Having recently found a large container of metamucil from the stone age under my kitchen sink, and being one of those people who have a hard time throwing anything out that might be of use, I tried to think of what I might do with it. I am thinking that Jerry Baker used metamucil in one of his gardening recipies, but can't remember what for.
Anyway, if I remember correctly, Metamucil gets fairly gelatinous quickly after adding it to water making it really nasty to drink. But would it work added to container soil as a water retainer? Or is it bad for plants? Anyone ever tried it or heard of it's use with plants? I know some people use gelatin for feeding plants.
Metamucil is cheaper than Soilmoist, and those other crystals.
Feed me your thoughts here. Maybe some of us can experiment some. I'm thinking of starting something easy like marigold in soil with regular water crystals and in another pot with metamucil and see how they each grow.
On an even stranger note, I noticed a used diaper in a parking lot the other day that had obviously been run over by a car. It was filled with those gelatinous blobs like the water crystals turn into. It looked just like someone had dumped a jar of soilmoist onto the pavement. Does anyone know if it's the same stuff?
Someone humor me here...
Metamucil as a soil additive for moisture?
I've never used 'soilmoist' or anything like it but I used to have big time urinary incontinence problems. 'Serenity pads' had just come out, where fluid is locked into a gel. And then the kids with diapers - sure looked like some crystalish stuff in there. And now I'm thinking of those thingies that they use in, maybe vitamin pill jars to absorb extra moisture - is that another part of the same question? I know I haven't answered any of your questions.
xxxxx, Carrie
Hiyaa Carrie, I think the stuff usually used in vitamin jars is silica crystals. The same stuff used for preserving flowers. I've never noticed if it swells up or not. I think I have a packet or two laying around I'm gonna go experiment.
Yeah, same stuff is probably in serenity pads as well as menstrual pads come to think of it. Now just have to find out if it's safe for plants.
Those packets and jars of watering crystals are so expensive, it will be a hoot if they turn out to be the same thing. Way cheaper in personal products I am thinking that to such a specific buyer as container gardeners.
Okay, I experimented. I tried 2 packets from vitamin jars. The crystals inside do not soak up water.
However, I did dismantle a junior size always pad and found a crystal impregnated 'paper towel' inside. It did absorb 1/4 cup of water and swelled up with gel. Pretty impressive. I would suppose that that 'paper towel' part could be used in the bottom or at the sides of a pot to hold extra water. Gonna try it on some seedlings that dry out quickly where I have them. I'm planning on doing one pot with pieces of the pad liner, one with a 1/2 teaspoon of regular water crystals and one with 1 tsp of metamucil. Small pots 2 1/2 inchers. (Will adjust amounts of water crystals and metamucil to how ever much it takes to absorb the same amount as the pieces of pad liner.)
Well, I can see there are going to be great innovations from ideas on this thread!
Good luck! Please get some pictures and post when you find the answers.
Could be a whole new marketing scheme for Always! LOL t.
Does this mean I'm going to have to start doing all my potting in the privacy of my house. I could just hear my neighbors now if I started puttinng maxi-pads in my pots (LOL). I hope it works! Just don't let the manufacturers find out.
That is too funny. Today was a busy day, but I did put a presprouted daylily seed in a 2 1/2 inch pot with 2 1" squares of the liner presoaked.
You know, shoving maxi pads into planters in full view of the public might help keep people from tromping thru your yard. They'd think you were coocoo and stay away. Especially if you waved it around in the air and danced a little dance first while grinning a slightly strange sort of grin.
Could be fun.......
Let's not forget to get the firepit going. Going back to my Pagan roots when my ancestors use to paint their bellies blue. I don't know. They already think I'm a little nuts with all the French pots hanging on my garage. Mad dogs, Englishmen and me out in the noon day sun doing my thing in the garden.
Kidding aside, I am truely interested in your little experiment and am even considering unpotting one of my amaryllis to see how it works for myself. I have 29 of them that need watering every 2 days. Sure would be nice to make that once a week.
