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Polyacrylamide gel

Polyacrylamide gel

By Paul Schnare

January 17, 2004

Polyacrylamide is a substance that absorbs up to 400 times its weight in water.  There are three common uses of this substance in the field of horticulture.  Different size crystals are used for the different applications.

When you pot plants into decorative containers, adding a small amount of polyacrylamide gel to the potting mix will extend the interval between waterings.  The gel absorbs water during watering just as the potting mix does.  Plants use water from the potting mix first.  When this source of moisture is depleted, plants then begin to draw water from the polyacrylamide gel reservoir.  Since so much water is held in the gel, you do not have to water as often.  When you do water the potting mix again, the moisture used from the gel is replenished.

You can also use polyacrylamide gel if you plant flowers in an outdoor flower bed.  Addition of the gel to the native soil will also increase the interval between needed waterings. The dry gel crystals used in native soils or in a potting mix are usually about one thirty-second of an inch in diameter.

You can also purchase polycrylamide gel in crystals that are so small, that you think you are using a powder.  Mix up the powdered gel crystals with water and dip the bare plant roots in the gel.  This gel-water slurry attaches to the roots.  The gel coat will keep water adjacent to the bare roots that are planted in soil.  The soaking of bare roots in this gel-slurry will keep the roots from drying out during the very critical first few months after planting bare root material.

You can also “plant” bare root tropicals directly into large hydrated polyacrylamide gel crystals.  These crystals come in different colors so you will want to use a clear glass container so the color of the crystal soil shows through.  This method of plant growth is often quite a conversation piece.