Hi mates! I know that the water subject is largely covered in forums, but i have a question, and an idea, for stand alone plants... Thinking in which way to stay away from plants, don't make a path, and most don't be seen, can we dig out much larger holes (say: 50x50x100 cm) and on the bottom hole expanded water crystals half way. On that we will have a 50x50x50cm for plant and 50x50x50 water in gel... That way, when we plant first of may, there will be some rain, which plant will use, and on the july/august to drink gel on the bottom? I am at 43 degrees europe, the most rain we have may-june, with one or none july/august... I will plant numbers and make it up for water, if plant yield at least 3 ozs, i am happy... I will plant on hill sides, on natural depression, so i think hole will store some rain, because of the depression. I don't live in the dry area but in the summer it is pretty dry. I was reading Julian's tread couple of times, and his words ringing through my ears, that he NEVER water... I am aware that he is in other environment, but he say that he was growing in much dry areas with success... Is there a GGrower who use similar tecnique with Water crystals? Thanks people, this forum makes goooood growers.... Peace people....
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Water Crystals
- Thread starter blinky34
- Start date
water crystals are tiny and grow in size when holding water. i think you should soak them before planting, so they have space there when full of water. dunno what would happen when they start drying up.. probably you will get air pockets in your soil. and 50 x 50 x 50 cm is a lot of space to fill with water crystals. the ones i got hold almost 1 liter / gram, so when dry they would fit in your hands. that's a big air pocket if they get on the dry side.
except what i said above, I think it could work.
maybe it would be a better ideea to mix the crystals with soil or coco coir in the bottom of the hole.
except what i said above, I think it could work.
maybe it would be a better ideea to mix the crystals with soil or coco coir in the bottom of the hole.
Taslicker, yes you are right... When i try i will be sure to tell you, in the meanwhile, grow tomato, and tell us what is like, i want to know...
Exploziv, thanks man... i am at your location, south-east europe... I see at your username, i think we are neighbours
... So called country Serbia ... How is in your part of sky? I learned a lot from your posts on this forum man... Thanks 4 that! Back on the topic...
Yes i know they hold insane volume of water, and know for air pockets, but i think to fill just bottom of the hole not mix in the soil, so no air pocket but just the bottom of the hole... I think that this might work... What is your experiance with WC? Can you use it somehow and eliminate need for water? Or something close? In my near distance no one use it... I just want to know how is performance with and without... For that i want to dig a massive hole, more than plant needs, just to solve the water problem... Some (respectable) peoples on the domestic forum, say that in some cases in near distance (my country) don't even water once through growing, without WC and have a harvest... Not much but is still plant alive, without one watering... Just on rain... I hardly believe in that...
Exploziv, thanks man... i am at your location, south-east europe... I see at your username, i think we are neighbours
... So called country Serbia ... How is in your part of sky? I learned a lot from your posts on this forum man... Thanks 4 that! Back on the topic...Yes i know they hold insane volume of water, and know for air pockets, but i think to fill just bottom of the hole not mix in the soil, so no air pocket but just the bottom of the hole... I think that this might work... What is your experiance with WC? Can you use it somehow and eliminate need for water? Or something close? In my near distance no one use it... I just want to know how is performance with and without... For that i want to dig a massive hole, more than plant needs, just to solve the water problem... Some (respectable) peoples on the domestic forum, say that in some cases in near distance (my country) don't even water once through growing, without WC and have a harvest... Not much but is still plant alive, without one watering... Just on rain... I hardly believe in that...
