When I got home last night, the surface of the water crystals felt way too cold. A probe thermometer showed the temp at around 70 degrees, but it felt colder to me. I guess water crystals make great evaporation coolers! But 70 is on the borderline of being too cold for germination. So I set up heating pad around the cup, with about 1 inch distance between the heating pad and the cup all the way around. This morning the temp was exactly 80 degrees down inside the cup, and about 78 just under the surface where the seeds are. This seems perfect, I just wish I had checked the temp before I put the seeds in!

Now, I just need to be patient and see what happens. I hope that being so cool for almost 12 hours didn't stress the seeds or stop the germination altogether. Crossing my fingers on that one...
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