Root Watering Crystals?

Just bought a bottle of 'water crystals' to use for part of a demonstration of a seed starting talk. It is called Root Watering Crystals, or Agrosoak. This doesn't seem to be like any I had bought before. The instructions say to mix it into the potting soil DRY. One cup of Agrosoak with 5 cups of soil. Then water. I am used to the 'other' type of crystals, where you put them in a basin of water to soak for 3 days. After they enlarge in size, they go into the soil at root level.

Has anyone noticed the difference of the two?

Sorry I don't know the difference.

The water crystals you've described sound very much like the type we use here. They work very well in our containers and baskets.

Yeah, the dry ones have an irritating way of working their way up to the top of the pot(and sitting on the surface looking Weird!) if you mix them all together with potting medium. I've had this happen to me quite a bit,-very pesty! So I mix the crystals in with the bottom 2/3s of the pot, and top it up with plain stuff. Good Luck
Mig

I do have some soaking in water. Maybe I should give the crystals a day or two more.

I have used both types and am happy with the results of both. I do have to put them under the soil a bit(2 or 3 inches) so the don't sit on top looking ugly. They make the difference in my sandy soil with a hot and dry climate. I have to water every other day without the crystals and once a week with them after the plants are established.

Ponditis, this is good news for you. I hadn't thought much of putting them in the ground.

Have any of you ever used the crystals in disposable diapers?(new ones of course) I done that last year and man o man one diaper makes a ton of crystals!! They worked just fine too! not one problem at all.

LOL Molly, my son was fooling around one day and put less than a teaspoon of crystals into a small bowl. I came home seconds later and he showed me what he had done so I made him put them into a cereal bowl. After about an hour he added more water. That night we added more water. By morning it had almost filled the cereal bowl with jelly crystals! Don't let their small size fool you into thinking that more is needed.

Yup, I use them in all my raised beds now.

I took on large baby diaper and opened it up and pulled all the cotton fiber looking stuff out of it and put it in a 1 gal ice cream bucket, and before I knew it the bucket was running over! It was soo full I couldn't put the lid back on it! I took it out and put a handful or so around several plants that always seemed to wilt before the others. It worked! I didn't have to water them as often! Just think one package of baby diapers cost about 8.00 and when you add water, you'd have about 25gallons of the crystals! Works for me!

Molly - you need to put the crystals under the dirt, under and around the roots of the plant - they won't do any good on top of the ground. If they tend to heave out of the ground, then you have either used too many or did not put them deep enough, or both!!

O yea I should have said that, I did however put them under the dirt. I actually dug around each plant and put a handful or so around the roots of the plant. sorry about that..I should have explained it better.
But yea putting it around the roots of the plant helped out much better than just putting them on top of the soil. I even redone some hanging baskets just so I could add some of this to the bottom of the pots. I think it worked wonders for the hanging baskets too, they always tend to dry out soo quickly! but not with the crystals in them!

wait, you wet the diaper, and then took the crystals out? did you have to fight the diaper part to get them out? want to know before I go potting things up.

No, all I did was take a new diaper and laid it out flat. It had elastic so I cut all that out first. Then I just cut the thin fiber sheet that holds the diaper together. Then I pulled out the white cottony looking stuff. Then I put it in the bucket of water and it started swelling! Really swelling! Like I said, before I knew it the bucket was almost running over! You can do it with the siccors or a razor blade, which ever one you have handy. Just cut away the plastic that is on the outside of the diaper(or the cloth material that some are made of now a days) all you want is the center of the diaper. It looks just like a cotton pad when you first pull it out. and if it breaks or rips, no problem just put in on in the bucket. You will totally surprised when you see how much one diaper actually makes.

everytime Emily has outgrown a size in diapers, there have always been extras. I've been saving them:)

OHHH - Don't use a handfull of them under the dirt, or anywhere for that matter - just about a teaspoon full should be plenty for the average plant - I put just a few, maybe 10-12 ctystals down in each hole when I plant thimgs. Remember a Tablespoon of them will swell to a cup, if you use too many, things will rot!

I don't mean that I put a handful of dry crystals...I mean a handful of the ones that already have water in them. and when I say handful, I don't mean a hugh hugh amount eaither. Boy I think I am losing my way with words today.
Must be all this rain has my brain water logged lol

I am confused...am I looking for crystals in the diapers or a kotex?
sorry,I am truley confused

A baby diaper.

I know a diaper ...what am I looking for IN the diaper..
and yes ,I know its a NEW diaper...not a used one...LOL

if you tear off the elastic sides, you can see that the 'cover' is a very thin sheet that you can pull off. You want the cottony sheet that's in the middle, it almost always comes out whole.

so there are no CRYSTALS in the diaper?
sorry for being dense.....

you can't see them until you soak that cottony sheet. they are smaller than what you buy as watercrystals, but the same thing. and they do soak up some water, I have a huge bowl full in the kitchen.

OK ,there ARE crytals in the diaper but they are hidden in the pad thingy? And they are tiny?

they are pretty small. and they are made into the cotton I think. but when you soak one, you'll see better, I couldn't tell anything until I soaked one. Put lots of water and you'll see how much it absorbs.

thanks...
now I understand......

I'm gunna look pretty silly buying diapers

are certian brands gunna have more or better crystals?

if you can swing it, go for Huggies or Pampers. if you can't, walmart sells white cloud brand, they are pretty good on babies, not sure about plants:)

thanks you,pampers it is.....

Pretty neat how much the soak up isn't it tiG? Actually I think you can keep adding water until you see that the water isn't disappearing anymore. Like if you see a puddle of water on top of the crystals, you know that they have soaked up as much as they can and they wont soak up any more. It is totally surprising I think!

makes me wonder how a baby could ever leak! LOL!

LOL I know what cha mean!! I remember something on a TV commerical that said that one diaper could hold up to 10 lbs
and now I believe it!

LOL so that is why a baby looks like it is carrying a real load when it hasn't been changed. It is the polymer crystals in the diaper.

I think I will stick to buying mine in bags and canisters. I paid less than $5.00 for 8 ounces of polymers. And I don't have to cut anything just sprinkle it into the soil. :)

I agree - diapers are expensive! I know you can get about a pound for $12.00 at Lowes or HD.

Yea but when you have left over diapers from when the baby goes from one size to a bigger size...the cost is not that bad.

In that case - sure use em up!!

....and here I thought my diaper buying days were over! LOL!! I better start saving those coupons from the newspaper and buy them when they are on sale. My DH is gonna love this!!!

Actually I think you will be surprised at how much 1 package of diapers will go!