I live in Romania, except the cold everything is good for me. Glad I could help with my posts man.
now, about wc: never tried them outdoor, but I played with them a lot around the house and they hold water very good. if you manage to soak them at planting time, or the rain soaks them good, 100+ liters of water should keep the plants alive for over a month. that should be enaugh for a usual year, at least in my climate. as a backup plan you should have the possibility to water them if needed, especially in case of a drought. (try to have some lake, river or other water source at hand)
good luck, man! and if you try it, write about it around the forum.
now, about wc: never tried them outdoor, but I played with them a lot around the house and they hold water very good. if you manage to soak them at planting time, or the rain soaks them good, 100+ liters of water should keep the plants alive for over a month. that should be enaugh for a usual year, at least in my climate. as a backup plan you should have the possibility to water them if needed, especially in case of a drought. (try to have some lake, river or other water source at hand)
good luck, man! and if you try it, write about it around the forum.
I knew it man! Neighbour hi ! Thanks on the info on WC. 100+ lt of water? You are fucking genious sir! Yes you are right... That amount of water should keep the plants alive.... That is my technic sir... Will plant a number, on many different location, but not many on spot... 2-3... And yes my back up plan is just like you suggested ...Hand, haul and don't give up now thing ... Big holes, good dirt, castings, styrofoam for aeration, and WC... You said the rain will saturate them? I think to ammend holes on march planting on may, 2 moths worth of rain, will be catch up by WC? That will be cool... 200 mm average rain allredy in hole on planting? This will be fun year ... Sure mate, sure i will write diary here in the outdoor forum... This is my favourite place to be man... Thanks for your kind wishes! And to you, this year to have a minimum of 3 woods worth of weed! In the matteroffact Happy new year to everybody on ICMAG!
! Thanks on the info on WC. 100+ lt of water? You are fucking genious sir! Yes you are right... That amount of water should keep the plants alive.... That is my technic sir... Will plant a number, on many different location, but not many on spot... 2-3... And yes my back up plan is just like you suggested ...Hand, haul and don't give up now thing ... Big holes, good dirt, castings, styrofoam for aeration, and WC... You said the rain will saturate them? I think to ammend holes on march planting on may, 2 moths worth of rain, will be catch up by WC? That will be cool... 200 mm average rain allredy in hole on planting? This will be fun year ... Sure mate, sure i will write diary here in the outdoor forum... This is my favourite place to be man... Thanks for your kind wishes! And to you, this year to have a minimum of 3 woods worth of weed! In the matteroffact Happy new year to everybody on ICMAG!
I said 100+ liters because the volume you were talking about filling with wc was 125 liters. So, if they work well you should end up with about that much water stored in them.
I noticed that when they are fully dried they even take water from the air, if it's humid enaugh. (just a bit, but this goes to show that they will draw a certain amount of water from the suroundings without being soaked in water). I have never tested them to see how much water they soak from soil (I've always submerged them in water before use), but I'll start a test tomorrow to see what happens when you put dry crystals in damp soil. I'll report back with the findings during the next days.
thaicat
Member
I tried something similar to what you're talking about. I made the mistake of digging the hole, filling the bottom with crystals and planting at the same time...It was disastrous. About midway through the season and after heavy rain, they blew plants completely out of their holes.
These were basically 4' square holes and I put crystals at the base and mixed with my fill mix. Next year I plan to dig and set crystals, preferably after hard rains, else I'm going to flood the whole area. Later, after I see how much they fill, will plant.
These were basically 4' square holes and I put crystals at the base and mixed with my fill mix. Next year I plan to dig and set crystals, preferably after hard rains, else I'm going to flood the whole area. Later, after I see how much they fill, will plant.
Ok i understand you ex... You calculate lt on volume basis... Thanks man for the test with WC! Finally one will try that... Look out for results my man ...
Thai i heard of that long before, but i actually think that is a rumor or myth of some sort... That is opinion of many people... Thanks for findings, and experiment... What depth are the hole you digg out and how much u use wc?
...Thai i heard of that long before, but i actually think that is a rumor or myth of some sort... That is opinion of many people... Thanks for findings, and experiment... What depth are the hole you digg out and how much u use wc?
thaicat
Member
Definitely not rumor or myth.
