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Post by Seymour on Aug 13, 2016 17:06:22 GMT -5
Hey everyone Just wondering if anyone has experimented with those water gel beads to help maintain humidity? I know certain kinds are used in humidors (mmmm cigars ) I've used them as a water source for crickets so they don't drown. Im wondering if they can be used as a top dressing in places or in a tray on their own. They would also look neet in the grow space if they were coloured or had little led's under them? I'm curious on your thoughts. JB
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Post by exoticplantseller on Aug 13, 2016 17:20:00 GMT -5
I put rooted weeping willow cuttings in the beads and it stained the roots red and they slowly dried up. I also wondered if you could use these for TC. If anyone knows if that's possible, let me know. Thanks
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 13, 2016 17:21:09 GMT -5
Great question, I want to find out as well. I ordered some I'll be playing with them when they arrive! Cheers Willy
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Post by sokkos on Aug 13, 2016 17:49:00 GMT -5
For a top dressing for decoration, I don't see why not. Certain brands of potting mix that are advertised as 'super water retentive' will mix a bit of these polymers into the mix, but not in very large quantities.
I don't think the beads would not do much to increase humidity noticeably. I would not use them alone as a substrate because I don't think free water and water bound by a polymer is available the same way to plant roots. Plants that can be grown in these beads (usually sold for lucky bamboo or Phalaenopsis) can dry out slightly between watering so their roots may be able to better take up water. Plants that enjoy sitting in water (ie sundews) probably don't have roots that can uptake water as efficiently hence the need to be in consistently moist soil. This is complete speculation on my part. At the extreme, mosses and lower plants that don't have a vascular system would need to be partially submerged in water because they cannot transport water within themselves efficiently.
For TC, I've never tried using these beads. Agar is tried and true for TC and is non-toxic to plants. The cost of agar is also substantially cheaper than these beads. I believe I read that these beads could possibly be made out of polyacrylamide. To use polyacrylamide as a TC medium you would be buying acrylamide, which is very toxic, and need to add other chemicals to polymerize it. The alternative would be to figure out a way to sterilize these beads. Lastly no one's really looked at how strongly these polymers hold onto water. If they hold onto water too strongly, then the plant in TC would not be able to pick up any water or nutrients from the gel.
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Post by Seymour on Aug 13, 2016 17:50:11 GMT -5
I never considered TC as a use but I think I will set some up to see if I can get a leaf cutting to root. I'll post my findings.
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Gel Beads
Aug 13, 2016 17:54:20 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by lloyd on Aug 13, 2016 17:54:20 GMT -5
Some of the water retentive media are alkaline.
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Post by shoggoths on Aug 16, 2016 8:55:34 GMT -5
I managed to germinate easy sundews seeds in the past on "gel root" kit but the seedling died after a few weeks with only 2-3 tiny leaves.
I also tried to grow hydroponic carrots in gel beads but like sokkos said, I didn't had the impression that the water was "really" available for the plants.
Sometime, beads will take the moisture from the media to keep their shape drying the media more rapidly.
So ... I'm not wasting more time on this.
I'm now starting seeds in close clear plastic pots on LFS and topping pots for growing plants with LFS. I even put some LFS in my water tray ...
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Post by RuBisCO on Aug 16, 2016 9:40:33 GMT -5
If it ain't broke...
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 16, 2016 10:10:58 GMT -5
I managed to germinate easy sundews seeds in the past on "gel root" kit but the seedling died after a few weeks with only 2-3 tiny leaves. I also tried to grow hydroponic carrots in gel beads but like sokkos said, I didn't had the impression that the water was "really" available for the plants. Sometime, beads will take the moisture from the media to keep their shape drying the media more rapidly. So ... I'm not wasting more time on this. I'm now starting seeds in close clear plastic pots on LFS and topping pots for growing plants with LFS. I even put some LFS in my water tray ... Thanks for that, now I can save the gel beads for throwing at my friends. muhahaha
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Post by Seymour on Aug 18, 2016 21:34:35 GMT -5
I managed to germinate easy sundews seeds in the past on "gel root" kit but the seedling died after a few weeks with only 2-3 tiny leaves. I also tried to grow hydroponic carrots in gel beads but like sokkos said, I didn't had the impression that the water was "really" available for the plants. Sometime, beads will take the moisture from the media to keep their shape drying the media more rapidly. So ... I'm not wasting more time on this. I'm now starting seeds in close clear plastic pots on LFS and topping pots for growing plants with LFS. I even put some LFS in my water tray ... Thanks for that, now I can save the gel beads for throwing at my friends. muhahaha Yep that's all they're good for. I tried a leaf cutting but the beads are constantly expanding or contracting. The cuttings move around and tip over eventually.
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