I just received my 5lbs of water absorption crystals and waited no time to go ahead and use them. 3 handfuls was enough for 4 gallons of crystals as they can absorb 400x their own weight in water. So far I'm only using it on fruit trees/shrubs and sempervivums because they have a tendency to be stressed out by drought. Does anyone else use this stuff, and does it really keep the pots from drying out as quickly?

Here's my entire blog on it
http://stevesbamboogarden.blogspot.com/ ... .html#more

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http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Have used for customer's window boxes and such. Reluctant to put all those plastics(guess they are actually polymers) in my soil. Wonder if they also might fail to encourage root growth by providing a spurious and temporary source of water. (in the long term view of the plant).

I'm definitely keeping them away from my aloes, or anything else that cannot tolerate wet soil, but these blobs of gel seem to have the ability to turn clay soil into soft loom soil.

I plan on using to help give some vegetable seedlings a head start directly in the garden beds since it really softens up the soil to the point where it is softer than a pillow. It has the texture of jello which seems to hold together unless you rip them apart. My only concern is how long these guys will last because I really doubt they can maintain their water holding capacity after expanding and contracting so many times.

I plan on sprinkling some mulch on top of them just to try and prevent them from evaporating as fast as they can so they can keep providing moisture for their plants. I'm still pretty impressed how such a small amount of it was able to to produce so much gel.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Worried about the plastic residue in the soil. It may be fine. Do not know enough about the chemical compounds involved to trust it. They would not make it to last too long, or they could not keep selling you more.

I don't think they actually do that. Sure, when they're fully hydrated they're like firm jello as you say, but they're not really mixing with the clay and breaking it up. There are still large "chunks" of clay -- it's not like you've mixed organic matter into the clay.

I didn't really see a big difference when using these before. I never did a side-by-side test though. I think I remember reading a study that disputes the claim that these do anything to help plants tolerate drought.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!