Sorry, there's nothing much to take a picture of. I'm about ready to call this experiment a failure, at least as far as sprouting is concerned. I think the problem is that the crystals are too soft and slippery to give the roots anything to grip, so nothing can ever push up and break the surface.

The roots I do see are aiming sideways and some are even starting to curve up towards the surface. I've tried to take a picture of this, but the surface area of the crystals are too reflective (like glass) and it just doesn't come out. But this bizarre taproot growth is not good, it says to me that the germinated seeds have gotten confused in the medium.

Ok, so the idea of just putting seeds directly into the crystals turns out not to be a good one (based on this one experiment). I'm still holding out hope that it will made a good hydroponic medium -- just not a good one for sprouting seedlings. Perhaps it will work well to root clones. As a matter of fact, that may be my next experiment.

I'll let this continue to "cook" for another week, just in case, but I'm basically calling it done.
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