I didn't measure it out but threw about 3 handfuls in the bottom of each hole and a couple more handfuls into the fill. These were 4' square holes so I never thought there'd be a problem. I don't think it would have been a problem but we got rain for weeks at a time. All was well until about midway through the season and the heavy rain came.
I, too had heard horror stories and never thought it would happen...It did.
I didn't measure it out but threw about 3 handfuls in the bottom of each hole and a couple more handfuls into the fill. These were 4' square holes so I never thought there'd be a problem. I don't think it would have been a problem but we got rain for weeks at a time. All was well until about midway through the season and the heavy rain came.
I, too had heard horror stories and never thought it would happen...It did.
5 hours in the experiment they are at least 2-3 times initial size (measured by the size of a bump they raised in the soil surface)
I used a tray filled with old dry soil and pearlite, put about 3 grammes of crystals half way deep into the tray and watered with 1.5 liters of water, distributing it as equal as I could over the whole soil surface. Soil volume over 3 liters, maybe 4 liters, the crystals were placed above "waterline", to be sure that they soaked from the surrounding soil and not by being touched by water in the tray bottom.
I'll come back with future updates and even pics if I see something worth taking a pic of.
I used a tray filled with old dry soil and pearlite, put about 3 grammes of crystals half way deep into the tray and watered with 1.5 liters of water, distributing it as equal as I could over the whole soil surface. Soil volume over 3 liters, maybe 4 liters, the crystals were placed above "waterline", to be sure that they soaked from the surrounding soil and not by being touched by water in the tray bottom.
I'll come back with future updates and even pics if I see something worth taking a pic of.
Ok, not sure how much you can see from the pics but I tried.
Right after watering the mix.
(no bumps in the soil, I can guarantee.)
After about 7 hours.
(not sure if it's so easy to observe, there is a bump of about 2.5 cm in the soil surface, you can see it just above the red line, tried to put that right through the center of the bump to put in in perspective.)
Sorry for posting full size pics, but the insert photo feature had a glitch so i could not make the thumbnails to show.
This means that they do soak water from surrounding moist soil, and that the "myth" is real. If 3gr. of crystals did this in 7 hours, imagine what tens or hundreds grammes of those would do after a rain, outdoor.
thaicat
Member
I've had excellent results using them as directed and even twice as directed. With the effected patch, about 1/2 of them blew out. Make no mistake about it, those plants were literally pushed out of the ground entirely.
I used a massive amount of them. This was an experiment to see if I could use w/c and not irrigate at all throughout the season. A better idea would have been to soak them first and then use but that wasn't practical in my case.
I had great results with water crystals, i watered a bit here and there but am positive it wouldnt make such a difference if i didnt. But i did a different sized hole. The hole was like 1m in diamater and 30cm deep, but in the middle of the hole it was 50x50x50cm so 20cm deeper and in those 20cm i added 50g of crystals and 50g spreaded in all other parts of the hole. On that spot are plants usualy very very small because its also a bad soil (clay and rocks), but i also bought a good soil and amendments this time. I planted 1 month old topped plant on june 15 (blue sattelite 2.2) and later in season it had broken exactly on the spot where it was topped, so i had basicly just bottom branches from 1 month of veg, but it grew so nicely back i couldnt belive. I got like 100g but would have got much more because it was also partly ripped from some fucker so i had to take it down 2 weeks earlier.
Updates on the test:
No change after what I have described in the last post. Checked to see how big the crystals got, they are about 50% (a bit under maybe) of the fully saturated size. Soil is still moist.
Watered the soil a bit more to see if they can grow more.
No change after what I have described in the last post. Checked to see how big the crystals got, they are about 50% (a bit under maybe) of the fully saturated size. Soil is still moist.
Watered the soil a bit more to see if they can grow more.
From Da Forrest
New member
Just remember that there are two types of water crystals. I dont remember the names, but one of them are decomposing within couple of monts and those are bad for growing weed, because of a bad taste that it can leave in plants. The second one are decomposing within couple of years and those are good for you . Good luck with water crystals brother.
