Hamwild said:@tarev, did you ever try this?
I have used them, but as I have mentioned earlier, not too much of it. The clay balls will have the tendency to hold water longer too. It is really good when it is the peak of our hot and dry summer here, the roots do need the cool down and there is good airflow around.
Caution has to be observed though when the colder season comes around. The succulent roots will definitely not like feeling too cold and damp. Though the clay balls have more surface area to allow good airflow, when plants are grown indoors in winter, it may take awhile longer to dry out, compared to summer time growing. So I use them quite sparingly, just enough to break the compactness of the soil, if I do not have pumice around.
Just be very careful in watering, and make sure the root area will not stand in water and empty out drip trays quickly.
In some of my own experiments, I use both clay rocks and water gel beads, just to increase further airflow at root zone, especially if I am using glass containers with no drain holes, but I have to be more selective as to which plants to use in this set-up.
Typically I see that the clay rocks really work nicely if the plant is more tropical in nature, since these types of plants loves more moisture at root zone. For myself, I do not recommend them much for most of the other succulents, since the roots of succulents, prefer to dry out much faster and are much thinner too, so it is quite easy to rot them especially if the ambient temps have gone way too cool for them. And typically when the colder season is at hand, the succulents slow down in growth, so they do not need to be getting too much moisture.
One can always experiment though. You can certainly try some succulents you have and see how it works out in your individual growing environment. My area is way drier, our humidity so low, so I can easily get away with dry out times.
