Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Future Of Agriculture - Dehydrated Water

Yes, you heard that right, dehydrated water. Just add water of course. Found here at Political Calculations, is a piece on the stuff which is a polymer similar to what's put into diapers to absorb water. It seems that once the water is absorbed, plant roots can extract it. The process would be to plough some of this into otherwise arid soil. What little rain or irrigation would be available is held by the polymer in the tilled layer and the water is extracted as needed by the plants.

One supposes that water soluble chemicals like pesticides and weed killers when applied would be picked up by the polymer as part of the water and thus not be carried into the ground water. That would be good. One also wonders what the effect of moving an aquifer from well below the surface to the near surface would be on the existing aquifer.

Sounds like a potential solution to the problem of my dead back yard. I wonder what it costs?

Update: Even better, it's already on the market.See comments.

Soil Moist™ Polymer, 8-lb. Granular, 8 lb, $62.50.
Complete Biodegradable Granular Polymer Waters Your Plants When They Need It!
This water management system can save you money and time. Lasting for up to five years, Granular Polymer is a safe non-toxic polymer that will absorb over 200 times its weight in water. As the surrounding soil dries, the polymer releases the absorbed water making it available to the plant. The polymer will automatically re-swell during the next rain or irrigation. Granular Polymer mixes right in the soil for crops or trees. 8-lb. container.

2 comments:

David aka True Blue Sam said...

Billll: You can buy it from places like Ben Meadows and Forestry Suppliers. ( http://www.benmeadows.com/soil-moist-polymer-8-lb-granular_s_152307/?searchterm=moist%2bpolymers )

We dip tree seedlings in it, and it will save a tree planting project in a dry year. We very seldom have a failure since contractors began using it. Landowners who plant their own try to get by on the cheap, and often have to replant.

Anonymous said...

Back in my otr trucking days I use to haul a new space age development called Dry Water. One 5cc bottle contained 10 gallons of water. Amasing. I would be carry something like 50,000 gallons of water but the weight in the trailer would only be 25,000 lbs.I hauled the product frpm Patterson,Nj (of all places) to Daytona Bch,Fl...this was back in the 1980s.