No, not spam. I don't work for, nor have ever bought anything from Zeba. One of my buddies was at the idea festival in Louisville, Ky this year, and they had a presentation there, so he mentioned it, I researched it, and was curious about it.

Sorry that my first post here contained a product link, I was curious about it though.

Here's a little background if it helps. My name's Isaiah, bought a house last year in Lexington, Ky. I just started an SFG this year, it's my first time doing any sort of gardening whatsoever. I'm a research junkie though, so I've been perusing these forums, the SFG web site, and any other resource I can find. I built a 4x4 box for my backyard outta untreated lumber, like Mel recommends, and actually used weedeater line to mark off the squares. I've got 2 pepper plants, 2 tomatoes, just planted some onions and spinach and I'm hoping it's not too late to grow. Sadly, I think I killed my cucumber plants, cuz I didn't know I wasn't supposed to remove them out of the peat four-pack. =/

I'm also a big nerd, computer programmer by trade, which is why the Zeba stuff interested me. I was just thinking it might be helpful! I think I might grab a sample bag that my buddy has, and just plant some flowers side-by-side with and without that, and see which one does better.

-Isaiah

If you are indeed a programmer and not spam, you can do the math for yield if you have a degree from any decent school.

There are several of these products out there, mostly for remote plantings. Residential applications are not necessary.

Dan

Huh? This isn't a math question. 16oz and 5tablespoons doesn't compute. You can't divide a weight of one measure by a volume of another measure and get anything useful in this case. Maybe you're thinking that ounce is a volume measure? 16 fluid ounces only weighs 16 ounces for water, and that's only in the imperial system. Anything else has different density. I dunno what that product's density is, hence I can't calculate anything with the numbers I could find.

Why is this only useful for remote plantings? I mean, I doubted that all their claims of "We had yields better than ever before!" were true, which is why I asked on here. And being a gardening n00b, I didn't know if they even would help. But theoretically at least, I could see how a more consistent supply of water could help plants grow better.

Thanks for answering even though you think I'm spam. Guess this wasn't the best question to lead off with, huh?

It sounds like it's like the water-absorbing polymer of some sort. DH brought home a sample jar of them last year they're little pellets. They do swell up a lot when wet- some of mine popped out of the ground when I was planting. I used them for some perennials I was moving to a very poor soil area (where water is more likely to run off than soak in). I think they might be a little weird to use in the veggie garden - pull up a carrot, get a gelatinous blob?? I would think if you're going to add something, you'd be better off with something that would mix more evenly into the soil than what the polymers (at least the ones I tried) would.

these polymers are used a lot in the UK but they are to be used for hanging baskets, containers and by some industrial farms, not in ground or in raised beds, there is no reason not to use them in container toms or strawberries and that sort of thing, and they hold a lot of water, so borrow the packet pore some in to water in a glass and watch them grow, it is amazing how much they grow, but I am with Greenbean the look on your root veg wound be unsightly