Hi all.

Can't find Hydroton in Portugal... been to several stores and nothing, tried online but it was too expensive, today I talked to a lady that said that little pieces of brick (common redish brick) has the same effect has hydroton in draining the excess of water! Is that true?!?

Thanks!

I have not heard of people using brick.
I have heard of using broken up pieces of unglazed terra-cotta flower pots

-Brad

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Hydroton is overrated...unless you're running a large hydroponic system, you don't need it. You could use broken up pieces of pot, like BradR said, or you could use pieces of brick, or rock, or glass (though I wouldn't recommend that last one...) on the bottom few inches of your pot before you put your soil mix in.

Something you may want to consider mixing in with your soil, since the general concensus is that perlite is too risky, is Coconut Coir. Not only does it hold nutrients well, but it also has properties that make it resistant to fungal growth. Great for aeration too. Can be expensive though, depending on where you get it and how it is packaged (expanded/not, w/added nutrients or not, etc).

I've been worried about my schefflaera getting the rot lately so I've added somewhat of a water shield (just an elizabethan collar like they give to small dogs after surgery) around the base of my pot to deflect water drops. That could help...so far so good here.

I was told that Brick and Terra Cotta and Hydroton or Leca (light expanded clay aggragate) are the same material, but terra cottas starter material is crushed to a finer grade(than brick) before fireing. And just before leca is fired it gets puffed. Like rice crispies. Making it lighter, more permeable. so brick and terra cotta would work, they would just be heavier and wouldn't harbor as much benificial bacteria. the main benefit to using clay products as apposed to rocks, is it's almost glass(a few hundred more degrees during the firing process and it would be glass). i guess it makes it inert, more stable. where as alot of rocks will effect ph. But i'm digressing. Yes it will help drainage the same. As will blending sand into your potting substrate sandier. good luck!

Thanks!

I have a brick and a few plant pots. I'll just break them into little pieces and put the underneath and mixed with the soil.

Crushed brick will do the same..
As HiroPrtagonist says, coconut coir is unreal, in one of my lizard enclosures (not chameleon) I have a coir substrate with plenty of plants just growing in that...no problems at all, you just have to find the plants that will thrive just in coir! I also put coir on top of my potted plants on the balcony, keeps in moisture, works a treat, i'm a fan of the coir...lol
TIP, DON'T BUY COIR WITH FERTILIZER....it's not good to put in your enclosure as you don't know what's exactly in it! Buy dry, mix it in a bucket with water and it expands considerably....just my 2 cents.
Cheers
scott.