A step-by-step transplant from soil to pon using the Lechuza self-watering system — plus why I made the switch and which plants love it most.
I’ve been putting this off for months.
My monstera variegata — the biggest plant in my collection — had been sitting in the same soil for far too long. Roots circling the bottom of the pot. Soil compacting into a dense brick that I’d nervously poke with a chopstick every few weeks. The classic “I know she needs repotting but she’s so beautiful I’m terrified of the change for her” situation.
So when I finally committed to switching her over to a Lechuza self-watering pot with pon, it felt less like a casual Sunday repotting and more like minor surgery. But I documented every step, partly for you and partly because if something went wrong, I wanted receipts.
Spoiler: she’s thriving. Here’s exactly how I did it.
First, Why a Self-Watering Pot?
Before we get our hands dirty (or rather, clean), let me explain why I made this switch in the first place — not as a product review, but from my perspective as someone who works with plants every day and has seen what consistent, well-designed watering can do.
It lets the plant decide. The number one question I get in our plant care services is “how do I know when to water?” The honest answer is that it depends on so many variables — light, humidity, season, pot size, soil density — that even experienced growers get it wrong sometimes. A self-watering system removes the guesswork entirely. The plant draws what it needs from a water reservoir through capillary action. You fill the reservoir, and the plant decides. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to how plants actually hydrate in nature — from the ground up, not from a watering can dumped on top.
Pon eliminates the problems I’m tired of solving. Traditional soil compacts over time, holds moisture unevenly, and becomes a five-star hotel for fungus gnats. Lechuza Pon — a mineral substrate made from zeolite, pumice, and lava rock — stays structurally stable, drains beautifully, and doesn’t harbour the organic matter that pests need to breed. I haven’t seen a fungus gnat near my plants that are fully in pon. Not one.
It’s a more sustainable setup. No peat. No soil that degrades and needs replacing every year. Pon is reusable — you can wash it and use it again. For someone who runs a plant business rooted (literally) in sustainability, this matters.
It’s built for real life. Whether you travel, work long hours, or simply have a lot of plants to look after, the reservoir system means your plants can go days — sometimes a week or more — between top-ups. Knowing my plants at home are drawing exactly what they need while I’m away traveling for work gives me genuine peace of mind. That’s not cutting corners. That’s smart plant care.
What You’ll Need
Before you start, gather everything. You don’t want to be halfway through cleaning roots with a naked monstera in one hand, Googling where you left the pon with the other.
- Your Lechuza self-watering planter (sized appropriately — go one size up from the current pot)
- Lechuza Pon (enough to fill the planter; check Lechuza’s website for volume guides per pot size)
- A basin or bucket of lukewarm water
- A gentle spray nozzle or shower head
- Clean scissors or shears (sterilised)
- A towel or tarp for the mess — and there will be mess
- Optional: a chopstick or wooden skewer for loosening roots
- Optional: hydrogen peroxide 3% solution if you spot any signs of root rot
Step-by-Step: The Full Transplant
Step 1: Unpot gently
Tip the pot on its side and ease the plant out. If the roots are tightly bound (mine were forming a solid cylinder), gently squeeze the sides of the pot to loosen. With a large monstera variegata, I found it helpful to work on a low surface — the floor, honestly — so gravity wasn’t fighting me.
Take your time here. A variegated monstera’s roots aren’t replaceable on a fast timeline, and any root you snap is a root that won’t be feeding those gorgeous white-splashed leaves.
Step 2: Remove all the soil
This is the part that takes patience. You’re doing a full conversion to pon, which means removing as much organic material from the root system as possible. Residual soil trapped in mineral substrate can decompose, create anaerobic pockets, and potentially cause root rot.
Start by shaking off the loose soil. Then submerge the root ball in a basin of lukewarm water and gently work the soil out with your fingers. Use a gentle spray to flush the remaining particles. I spent about twenty minutes on this step — it’s meditative, if you let it be.
Your goal: clean, visible roots with minimal soil clinging to them.
