LECA Clay Balls

Why growers use LECA

LECA is fired clay, and the firing is what makes it useful: each pebble has a hard ceramic shell around a porous core, so it holds moisture and releases it back to the roots as the medium dries, while the gaps between pebbles stay open. Porosity runs around 70-80%. Clay balls do not compact over the life of a crop, they do not rot, and they are pure mineral — no fibres, no solvents, nothing of their own added to the solution. Good product also carries a low inherent EC, which matters because a medium that leaches salts will fight your reservoir readings.

Our range of clay balls

The buyable range is 8-16mm pebbles in three bag sizes: 10L from Professor's Nutrients and Grow Kings, 25L from Green Planet, and a 50L Colossal bag from Accent Hydroponics for filling larger systems. The Green Planet bag is 100% expanded clay — pH neutral, sterile and non-degradable, with high air-filled porosity for root growth and microbial activity. The 50L bags ship as bulky items and may attract additional shipping.

Which systems clay balls suit

Clay balls are the default aggregate for recirculating hydroponics, and the reason is the shape. Round, uniform pebbles leave large gaps that drain rapidly and completely, which is what a flood-and-drain table needs between cycles. In deep water culture they hold the plant firmly above the reservoir while the roots hang below. In drip systems the free-draining structure stops solution pooling at the crown. They fill net pots without falling through, and a layer spread over the surface of a soil or coco pot works as an evaporation barrier.

Clay balls pair with net pots and hydroponic pots and flood and drain systems. Because the medium itself is inert, your reservoir readings do all the work — The Importance of pH in a Hydroponic System covers that side. For coco, soil and other substrates, see the full range of grow mediums.