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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] shadegardens Digest - 29 Jan 1998

On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Paul Reiche wrote:

> > and maybe some of the acrylamide water gels seem to work
>
> Please splain......


There are a group of products called "soil polymers" or "water crystals"
or similar names that are basically small pieces of polyacrylamide
polymers that you can work into soil... you may have seen them in some
nursery stock... they're often mistaken for slug eggs or frog eggs on the
soil surface.

Anyhow... these can hold (depending on the formulation) up to 100x their
weight in water, gradually releasing it as the soil dries out.  Some
people claim major increases in productivity by using the acrylamide
crystals to help modulate water in their soils.  Others see no benefit in
their situations.  Soil type (how much sand, clay and organic matter)
probably have a lot to do with whether or not they work for your
applications.  They do seem to have a definite use for potted plants, and
also for starting seedlings under adverse conditions.

The only one I can remember a trade name for offhand is Musser Forest's
"WasserGel", which you're supposed to use as a slurry into which you dip
seedling tree roots before planting.  I've also used it for starting seeds
in biology classes... most of the gels are pretty clear (they often look
like cracked ice), and you can watch root development easily.

Given a very crummy, gravelly, dry soil and no time to dig in compost
before I had to plant, I'd probably use the gel crystals outside.  So far,
I've always had plenty of compost or compostibles around when I've needed
them.  So my only real experience with gel crystals is in greenhouse and
lab situations.

Kay Lancaster    kay@fern.com
just west of Portland, OR; USDA zone 8
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