Step 3: Inspect and trim the roots
With the roots clean, you can actually see what’s going on. Look for anything mushy, blackened, or hollow — these are dead or rotting roots and they need to go. Use sterilised scissors and cut cleanly above the damaged section. Healthy roots should be firm, white to light tan.
My monstera had a few soft tips from being rootbound, but overall the root system was strong. If you find extensive rot, let the roots air dry for a few hours and consider treating cut ends with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution before potting.
Step 4: Prepare the Lechuza planter
Assemble the Lechuza pot: place the separator (inner liner) into the outer planter. This creates the water reservoir at the bottom. Insert the water level indicator into its shaft — this is how you’ll know when to refill.
Add a base layer of pon into the liner, enough to position your plant at the correct height. The top of the root ball should sit about 1–2 cm below the rim of the pot.
Step 5: Position the plant and fill with pon
Hold the plant centred in the pot and begin pouring pon around the roots. Gently tap the sides of the pot to help the substrate settle into gaps — you want good contact between the pon and the roots, but you don’t need to pack it tightly. The beauty of pon is its open structure; air and water flow through it naturally.
Fill to just below the rim. The plant should feel stable and upright. If it wobbles, add more pon and adjust.
Step 6: The growing-in phase (this is critical)
Here’s where most people go wrong. Do not fill the reservoir immediately.
For the first few weeks — Lechuza recommends this, and I strongly agree — water from the top as you normally would. Pour water directly onto the pon surface and let it drain through. This allows the roots to gradually extend into the new substrate and reach the moist zone above the reservoir.
Think of it like acclimatisation. Your plant’s roots have spent their entire life in soil. They need time to adjust to a mineral substrate and learn to wick moisture upward. Flooding the reservoir on day one can overwhelm roots that aren’t yet established.
Step 7: Transition to reservoir watering
After the growing-in phase, your plant should be well-rooted in the pon and beginning to draw moisture through capillary action. Now you can start filling the reservoir through the water supply shaft. Fill until the indicator reads “max.”
When the indicator drops to “min,” don’t panic and refill immediately. This signals the start of what Lechuza calls the “dry phase” — a period of 2 to 10 days where the substrate dries slightly. This is healthy and natural. After the dry phase, refill to max. That rhythm — fill, use, dry, fill — mimics how plants access groundwater in nature.
What I’d Tell You If You Were Standing in Our Workshops
If I were walking you through this in person — hands covered in pon dust, your nervous monstera sitting bare-rooted on the table between us — here’s what I’d say:
Be patient with the growing-in phase. I know you want to fill the reservoir and let the magic happen. Wait. The twelve weeks matter.
Don’t stress about leftover soil traces. Get as much off as you reasonably can, but a few tiny remnants won’t ruin everything. Perfect is the enemy of a happily repotted plant.
Expect a brief adjustment period. Your plant might look a little droopy for a week or two. This is normal. The root system is recalibrating. Keep conditions stable — good light, consistent temperature, no direct scorching sun — and let it settle.
Size up your pot. Pon doesn’t compact like soil, so you don’t get that gradual shrinking that eventually suffocates roots. But the reservoir needs adequate space to be useful, and your plant needs room to grow into. One size up from the current pot is usually right.
Feed after the first season. Lechuza Pon comes pre-loaded with slow-release fertiliser that lasts roughly six months. After that, switch to a hydroponic-compatible liquid fertiliser and use the “weakly weekly” approach — a diluted dose every time you water, rather than a heavy feed once a month.
Ready to Make the Switch?
If you’ve been thinking about trying self-watering pots and want to do it properly, the Lechuza system is where I’d start. The combination of pon and the reservoir design genuinely removes the biggest source of plant stress I see in my work: inconsistent watering.
Use code PLANTEKA10 at macetaslechuza.es for 10% off your self-watering pots, pons and fertilizers. Whether you start with a compact Classico for a hoya or go all in with a Cube for your monstera, your plants will thank you — and you’ll wonder why you didn’t make the switch sooner.
In the next article we will talk about Which Plants Thrive in Pon + Self-Watering Pots
This article is written by Sanitha, the founder of Planteka, a plant workshop and care services brand based in Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia. Find more at planteka.co.
