Water Beads

These things start out about the size of seeds, then swell up to the size of a small grape after being soaked in water overnight. They supposedly only need to be soaked every 30-60 days.

The first attempt at using them used a freshly cut and powdered clone in a cup with plastic wrapped over it, placed about 24" under a small MH/HPS combo. This failed miserably. The clone withered and died in 2 days.

This time, a clone with a couple of roots is being tested to see what happens.

how will you feed?

I dunno. I'm thinking fill the glass with some nute solution, then emptying the glass and letting the roots pickup residual nutes from the surface of these beads.

Doin' it Ben Franklin style.

When it was put in the beads two days ago it had two little nubby roots. Here it is now.



The beads dry out and shrink pretty quick under CFL. Looks like they'll have to be topped off or replaced once or twice a week.

I was kind of hoping that the roots wouldn't penetrate the beads, but when left alone for long enough, the roots will grow right into the beads.



I'm curious how seeds would do in these beads, though seeing the roots grow into the beads is kind of discouraging.

Im not sure id use em for cloning, or seedlings, but you can get a smaller crystal size. the large ones look like diamonds on the ground if you use them outside, the small ones are better for guerrilla style....

i used this stuff as an experiment and i mixed way way more than recommended too and some how even though it NEVER dried out nothing died my sunflowers and 2 clones would go weeks without being watered but i would flush with tap water and i dumped my excess guano teas in there to

Ok that's interesting. I think maybe you should seal the top up partly and black out the clear glass to avoid light getting in and helping nasty shit to grow while also reducing evaporation. Apparently nutrients degrade under light too so that's another reason to black it out. It would still need air though so some gap or little holes would be needed.
You definitely needs some nutes in there, no way around that. I guess it might work to just keep topping up the hydration level of the beads with nutrient water. Soak it briefly then pour it back in to the tank you mix it up in. don't let the water sit in between the gel balls or the roots will be starved of oxygen. I doubt they can pull any out of the gel balls so the only air it will get (and it certainly needs) is in between the balls. You will know if it's suffocating because it will sag and twist.
If the roots stop being a nice white or if any other colours start appearing anywhere in the cup or the balls you are going to need to use H202 to kill the organic life hijacking the grow.
Good luck with this and keep posting.

And make sure you dont put to much in the holes if in the ground, once they swell up, iv seen em push plants right up out of the ground..

I forgot about the two clones I had sitting out while some of the beads re-hydrated and ended up going fishing, which was long enough to let the clones shrivel and die. Doh! I think my next experiment with these is going to be tossing about a shot glass worth in a blender to get them smaller (I did catch the comment about smaller size, I just want to use the ones I have now up), then I'll toss a seed in it and see what happens.

I also want to try hydrating them with rooting hormone in the water and seeing if I can get clones to root in them.

i wonder if I could soak em in a nute solution (foxfarm or similar) mixed of course. Maybe try a full strength and a mixed.Then dry them out on a cookie sheet or something, then add em to a hole. I wonder if they would wick out into the soil, effectively providing longer term nutrient mix for outdoor grows.

Good idea about the blender also.

Rigged this up today. Going to fill the party cups half-way with water beads, then let those water beads support a small peat cup filled with soil and a clone. Figure with plastic wrap over the tops of the cups the water beads may keep the clones hydrated until they're ready to get transplanted.

So in your expert opinions, do Water beads work for vegetative propagation? Aka getting my heirloom cherokee tomato cuttings to root?

No it wont root them try rapid rooters

I just got a ton of these from Amazon for $2.97 w/free shipping. I tried a clone as well before finding this topic. I'm curious as hell about using some B1 root starting juice to swell these balls up! One of these days if I get time. They're too cheap & just damn fun to hold in your hand and completely non-toxic!

This is how I grew my plant in these. I first used a light liquid fertilizer mixed in water. Then I threw the water beads in the fertilizer solution and let them soak up the liquid fertilizer water and planted the clone in that so it got water and nutrients from the water beads. Worked well for 5 weeks. Then I transplanted it out of the beads and flowered it out hydroponiclly in clay beads