I really like having a mix of both, but you’ve reminded me that I really need to shift my alocasias into Leca. Anthuriums is a good shout – I divided one and half is in Leca, half in soil. They did equally well for a while but the soil one’s definitely lagging now because I keep forgetting to water.

But I’ve already put one Bird of Paradise back from pon to soil (which adapted back immediately) and going to do that with my other one next year. Big, hardy, plants with vigorous roots require that I get in there every year and I prefer to just take it to the backyard, hose it down, and stuff it back in the pot with ordinary potting mix I get from the local stores. It’s nice that pon/leca is reuseable, but dealing with gallons of it with just one pot? I’d rather just hose it down and put fresh soil. Otherwise, I am boiling it and drying it in batches and storing it again.

Some plants I really like Semi-Hydro. Alocasia’s (I never know when to water), peace lilies (they tend to dry up under my care), and anthuriums, I prefer to keep in Semi-Hydro. I think it’s worth the work transferring over, as the scheduled top-up is really nice.

My personal experience is that unless you have concerns with regard to watering, soil is fine. A bird of paradise is practically unkillable, IMO. You should stick it in a big pot of soil and let’er rip. I have a big Monstera that I was going to put in pon next year, but I have a feeling it’ll be like my Birds of Paradise, and I’ll likely prefer to just keep it in soil.