SEEING IS BELIEVING...OUR TREE STORY IN PICTURES
Hydrating
Polymers in Hawaiian Mahogany Tree Plantations
The value of using hydrating polymers, in many forms of agriculture, is woefully unknown. These polymer products are polyacrilate/polyacrilimide crystals which absorb up to 400 times their weight in water. They start as a dry crystal, not much larger than a grain of salt, and hydrate to the point they feel like 1 inch square chunks of jello. They hold this water, bound so tightly, that the crystal will not lose it to the surrounding soil. Plant roots, however, can pull the water from this bound crystal. They will also degrade in sunlight and will very slowly lose water to evaporation.
In our plantation, we hydrate this product and add 1 quart to each new seedling we plant, mixing it with the soil. The cost is about $.05 per seedling. By doing so we eliminate most of the transplant shock, and most of the early mortality in our fields.
In December of 2000 we planted 40,000 trees and were hit by an unusual 2 month period of no rain. We lost fewer than 150 trees, most of those to wind uprooting. Another tree planting operation, on the north shore of our island, planted 3000 Mahogany seedlings at the same time, but failed to use similar moisture protection. They lost over 60% of their mahogany seedlings in spite of efforts to water the plants. Each seedling was $1.50.
The best products are long lasting, and rehydrate for up to 5 years. Eventually they degrade and virtually disappear.
The value of these products has not been lost on the agencies working on Kauai, doing reforestation and reintroduction of native species. We donated about 50 pounds to the dryland reforestation project and the response was so favorable they have eliminated any planting activities that do not use this product.
Anyone doing agriculture, of any kind, on dry areas, or where rainfall is sporadic, could benefit from the use of this material.