I think there are two different types of silica. I bought some that are the swelling up type and then there is the stuff in little packs used to wick moisture from retail merchandise.
I don't think they do the same thing. I work in retail and have started saving the little packs from some of the merchandise we receive so I can use them with any seed I harvest to keep mold from forming in case I didn't dry them enough. It will be interesting to find out if the metamucil thing works:)
I have done some presprouted daylily seeds in the bottom of 1 litre bottles. I did 4 with one inch squares of liner, and 3 with about a tsp of metamucil. Then I have several with regular crystals. I'll let you know as the race progresses.
On a side note, always pads came in handy last night when the base of our toilet started leaking. The crystals did a pretty good job of soaking up the water until the plumbers could get here this morning. Looked funny with pads stuck all over the floor, but was better than the house flooding.
This message was edited Feb 27, 2006 5:20 PM
I bet the air waves were humming after that housecall!.
I just finished watering my amaryllis. They take 2 gallons of water about every 3 days. Do you also have a test jug without any additivies? Just curious about what I'd be saving if I'd start using some water retention product.
beaker-- just curious-- how are your amaryllis doing? you seem to water yours much more attentively than I do mine...
I thought they didn't need a lot of water?....
But then mine don't look as healthy as they could....
Thanks. t.
The first daylily seeds I started don't have any additives. They are so much bigger already though, and I know I had to water them alot they dried out so quickly.
Tabasco - I water a lot because the humidifier on my furnace is on the fritz and I have to save all my money for buying plants. I also have 29 amaryllis.
Actually, the amaryllis look great. About two weeks ago, I saw one of those dreaded fruit flies, or whatever they are called, and I gave them the H2O2 treatment. Then a week later, I did the same and then again yesterday. The leaves are so green, it's hard to descibe the difference. All I can say is, they are greener now then what they were a month ago. Amazing stuff and haven't seen a fly in sometime now. I found peroxide on sale tonight and bought 10 bottles.
I'm not giving my amaryllis any extra light. They get what comes in from the East facing window and the overhead light. I keep them all in the window until they begin to bloom and then move them to my dining room table. Right now there are a lot of pots on my table. I was worried when we didn't see the sun for a number of weeks, but they didn't seem to be affected. I turn them every day to keep the stems straight.
When did you pot yours up? I started in November and finished Feb 1st. My plan was to pot 3 or 4 every 2 weeks so I could have blooms into April. There might be one or 2 that make it to April, but I think it will be pretty much over with by the end of March.
I had one bulb that had no roots whatsoever and that bulb took 100 days to bloom. When I first started, I didn't soak roots prior to planting and those took longer to take off. The later ones I soaked, took off within a week of potting.
I had them potted from the summertime and just put them in the garage for several months and took them out about January 20 or so and put them under the lights.
Last year I soaked the roots in warm water before I potted them and they really took off fast, too.
Well, that was only 38 days ago! You got a ways to go. Why do you think they should be kept on the dry side? What I do is stick my finger in the dirt and if it is dry, I water them. It's somewhere between 2 and 3 days.
Well, yes, I know I was late getting them out of storage (we were out of town for several weeks)...and that put them behind.
I don't know why I have the impression to keep them on the dry side--I suppose because when I was researching hippeastrum last year I read somewhere that the biggest cause of failure for amaryllis is overwatering, etc., etc. Causes of red blotch, etc., etc. I don't know if that is amaryllis fact or fiction, though.
But to look at the flower, one would certainly think they require plentiful H2O.
It shouldn't be too long before mine bloom...there are several buds evident.
Back to the pads - this thread is most interesting! The toilet flood save is ingenious! I'm waiting for more. Keyi, what's new and do you have pics?
When I forget to remove one of my light days pads & it goes t hrough the washer, it swells up amazingly, so I am going to assume that only the skinny light days pads swell up.