Re: Polymers- jello

**L* J* <l*@tds.net>**

With a container gardening business, polymers (Soil Moist is the 
brand I use) are absolutely necessary. Clients expect pots to be 
beautiful all week without a consideration to the heat and dry 
weather.  They do not work at all like jello...just put some in a 
glass and watch them absorb and then release the water.  Because 
their breakdown elements are toxic, I use them only in containers, 
not directly in the garden.
They will  not float to the top if you place them just below the root 
level as you are filling the container. And don't overuse...blend 
them well  into the potting mix at root level...don't allow them to 
stay in a cluster.  It's because of Soil moist and Osmocote that my 
container business has flourished.

At 06:35 PM 4/30/2008, you wrote:
>My other complaint about the polymers in containers is that when we
>get a month like this one
>  with 9-inches of rain, the polymers float right out of the containers.
>Martha
>Muskogee OK
>80-F today with 35 mile an hour wind
>Planting our hands off, eating early veggies from the garden, enjoying
>a thousand iris in bloom.
>
>On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 1:17 PM, Fran Gustman <fgustman@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I like the idea of leaf compost. I won't use polymers, but most people say
> > that they do a wonderful job of providing moisture in containers. 
> How do the
> > plants stay turgid, if they are not getting into the water? I love your
> > comparison to jello.
> >
> > By the way, I once saw the soil slither over the lip of a 
> container during a
> > rain storm as the polymer continued to soak up water.
> >
> > Fran
> >
> > >
> > > Most of these polymers are marketed as storehouses of moisture 
> that the plant
> > > roots can attach to and draw on as needed. Dr. Bonnie Appleton at Hampton
> > > Roads, VA, did some research in the past and found that they 
> actually locked
> > > up
> > > all available water and removed them from the plants. I explain it to my
> > > students as trying to get a drink of water from Jello.   Some 
> are starch-based
> > > and
> > > others break into toxic compounds.
> > >
> > > Leaf compost works better.
> > >
> > > Donna Williamson
> > > Winchester, VA
> > > Expecting frost.
> > >
> >
> >
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