I'm starting a new thread to discuss my experiment as it progresses with copolymer water gel crystals (called various names such as "Water Keep", "SoilMoist", "Cracked Ice", "California Crystals", etc).

Yesterday I ordered a 1-lb container of SoilMoist Granules for $10+shipping, and it shipped today so I should have it within 7 days or so. However, I wanted to go ahead and jumpstart this thing now, so I tracked down a freebie scoop of California Crystals at a local florist.

Yesterday morning I started a pre-soak of some random bagseed (I want to experiment on bagseed first, before pulling out the expensive guns). What I do is put a few ounces of distilled water and 1/2-cap of hydrogen peroxide in a glass and let the seeds soak for 24 hours in a dark, warm place. After about 12 hours I give the glass a gentle spin, because the small amount of h2o2 causes little bubbles of oxygen to form around the seeds which makes them want to float.

Last night I prepped the water crystals. This would be for the germination+seedling pot, so I decided to use filtered water (a Britta filter) instead of distilled so there would be at least a few minerals in the water when (if?) they sprouted. I filtered one gallon of water and added one cap of hydrogen peroxide. The instructions on the package said to use one teaspoon per 24 ozs of water. This seems a little light on the water to me, given the absorption rate these things have, which is 200 to 400 times their size. Given this, 1 teaspoon should absorb from 32 to 64 ozs of water. I presume the reason for 24-oz directions, was to ensure the crystals expanded but still had some firmness to them and wouldn't be too "wet". I did not follow those directions. I wanted the crystals at their maximum absorption.

So what I did was put one teaspoon of the dry crystals in a large 4-quart bowl, and started with 32 oz of water. After a couple of hours, the crystals had expanded and absorbed all the water -- there was no excess at all. So I added another 12 oz and checked back in an hour. Still no excess water. By now it was time to go to bed, so I added another 12 oz, covered the bowl to prevent evaporation, and went to bed.

This morning I checked the crystals, and this time there was some standing water. I took a tea strainer and started scooping out the crystals, holding the strainer over the sink and shaking off excess water. This created way more crystals than I needed, so I put what I needed in a cup and checked on the seeds.

Three of the seeds (out of about 10) had already popped a nub, and I put all 10 in the cup. I put them about 1/4-inch down into the crystals, and put the cup back in the warm, dark place to see who sprouts. I took a couple of pictures of the seeds in the crystals, but I'll wait until/if somebody sprouts before I post any pictures.

A couple of things right off the bat. The cup of crystals was actually pretty cool (as in temperature). I assume this is because the crystals have a lot of surface area and water evaporates evenly from all areas, cooling the whole thing down. So before I dropped in the seeds I wrapped the cup in a heating pad for about 20 minutes. If the cup is still too cool this evening when I get home, I will probably have to put a heating pad under it permanently.

Another thing I noticed is that the crystals are pretty soft. This makes me wonder if the seed will try to heave out when the taproot pushes down. But I don't think it will, since I believe the root will push down easier into the soft crystals than the husk will pushing up since it has more surface area. The other concern with this is whether it will be a sturdy enough medium for the roots to support the plant. I think it will, since a spoon inserted into the cup stands up by itself, but they are definitely mushy. If I have to deal with that later, I guess it means they're growing so it's a good problem to have!

The last problem I'm currently wrestling with is how to protect the crystals from light once I move each seedling to it's own "pot" and under the lights. My idea right now is to use something like a tiny Christmas tree skirt around the seedling, made out of black felt or something else that wont allow light through.

Any suggestions and comments are welcome!
SecondNut Reviewed by SecondNut on . the "water crystal" experiment thread I'm starting a new thread to discuss my experiment as it progresses with copolymer water gel crystals (called various names such as "Water Keep", "SoilMoist", "Cracked Ice", "California Crystals", etc). Yesterday I ordered a 1-lb container of SoilMoist Granules for $10+shipping, and it shipped today so I should have it within 7 days or so. However, I wanted to go ahead and jumpstart this thing now, so I tracked down a freebie scoop of California Crystals at a local florist. Yesterday Rating: 5