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water polymers guerilla growers savior? (retaining moisture)

DimeBag65

You will not be forgotten
Veteran
Its Hot and dry out there this year, if you arent going to be able to have water within an easy access or pre placed water tanks its Time to maybe give water polymers a chance, at least around the outskirts of your plot so the roots can reach for that moister.

Hail the leaf

Dime
 
G

Guest

Zeba Quench

Zeba Quench

Hello Everyone, long time customer first time poster.

have used Driwater and Watersorb in the past with good results.
Driwater is a bit much to carry around, use it for babies until established. Driwater is an excellent product, wish a homemade formula was available. :smile:

A new product I found combing through GardenWeb was Zeba Quench, a cornstarch alternative to water polymers. This year I'll give it a try instead of
Terrasorb.

Zeba Quench

From Zeba.com/products web page :

Quench

Grow healthier, more beautiful plants — using less water!

Protect your plants from moisture stress with revolutionary Zeba superabsorbent granules. Zeba holds moisture in the root zone until your plants need it, using unique granules created from natural cornstarch. Unlike existing petroleum-based products, Quench will easily release 95% of water back to the plant.
 
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Guest423

Active member
Veteran
polymers for outdoors are bomb, i've dug 20 holes so far and all of them have polymers in them.

sometimes they are the difference between a harvest and no harvest/ crappy harvest....if ya don't know now ya know.

ask some of my buddies last season that were to cheap to buy some polymers how their harvest was during our hot ass drought last season. it's pretty nice to go see their plants and they are yellow and crisp...get paranoid about yours so u go take a peek and they are lucious and green. not nice for them but nice for me....not to mention the 1 lb per plant i was pullin in when theirs was dead.

http://www.watercrystals.com/Tested&Approved.htm
 

pumpkin2006

Member
So I'm confused, why aren't the silica gel (that are in all shipped packages[to absorb water]) that are sold are petsmart for a value of 4x not ok?

Often one way to dry mushrooms is to use these below them in a sealed environment, it extracts the moisture out of them and creates dried mushies. Shitaki's of course :yummy:
 

Dignan

The Soapmaker!
Veteran
Thought I'd grab a quick photo while I was adding crystals to the bottom of one of my 15-gal pots.

This is about 1-2 tbsp of crystals (dry) added to about 3/4 gallon of water. Looks like ice cubes, huh?

That's a normal sized spade next to them, for size reference.

Dig




 

DimeBag65

You will not be forgotten
Veteran
hey there Dignan :wave: looks like a great start to a productive and successful year. wish you the best, and hope those polymers work out and also keep your ladies happy and healthy.

Catch ya on the flip side

Dime
 

Browser

H8ters gonna h8
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hello All,

I'm using water polymers for the 1st time this year (outdoors) .I've got hold of a mix that already contains most of the stuff the plant will need during their cycle. I have no prior experience with them, but they seems great stuff for guerrilla.
 

glock23

one in the chamber
Veteran
I for one will never use them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyacrylamide

Polyacrylamide was originally advertised as a soil additive by Monsanto. Monsanto are responsible for DDT and rBST, both of which cause severely toxic effects in man. I already avoid acrylamide in my diet (I avoid eating fried potatoes). There's no way in hell I'm going to use these. I'd rather haul extra water than use an extremely toxic waste product.
 

elkslayer

Member
To add to glock23, they also make your pot taste like plastic chemicals. Many moons ago I used them and ruined the taste of my grow.

ES
 

Ganico

Active member
Veteran
What about using agar? It's a dried powder made from seaweed that's pretty much similar to gelatin
 

Browser

H8ters gonna h8
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I see the point of your concern... I try to grow organically myself, superthrive being the only non organic product I use...

The product I'm using at the moment is BioHidroGel Terra, a completely biodegradable product. CERTIFIED NON-TOXIC PRODUCT. The link http://www.cannabiogen.com/eng/tienda/producto/biohidrogel.php

Hope that helps.

Ps: For those concerned about chem's in their green, wacht out for the type of rooting powder you use (if any) as not all are intended for human consumption, which you'll eventualy do after the plant is ready.
 

DimeBag65

You will not be forgotten
Veteran
elkslayer have you had that happen to you personally?

what browser has up for a link looks real nice though, would be worth checking out and giving those a try for who needs them.

better having live plants that pull through for a harvest than large dead crispy bushes to cry over after you miss a few really hot days.


Peace
 
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acidfire

Active member
I bought a small can of crystals for $20 or something.
Decided to try them out this year, and sofar they have worked great.

The true test is yet to come tho july through august.
 

DimeBag65

You will not be forgotten
Veteran
that looks like a very interesting product indeed Jay, sounds like it could be a winner! Iv noticed a few grows that have been experiencing troubles with plants drying out and wilting inbetween watering, i was thinking even if they are in the ground it wouldnt be such a bad idea to dig around the plants and place some water retaining material in since we are still coming up on the hottest months of summer.
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
yea i was thinking about trying it out see how it does. if your plants are in the ground though, i just recommend a heavy mulch, it will keep the soil moist and cooler. you could dig a ring around the plants about say 8 inches deep, add the polymers and cover with soil and water. this could make the plants reach for water and increase the root system. a mulch is a must imo for people in cali, it gets HOT lol. i use organic coco shell husks. it smells like a light chocolate and breaks down into the soil slowly after about 6-10 months then i just add more on top. foliar spray with water and there will be no problems even in 100+ heat.
 

elkslayer

Member
DimeBag65 said:
hahaha elkslayer, you had that happen to you personally? thats a myth that has been disproven time and time again... i dunno what kind of crystals you are talking about...

what browser has up for a link looks real nice though, would be worth checking out and giving those a try for who needs them.

better having live plants that pull through for a harvest than large dead crispy bushes to cry over after you miss a few really hot days.

whoever doesnt know what they are talking about dont need to give advice if they have no experience PERSONALLY with these...

Peace

Dunno how you do things in a controlled experiment, but 100% organic pot grown with polymer crystals= chemical tasting pot. I know of at least 5-6 others who have done the same. A non-discerning palate may not notice, but folks I hang with thought I grew in chem's. That is fact.

Perhaps the Terra-sorb we used still had the Na-Acryl vs the K-Acryl, that was banned a few years back. In any event I cannot believe a Na/K would make that big a difference. BTW- Acrylamide does not break down well. It is very tested in the potato chip, french fry, and serveral other foods, as per FDA.

ES
 
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