Water absorbing "crystals"

I'm about to move some Brugs from gallon pots to the next size. A while ago I bought a big jug of Terra-sorb without reading the instructions.
Now locking at it, it tells me to use 2 lbs per 1000 square feet! I guess I should have got the small size! This one must be for landscapers.
Have anybody used this stuff? If so how much do you use per gallon of soil? Do you mix it dry or wet with the soil?
I did experiment a bit and 1/2 tbs almost swells to 1 cup.
I'm hoping that this will prevent my Brugs from wilting before I get home from work in the summer.

I used the crystals last year and the only problem I had was keep the Brug standing....guess I used to much and the Brugs kept fall over. The ground around the Brugs was very soft and slimy but they didn't wilt. LOL

I used water sorb crystals last year, both in pots and in the ground. I felt I had my best luck with them in the ground. Pots just seem to dry out no matter what I do with them. I used a quarter of a cup in the pots and about a half cup in the holes in the ground. It didn't float to the top, so there must not have been too much in the planting holes.

I mixed mine dry into the planting holes in the ground and in with the bottom six inches of soil in the 5 gallon and larger pots.

that's a good point, it sure depends on your soil how much you would use. with watersorb, the bigger crystals are supposed to last 7-9 years, the little flakes only a year. the brugs i used a lot with (in the ground) did great with watersorb, the ones i didn't use it on wilted almost daily, depending.

Thanks for the answers. This seem to be the answer to my wilting problem. Maybe I can stay out late once in a while this summer. My friends thought I was crazy when I always had to hurry home to water plants.
My "crystals" are called Terra-sorb hydrogel, supposed to be long lasting. Looking at the other side of the jar it says 1/2 oz per gallon or 1 cup per 50 gallon.
I'm off to start the repotting.

I've found they work best---especially in pots---if you let them fill with water before you mix them into your soil. I made the mistake of mixing some dry ones into the soil while filling a pot, and when I watered it, the crystals heaved about half my soil out! Keep in mind that they expand enormously.

As they expand and contract, they help keep the soil loose. I've read that this causes brugs in the ground to never form deep roots, but it makes them MUCH easily to dig up, if you plan on lifting them in the fall.

Great point MsBatt.
I was thinking about that, and the fact that the crystals are so small when dry, that I wouldn't be able to see if they where spread evenly around the pot.
Good thing I'm a procrastinator, I didn't get started yet.

i can attest to the roots. i planted a baby butterfly in a good hole with watersorb, never wilted. i dug it up in november i think, had 2 tap roots over 4 feet long. it had very few lateral roots, those are the ones that can get so hard. it took me a while to dig it up mainly cause it was close to a large rose bush and if i'd known i was gonna cut off 3 feet of roots i would have chopped them off!

I had a terrible time last summer with my brugs wilting. I am definitely going to try the water sorb in the ground.

I had great luck with diapers in my containers. They have water-sorb crystals in them too.

LOL Poppysue, how did you get the idea to try diapers? Do you plant the whole thing, or what?

Arlene, do you cut the tap root off to fit it in the pot. It's hard to imagine a plant surviving that treatment (I never dug a Brug up.)

My idea about being able to see how much Terra-sorb I added to the soil didn't work. As soon as it touched the dirt, it looked like dirt. It made the soil very spongy and fun to handle though. It was like being a kid playing in the dirt.

here's a link... i measured, they were over 4 feet.. but no bad lateral roots. pic is a few posts down.
I cut some of it back, stuck it in a pot, and it's doing fine. will be planted outside tomorrow.
http://davesgarden.com/t/368059/

Arlene.......I'm glad you can get out and start working in your yard. Still going to be at least two months before doing anything up here. I'm sure glad I can play in the greenhouse or I'd go nuts waiting. Hope you have some lovely's this year, as usual.

Arlene,
Are you going to start planting outside now? I think I'll wait a couple more weeks just to make sure we don't get a cold spell....Ron will help me pull all these plants out of the GH once but I'm not sure about twice. LOL

Poppysue.......tell us all about your diaper method and which kind of diapers.....PLEASE

Can't remember where the diaper tip came from... I think it was from someone here at DG. I just bought an El-Cheapo brand. I cut holes in the plastic and trimmed off the excess plastic so it was just a big pad. I just arranged them at the bottom of my pots and baskets... but I made sure not to cover up all the drainage holes.

Be careful using the diapers. I tried them last year in a couple of hanging baskets. The ones I peeled the material ( plastic and gauzy papery stuff) away on and just added the fluffy material from the center to the soil worked best. The ones I didn't do this on and only removed the plastic from seemed to develop molds on them.
I found a feminine napkin worked just as well as the diaper, all you had do do was peel the plastic liner off and pop a couple down the sides of your pot. They were a lot less fussing with.

Diapers and feminine napkins... LOlol!! What a bunch of looney tunes we are! The things we do for our plants!

Yep! :)
Some would say we are 'cranks'!
I say 'what ever turns your crank' LOL LOL

Glory, i checked the week forcast, nothing under 40 predicted, mainly 50s. a hard march frost is so unusual, don't think it'll happen 2 years in a row. i planted 10 in the ground yesterday. i also have 2 blooms, wish i had gotten pollen, species and double white both have blooms, but only one each. species was lightly frosted last november, and Yed after it frosted.
Ms Brugie it feels great to be putting them back in the ground!this was a cold winter. the grass is greening up very fast, can see it day by day, and i have weeds blooming....