Has anyone tried using the watering retaining crystals on their allotment. I've only seen them sold in small packs in the garden centre. The soak up to 400 times there own weight in water and are meant to be environmentally friendly.
Seeing I have no water supply on my allotment, this maybe an alternative as well as saving water in general.
Your thought please.
I've wondered how environmentally friendly these crystals are. Does anyone know if they will break down eventually? I do know that babies' nappies contain them. I once put a nappie in the washing machine by accident. What a mess ::) ! I'd recommend mulching to conserve water. Supersprout will probably give you more advice as she's the Mulch Queen.
Hope the nappy never had number two's in it Dandelion. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: cornykev on January 19, 2007, 16:24:25
Hope the nappy never had number two's in it Dandelion. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
No it didn't. But it was still a mess. Amazing how much this stuff swells up!
Quote; Has anyone tried using the watering retaining crystals on their allotment.
Too expensive!!! although I find them useful in my hanging/wall baskets.
Hi
I was looking into this over christmas as i have heavy clay and although i have dug in compost ( free stuff from recyling centre that once it gets dry takes a while to wet again) the soil is not quiet right.
I decided on perlite and found 100lr bags for just under a tenner http://www.lbsgardendirect.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=R-PERL&name=perlite&sfile=1&jump=0
I was going to dig in 1/3 of a bag into each of my raised beds.
They also do my fruit cage and have a 10% first order discount so i planned on placing a fairly hefty order with them soon.
Cambourne7
FYI - In horticultural applications, perlite is used throughout the world as a component of soilless growing mixes where it provides aeration and optimum moisture retention for superior plant growth. For rooting cuttings, 100% perlite is used. Studies have shown that outstanding yields are achieved with perlite hydroponic systems. Other benefits of horticultural perlite are its neutral pH and the fact that it is sterile and weed-free. In addition, its light weight makes it ideal for use in container growing. Other horticultural applications for perlite are as a carrier for fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides and for pelletizing seed. Horticultural perlite is as useful to the home gardener as it is to the commercial grower. It is used with equal success in greenhouse growing, landscaping applications and in the home in house plants.
Quote: I was going to dig in 1/3 of a bag into each of my raised beds.
How big are your beds?
I get the feeling you are wasting your time putting it in the soil, pots/containers OK but not in the ground.
Keep adding the free compost would be my advice.
The crystals are meant to break down after 7 years.
Hi
beds are 4ft by 10ft, problem is that if the free compost dries out the water sits on top of the clay and the roots rot... its certainly happened on other plots.
Cambourne7
Quote;its certainly happened on other plots.
But how well prepared were they?
Did the dig in any compost, did the rake the soil after digging or leave it rough for the winter weather to get at it?
If I had this problem, and thankfully I don't I would rake my soil so that it is a little higher on one side of the bed, then when the soil(clay) is flattened by the weather, surplus water will run off.
But I still say go the compost way rather than the perlite way, why not buy one bag and do one bed or two half beds and compare.
we had one guy who DUG OUT all his clay and replaced it with bought COMPOST, cost him a fortune and the bloke who's taken over his plot's got to build the beds up as the compost's washed away and his crops are really struggling , there's so much goodness in clay, if you can work enough compost in to lighten it :)
Hi
They just filled compost on top of the clay
I have added a couple of wheelbarrows of horse manure dug in loosely into the clay left it rough for a couple of days/weeks depending on time and then added compost over the top raking it into the manure/clay mix.
When almost to top left it rough for the winter.
Cambourne7
Quote; on top of the clay
Personally I can't see where this does any good.
As I see it all that goes into the ground is the faeces & urine washed in by the rain and the strawy material remains on top and it is this strawy material that breaks up the soil and holds the moisture.
With due respect to those 'no dig' gardeners I still think there is no substitute for digging. I have yet to see a farmer using the no dig (plough) method or just leaving the manure on the surface.
Hope I haven't upset anyone this is just my opinion :-\
It doesn't remain on the surface, as I know from experience. Worms pull it under (have you ever seen leaves sticking up from the surface, partly underground and wondered how they got to be like that?). I put a couple of inches of grass cuttings on the surface, and within a few months, depending on the weather, it will all have disappeared without trace.
Quote; depending on the weather,
Could be the weather Robert ?
My garden is full of spring bulbs i.e. impracticle to dig compost in, so I thought I would try the mulch/worm method based on the advice from people such as yourself.
Its been down about three months now and all I can see is little clumps of straw all over.
It was not that the manure was not rotted down ( it was over a year old) had it not been I would have probably seen more straw.
Perhaps I should be more patient and wait on the worms!!!
perhaps they have hibernated ::)
They're not very actice in winter or dry weather, but once you get a spell of warm damp weather you'll probably find it disappears. Meanwhile it's suppressing weeds so what's the problem? Just be patient.
Thanks for your reply Robert,
Quote; They're not very actice in winter ...thats what I thought.
Quote; but once you get a spell of warm damp weather Well we've had the 'damp weather'..........do you think they may have drowned? ; ;D ;)
Quote; Meanwhile it's suppressing weeds; What weeds? ;) ;)
Quote; so what's the problem? .... I don't fancy kneeling in it when I plant out my bedding :'(
Quote; Just be patient....I'll try ::) Like the worms;I'll wait on the warmer weather 8)
If you've got any sense, you won't be thinking about bedding till mid-April or early May. Even then I'd fleece it.
How right you are Robert in fact at this moment in time I am not even thinking of sowing far less planting.
What I was meaning is; if it didn't rot away by planting out time, I didn't fancy the idea of kneeling in it.
By the way I have enjoyed this bit of banter ;D