Water Retaining gel is also called potassium polyacrylate or SAP. It is a new function polymer with unbelievable water absorption ability. Actually, 1 gram water retaining gel can absorb 300-1000 gram water. After absorption, it turns to water gel-like this :
Now let's talk about the advantages of plants. It can absorb water and turn to water gel when it is raining or irrigated. And when the dry season coming, water gel can release water back to the plant's root.
So you can regard it as a "Mini-reservoir".
Here are the main advantages for plants:
–Improve seed germination and emergence to give plants an early, healthy start.
–Save the irrigation, increase crops and fruit yield.
–It contains Potassium, Phosphorus Nitrogen and releases the fertilizer efficiency slowly.
Common plants and crops
15 to 30 kg per acre dosage, along with seeds hole application or ditch application to the soil around the seed. The seed germination rate can effectively improve and promote seedling growth. Gets success planting corn in the U.S, pature in the arid area of Inner Mongolia, potatoes are grown in Cape Verde Africa, and potato yield increase more than 2 times.
Seed coating
For Seed coating use, the particle size of SAP should be 0.3 mm or less. It can help seeds emergence quickly, strong, and good disease resistance. This is the easily available way to use SAP for plants in a drought area, which also with small quantity, low cost, and good performance.
Gardening, horticulture, and landscape
SAP is ideal for mixing soil matrix, for indoor and outdoor pots, planters, window boxes, balconies, terraces, roofs, hanging, gardens, and city landscape. Planting shrub, flower, grass, vegetables are also available. Using SAP can bring water-saving, labor-saving, time-saving benefits and reduce the drought or wilting risk causing by a long time no watering the plants, longer the green time and the blossom period.
Lawn and golf course
Application in golf and lawn can save about 50%-70% water, reduce the cost of maintenance, and ave about 30%-50% fertilizer. The lawn grows faster, healthier, and the green lasts longer. It also makes less pollution caused by the loss of fertilizer.
Trees
Using 10-20g SAP can double the survival rate of young trees when planting tree seedlings (bare root).
For adult deciduous fruit trees, put the SAP with organic fertilizer, taken with a ring groove or furrow in the root area. The dosage is upon the soil condition, tree size, and the ditching situation should generally be 0.3% of the backfill soil and fertilizer.