HidroGel Plus Water Storing Crystal Soil Additive Zeolite Growing Booster, 1 Pack of 1.5 Oz for 3 CuFt Soil, Moist Control Prevent Over & Underwatering, Reduce Water Stress for InOutdoor Plants

Worked amazing for shipping a tree bare root to a friend in another state.

I have done a little research on Polyacrylate and Zeolite addition to soil, and this is actually used in commercial farming to help retain water and nitrogen in soil. Funny thing is that during the composting of food waste and sawdust, you actually LOSE nitrogen, but adding this stuff can help retain that nitrogen and the compost actually decays faster using it, so that's also interesting.I do get the confusion that results from different sizes being mentioned in the description, so understand that I am reviewing the 1.5 oz packet. The packet I received was clear and easy to read, but then, I often take a photo of small print on pretty much everything, so that I can zoom in for closer detail.Certainly this would be difficult to add to existing root-bound plants, so I would advise mixing it into a bag of potting soil and then marking the bag that you've added it, using from that bag when re-potting plants. Seriously, this is good stuff, as it not only retains water but also helps hold the nitrogen for better plant growth.

After adding this to new soil for newly transplanted plants we did not notice any difference with moisture. We have a moisture meter that we use to monitor our plants and use it every other day to stay on top of it. Our soil has sand in it so moisture goes right thru dirt to below roots and that’s why I thought we would try this.

In 2022, we replaced all the bushes in our front beds following 2021's North Texas storm Uri. We planted them ourselves in May, but 60% died. The nursery couldn't decide if they were under or over-watered...so when it came to replacing them, I was concerned that maybe the slope of our yard caused caused the groundwater to move down the table before the roots could take up water. When I saw this on my feed, I figured I'd give it a try, watering a bit less and hoping that the gel would take up and release more slowly.I got these in September while we were still in a drought mode (the replant happened in April), and added the gel around every other plant just to use as a test. Two bushes in particular had showed the same problems as the previous installation...leaves turning yellow and brown and then falling off. However, I still have half the leaves green on one bush and about 10 remaining on the second one, so I'm hoping that they spring back. As is the problem with remedies like this...there's no way of knowing what actually contributed to the last die-off, and there's not really a way to know if this product is helping. I'm just looking at it as an insurance policy...unless the "control" bushes that I didn't apply the product to respond differently. I do have a very dense clay soil, so perhaps the aeration provided by the pumice will help in that respect, as even my grass has a tough time spreading out, and has low depth roots despite annual aeration. When the spring rains come, I'll make note of the moisture levels around each plant, as the rain should apply fairly evenly due to the consistent grade of this bed.As to the product itself, it is a fair price for the quantity received, and after reading the reviews mentioning how much they expand, I did spread them out between the bushes as evenly as I could, with the instructions indicating that a packet equates to 3 cubic feet of application. Maybe I needed more, but given the tiny size of the bushes I think it was sufficient for this test (I did use more on the weaker two plants).

Works great. Easy to use. Recommended.

I have never used hydrogel before, but my daughter scared me. She is the plant person and she thought this was a bad idea so I used less than recommended. So far I have planted three stems I had rooted and they are all doing great. I mixed the hydrogels with my potting soil and even though these sprigs were freshly planted straight from my propagation station, we are almost 5 weeks in and they are doing great.

First off, the gel is a standard poly acrylic gel that is used in a bunch of different applications so you have to know before hand that this stuff EXPANDS when wet. While this is very useful to keep indoor plants properly hydrated while reducing risk of root-rot, take it from me, use it sparingly. I suggest even adding it to your soil in a separate mixing container pre-moistened so you can get a sense of the expansion ratio. If you put it in dry then water the newly planted pot it could endup swelling so much that the potting mix spills out of the pot (along with the plant!)What makes this special are the pumice bits (aka zeolite) that, in theory, will assist with aeration. Personally, I would increase the ratio of the zeolite but I'll assume the manufacturer knows what they're doing. So far, the pots I've used it in are happy, and therefore so am I.At five bucks a bag it's decently priced because a little does go a long way.

I’ve used this type of product before, and it really helps. It’s great for potted plants that dry out without regular watering.These seem fine, but the package is super small, about 1/10 the size of a can of Coke. This might be enough to help one medium plant or two small. That’s it.