salts dissolving making an ionic solution fits. The + and - atoms disassociate (seperate) when dissolved in water which is a polar solvent (the molecule has a distinct + and - area) which is why it works well as a solvent for salts. If you are using fert with calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate in the SH as the solution evaporates at the surface you have a local area of high concentration which means that the calcium can bond with the sulfate to form gypsum which is not very soluble. As you said, the well water in your sprinklers may be adding the hardness of the water (other Ca and Mg compounds that are not readily soluble). Using an acid should help remove the deposits before you are boil the leca. Try vinager (acetic acid) or check Lowes or Home depot for Muratic acid - brick wash (it is Hydrochloric acid) If you use it remember add acid to water when you dilute it not water to acid. It creates heat.
 
Hein, boiling leca is worse than heat sterilizing on the grill. Odor, mess, work etc. and it doesn't take care of the salt build up. Hubby would have fits if I did that in the house. He works from home and doesn't enjoy being fumed out of his job.

Actually boiling will take care of the salt build up. Hot water will quickly dissolve soluble salts. I'm not sure why you are worried about the mineral buildup on the leca. Most likely the mineral you refer to as salt is actually some form of calcium. Gypsum is a mineral that is used to amend soils and calcium is desirable also. So why are you worried about the mineral deposits?
Just look at the mineral deposits as free oyster shells.
 
Because I don't know what it is. Guessing that it's gypsum when it's accumulated salts won't help my plants. And it looks bad. I may try the vinegar route and see if that helps with the build up.
 
You are confusing accumulated salts with insoluble mineral deposits.

When we speak of "accumulated salts" we refer to soluble salts that can and will cause growth problems The problems are because soluble salts easily dissolve in the moisture around the roots causing an increase in the salinity of the water which could result in tissue damage.

The white deposits that you see on the surface of leca, that won't dissolve or wash off are insoluble "limestone". I say limestone because the same type of precipitation are what forms in limestone caves and springs. You pretty much know what the minerals are because they come from the fertilizer you water with.

The white deposits are not a good reason to discard the leca. But if it looks ugly to you that might be a good reason. ;)
But so much for leca being re-usable?
Why not just use the old leca for plants that you add lime to anyway?
 
I guess I'm second guessing myself because an AOS judge and commercial grower kind of gave me some sh*t a few nights ago, that my leca was full of salts and would eventually kill my plants. He made a big deal, announcing it to the group and telling everyone in the society not to grow in it because it's collects salts and "look at all these salts". He called it halite which I've never heard that before! But it got me worried. I do think I am confusing salts with mineral deposits.
 
I doubt seriously that you have Halite on the surface of your leca. The judge is wrong.

Halite is pure sodium chloride. Rock salt. It is the name used for naturally occurring sodium chloride salt crystals. It is extremely soluble so much that it will turn to mush in a humid atmosphere. If your white powder deposits on the surface of your media are halite then they would instantly dissolve in water and wash (flush) away. Look closely at the deposits. Do they look like little squarish salt crystals? if so they may be sodium and you need to flush with more water. But I bet the powder looks like a fine white crust just like that would build up on the chrome around a faucet. That is calcium and won't dissolve easily in water.

The "judge" should stick to measuring flowers and not tell people you have Halite on your leca, he really spread false info.
 
But I bet the powder looks like a fine white crust just like that would build up on the chrome around a faucet. That is calcium and won't dissolve easily in water.

That's what it looks like, exactly. I came home that evening and googled halite and was very confused by the statement. I guess I shouldn't start questioning my growing technique based on negative comments. But, I do tend to give more weight to AOS judges/commercial vendors feedback. Of course one AOS judge told me 5 years ago that he was very concerned about my orchids and that they were going to rot. I ignored that comment and I guess I shouldn't have let this one bother me, either. Thanks for pointing out that I was looking at mineral deposits and not salts.
 
Based on the photos of your plants you post you should not second guess your growing techniques. Just because someone is a judge does not mean they have great cultural skills and commercial growers often give biased advice to sway possible customers to their own products or methods but for saying your media is full of halite is very misleading and irresponsible. You should correct his error at your next meeting for the benefit of all the members. Imagine if you threw out all your leca based on his advice, what would that cost you? :fight:
 
!!!! halite ...lol:rollhappy: That is quite an erroronous statement, I would have thought an AOS judge would be smarter than that.
I think I could imagine a judge being fussy enough to take off points because the S/H potting looked crappy though. A possible reason to put nicer looking pebbles on top for judging perhaps?
 
I think I could imagine a judge being fussy enough to take off points because the S/H potting looked crappy though. A possible reason to put nicer looking pebbles on top for judging perhaps?

Please tell me this is a joke? Do they actually judge something lower based on the media and potting?
 
ok I don't have much to back me up on that one, it was sort of a joke.... I personally would not judge based on the potting.
I always thought AOS judges do want plants to look well groomed and well presented. They want us to wash leaves of all residues. Spikes all staked and well presented. Good looking potting might as well be important in the overall presentation. Depending on the judge, maybe crusty looking S/H doesn't define well groomed in his opinion.
 
Candace et al. -

I use a two step process to clean and sterilize my clay pots. First, I soak them overnight in a bleach bath. After the bleach, I soak them in a solution of muriatic acid. They are then rinsed and dried. With this process, they look brand new. All of the white mineral build-up dissolves, and the pots are clean and pathogen-free. I don't see any reason you could not do this same thing with hydroton, leca, or even lava rock.
 
I have used Clearex for a few years now it seems to work. I use 1oz. to the gallon on all my Orchids about every 6 months. When I pot a plant I soak it for 20 minutes then flush with RO water. I use it for soaking coco & leca I haven't used it on old leca with any heavy buildup so I can't say if it would work, but I think it would be worth a try. I haven't checked the pH my meter doesn't work. Paphs, Phrags, Odonts, Cyms I have used it on all of them & it seams to work with no ill effects.
web site http://www.americanagritech.com/product/product_detail.asp?id=1&pro_id_pk=11&pattern=clearex
hope this helps
Jon
 
Candace et al. -

I use a two step process to clean and sterilize my clay pots. First, I soak them overnight in a bleach bath. After the bleach, I soak them in a solution of muriatic acid. They are then rinsed and dried. With this process, they look brand new. All of the white mineral build-up dissolves, and the pots are clean and pathogen-free. I don't see any reason you could not do this same thing with hydroton, leca, or even lava rock.

Hopefully one of our chemists will comment on the use of muriatic acid.

I'm not sure I would use Muriatic Acid (hcl) to clean the media that the roots actually grow in. It would be good to clean the pots as you do but I think it may turn the calcium carbonate deposits into calcium chloride which would be an undesirable compound in the growing media. Especially for leca which would hold the solution within the pebbles.
I'm not sure about this, this is just what I think.
Also the fumes may be somewhat explosive? (hydrogen gas?
 
What do you think it does to help your culture compared to not using it?
I am not trying to discredit the product but rather understand if it actually enhances and improves the media in some way.

I think that it helps flush the salt buildup out of the pot. I check with my TDS meter & after using the Clearex & flushing with RO it drops a lot more than with just plan RO.
Jon
 

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