I don't know about *any* type of plant, but I have seen 'kits' at a local nursery that were nothing more than colored polymer crystals, a vase and a plant. I would assume it works OK, but never tried it.

Hi fkcfkc,
I have had the exact same query as you..I would be keen to find out if you have had any success trying to grow juncus spiralis..(if you have given it a go...)

Tnx..

Nina

You might wish to google on semi hydro (ponics). I have not yet tried it, but it is very popular among growers of orchids. I have found info on the web though where people are claiming it works well for just about every plant they have tried from bog type plants to succulents and believe it or not, cacti.

As I have not tried it for anything I can't recomend it or vouch for it, but it seems interesting.

It would be somewhat similar to what you are considering.

Where are you planning on placing this plant? Outside or inside? Reason I ask is that it occurred to me that this sort of arrangement (the water crystals) is something I would expect to see inside a home.

If that is your intent, you may wish to look for a plant more suitable for interiors. Juncus Spiralis is generally an outdoor type plant. It is also cold hardy to zone 4 or 5 which means it may require a dormant period to do well for an extended period.

I haven't grown it, but it seems like an interesting plant.

Anyway, if your intent is for a houseplant, you may wish to head over to the houseplant forum for more specific advice.

I think it's worth a try and would make an interesting look. For stability you might want to add some large glass beads to the mix.

I'm currently working on project growing moss on polymers. I'm curious about about how the roots will get the oxygen they need if surrounded by these crystals? And how will sun on the roots affect their growth?

There is dissolved oxygen in the saturated crystals. If there weren't, plants wouldn't be able to survive.

I've been digging more as to what exactly these polymers are, and wilkepedia has a bit of info, See polyacrylamide and polymers. The manufacturer being Monsanto ( the makers of agent orange, roundup, and other bad nasties) sent a red flag up for me. After more digging I found that acrylamide, an unpolymerized form of that substance is a neurotoxin, and can be found as the product breaks down, either by sunlight, heat, or the exposure to ionic substances such as salt.
Here's one of many papers discussing the dangers of polyacrylamide given in layman's terms:

Polyacrylamide is added to soil and pesticides,
it may be a major problem?
Prof. Joe Cummins / Department of Biology / University of Western Ontario 8aug02

e-mail: jcummins@uwo.ca

Acrylamide is a building block for the polymer, polyacrylamide, a material used in genetics in molecular biology laboratories as a matrix for separating nucleic acid components during DNA sequence analysis and during protein identification. In the world at large polyacrylamide is used in water purification to flocculate suspended organic matter, in irrigation water to improve soil texture and in pesticide formulations to limit spray drift. Recently the world health organization (WHO) had a closed meeting to reveal the finding that cooked vegetables had significant levels of acrylamide (1). The finding received worldwide notice because acrylamide is a potent nerve toxin in humans and effects male reproduction, causes birth defects, and cancer in animals. The WHO releases implied that the acrylamide finding was a surprise and that the pollutant probably arose from cooking the vegetables (1).

The WHO report failed to mention the extensive global use of polyacrylamide in pesticide formulations and in soil treatment and the predictable residues of the polymer in vegetables such as potato or in grain. The addition of polyacrylamide to pesticide formulations is considered a trade secret and rarely reported while the soil treatment in irrigation water covers a million or more acres in the United States (US) and very large farmland areas worldwide. Even though the coverage of food crops with polyacrylamide formulations is staggering there seem to no available reports on polyacrylamide levels in food crops. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) serves a s both promoter and regulator of the use of polyacrylamide (PAM) in agriculture and that agency does not appear to have required thorough testing of the human and environmental consequences of polyacrylamide use..

Polyacrylamide is designated a non-toxic additive and that may explain why there has been little concern over its accumulation in food crops. Of course polyacrylamide may be contaminated with its toxic building block, acrylamide, and for that reason a limit of 500ppm acrylamide in polyacrylamide preparations has been arbitrarily determined to be acceptable for use in agriculture or water treatment. Furthermore, the polyacrylamide preparations (PAM) used in irrigation is most frequently a copolymer associated with acrylic (3) or other polymer plastic to provide stability, the polyacrylamide used in water treatment is often the co-polymer while the product used in pesticide formulations is protected as a trade secret but is likely to be a co-polymer.

It has been reported that PAM hydrogels degrade to release acrylamide and acrylate (4)[acrylate is a known teratogen] and corporate Material Data Safety Sheets sometimes indicate that acrylamide is a foreseeable degradation product of PAM and that acrylonitirile (a mutagen and carcinogen) and cyanide are thermal decomposition products of polyacrylamide super absorbent (5). There are studies showing that acrylamide is released from polyacrylamide after exposure to light and elevated temperature (6,7) while other studies concluded that acrylamide is not released from polyacrylamide during degradation (8,9). Glutarimide (a component of the drug thalidomide) a pharmacologically active compound was identified as a significant breakdown product of heated polyacrylamide and the authors of that study stressed the need for fuller study of the breakdown products of polyacrylamide (9). There seems to be a clear-cut difference of opinion over the breakdown products of polyacrylamide. The authorities who maintain that acrylamide is not a breakdown product of polyacrylamide stress that those who identify acrylamide as a breakdown product do not find the chemical as a large proportion of the breakdown products of polyacrylamide. That seems to be a specious argument, as if the thermal degradation products dioxin or polyaromatic hydrocarbons are inconsequential because they are produced in relatively small amounts when they are among the most dangerous pollutants known. Moreover, the studies claiming to find little or no acrylamide in the breakdown products of polyacrylamide seem to have ignored the fact that the materials used commercially are most frequently co-polymers of acrylic acid or other polymers and the actual breakdowns usually take place on the surface of plant roots, leaves or stems or in the soil matrix.

Certainly, polyacrylamide residue levels in food crops should have been studied as soon as polyacrylamide began to be used in pesticide formulations and irrigation water and such residues should be studied in the future. Regulatory agencies, such as, USDA and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations seems to be negligent in approving widespread employment of polyacrylamide hydrogels and pesticide additives without having undertaken realistic analysis of the breakdown products and potential pollutants consumed by humans or released to the environment. It is rather discomforting to learn that foods we eat may be saturated with plastic polymer and their unspecified breakdown products and soon we may be saturated as well.

Just thought I'd pass on that info for any of you who, like me, are now going to move my moss experiment outside where it won't harm me!

Here is a link that might be useful: Polyacrylamide...a major problem?