Hydrogel for plants: reviews, application. Hydrogel for indoor plants

Among the florists, lovingly cherishing their home gardens, recently became very popular hydrogel for plants. People started using it with excitement, as they say, right and left, trying to make their window sills not only green and alive, but also bright and elegant. And many remained unpleasantly disappointed, and often angry at the hydrogel for plants - reviews, at first almost enthusiastic, gradually changed to frankly negative. But is it only the fault of the know-how? Let's try to understand.

What is a hydrogel?

Widely advertised innovation has the form of granules (sometimes - powder), which are sold packaged and in dry form. By itself, the hydrogel for indoor plants is a polymer capable of actively absorbing water, while increasing in size by many tens of times. On average, its gram takes about a glass of moisture. In doing so, it forms a gel capable of giving water to the roots of plants. Most people believe that the hydrogel for indoor plants must necessarily be made into balls. This is a delusion: initially it is planned to be formless. By the way, for mixing in the ground this is convenient - in this form it is better distributed in the soil.

What was it invented for?

The one who invented the hydrogel for plants, set a goal to provide them with a constant source of water in between irrigation. The point is that the granules swelled with water should be mixed with the soil into which the plants are planted. Within two to three weeks, depending on the strength and development of the root system, the roots grow into granules and have the ability to consume the "stored" water in them, without waiting for the next watering. The advantage of having a hydrogel in the ground is also that during irrigation it is again absorbed by moisture and retains it in itself. All that water that normally drains through the drainage holes remains accessible to flowers. Moreover, if you nourish the granules not with pure water, but with the fertilizers dissolved in it, your green pets will receive them in full. There will be no losses at the expense of the same runoff: the hydrogel for indoor plants will keep the top dressing along with water. In addition, their roots will not rot from the wetland: all the excess will absorb the granules, and the flowers will extract water from them as needed.

Planned application

It was assumed that such a useful innovation would be widely used even in agriculture. Actually, it was intended for him. There is even a possible winter freezing - it does not affect the "additive": after thawing the soil, the capsules return to the "working" state. But while the hydrogel for plants is mastered mainly by lovers of indoor floriculture. Correctly apply it as follows: mix in the soil - and forget about it for five years. The only thing that still needs to be done: the first month to watch the wards and calculate the new watering regime. During the use of the hydrogel will many times absorb water and give it to plants. And at the end of the allotted period, it will simply disintegrate into carbon dioxide, water and ammonium - no extraneous chemistry.

The difference between hydrogel and aqua-soil

So why is such a useful invention caused a lot of negativity? First of all, this is the fault of the creators of advertising and sneaky speculators on glory. Realizing that transparent beads are in great demand in the design of premises, some manufacturers have begun to produce an ornamental alternative to hydrogel, called aqua-soil. For greater attractiveness, they even started to produce it in color and in the form of different figures - pyramids, balls, stars, etc. To add to the ground it is not suitable and in it it does not decompose over time. At the same time, advertising companies equalized it in importance with hydrogel and attributed additional, unusual abilities: and the seeds can be germinated, and the earth is not needed at all. The naive consumer confuses as a result the aqua-grunt and the hydrogel for plants. Reviews, respectively, become extremely negative because of the ruined colors. However, they are more likely to aqua-soil, which retains moisture very badly, and because of poor-quality dyes quickly acquires an unpleasant smell.

Design application

You can not categorically state that innovation in its pure form is completely no longer suitable for keeping flowers in it. However, the list of species that can survive in it is very short. Fans of home colors have established that as a habitat, hydrogel for plants fits bamboo. He lives in fact in the water in natural conditions, so in the hydrogel he survives quite successfully. The rest of the flowers need soil, so put them in a glass container, where only a beautiful colored hydrogel for plants is poured - it means only to delay their death. For a while your green friends will hold out at the expense of water, but not too long. Yet this invention does not contain the necessary nutrition and does not stimulate the growth and development of plants. Even bamboo will have to be fed, dissolving the necessary fertilizers in the water.

Disadvantages of the hydrogel

In addition to its inability to grow flowers, the hydrogel for plants without soil acquires additional flaws.

1. The upper layer of the balls dries up in the air.
2. At the bottom, the capsules are moldy from standing water. In a mixture with the soil, the one and the other lack is absent: the circulation of water and air is sufficient to avoid such troubles. As a result, the same bamboo must be periodically withdrawn from the vessel and washed balls in running water.
3. Hydrogel for plants of some producers without soil from a constant excess of water begins to disintegrate and turns into an unpleasant mess, losing its inherent properties.

In a word, it is better to regret your plantations and to limit the prescribed use, since using a hydrogel for plants in its pure form means in vain to translate it and ruin your "garden". It is enough to put cut flowers in colored balls - they will last longer than just in water, and you will have time to admire the bright composition.

Additional Cautions

Producers assure that the hydrogel for plants is absolutely harmless. Many parents buy it not even for flowers, but as a toy for a child. Think about whether it should be done: the polymer contains acrylamide, which is considered a neurotoxin. In addition, the experimental animals, according to some reports, acylamide cancer. Plants do not really harm (in any case, in a mixture with soil). But the child may well do with other toys.

If you still decided to plant in a smart colored hydrogel for plants at least the same bamboo, choose a place where the sun is not too bright. First, from its rays, the balls quickly fade. And secondly, in their presence the water starts to turn green fairly quickly and acquires a sharp unpleasant odor.

With regard to seeds

Some instructions describe how suitable for germination of seed material is a hydrogel for plants - its application seems to guarantee a 100% germination. However, from the point of view of botany, this is absurd. The invention is designed to penetrate the capsules of the roots, which must extract the liquid from them. The seeds do not have roots, so they can not "suck" the water. So do not spend on hydrogel for plants - its price, of course, is not high (about 37 rubles per bag, in bulk - 800 per kilogram), but for this purpose it is absolutely useless. Traditional wet gauze is much more effective.

How to use hydrogel?

If you decide to use it to increase the effectiveness of watering, then the method is extremely simple: in the soil intended for planting, the hydrogel for plants is worn. The instruction recommends not to soak it and take in the amount of 10-20% of the mass of the earth. After planting in due time, water the flower, and the gel immediately starts to "work".

If you decide to risk and plant the plant in the aqua-grunt, then its balls are soaked in water with a diluted fertilizer for half a day. For each shade of granules, a separate vessel is taken. The hydrogel is poured into a glass vase (not crystal !, Crystal contains lead oxides), if possible artistically, the roots are gently washed from the ground and placed in a bowl. In this case, choose a flower is not high, because the reliability of retention of the hydrogel is no different. And choose those plants that need a little light, but more water.