Terra-Sorb any good? does it work?

[JUDGE1162]

I am planting a bunch of trees and I will not be around to water them regularly I was planning a drip system but do to the distance from my house to the trees it became cost prohibitive. So plan B the use of Terra-Sorb but I was wonder has anyone used this stuff is it any good are there other products I should be looking at. Any idea where to buy it cheaply or in bulk?

Thanks you guys (gals too) are always so helpful.

 

[kevinj]

I've had great success with terra sorb.
When I planted aprox. 500 white pine seedlings 20+
yrs. ago, I doubt if I lost maybe 8 to 10 trees.
Check with your local co-operative extension service.
Thats where I got mine from.
And it's very inexpensive.
Do you prune back the roots, when you plant ?

 

[JUDGE1162]

These are large transplats so I was told not too.

I'll check with the local co-op see if they carry it.

Thanks

 

[bushinspector]

In the mining business and we used some of the "crystals" for trees in our reclaim area. Worked well and we all thought they helped. When you make them up you will be surprised by how much water they will hold. They will increase in size around 200% or more.

 

[BayouTree]

My experience with TerraSorb was not as positive as the previous two responses. We planted about 800 pine seedlings on a pretty poor site with heavy clay. We put the crystals in the dibble holes and yes once they got wet they did expand quite a bit and the stuff heaved out of the planting holes. When exposed to the sun and the heat of the day the crystals instead of drying out formed a really sticky mess. I could not get it off my hand after touching it. We lost pretty much every tree on the site, which probably had more to due with the site itself than the TerraSorb, but needless to say I wasn't impressed. I think a good layer of composted mulch on site would have been 10x better.

 

[bushinspector]

What we did was to mix the crystals in five gallon buckets and let them absorb the water and then we poured some of them around the trees when we planted them. The crystals were soaked overnight so they had all of the water they could absorb.

 

[kevinj]

My method, was, after the planting area was prepared,
each trees root system was pruned back into a fan shape.
Leaving at least 6 inches of root.Then dipped into the prepared
mixture of terra sorb and water. Then spread open the roots when planting.
DO NOT squeeze the roots into the planting hole, or fold them over.
This will reduce your success rate. Leave a shallow area around each seedling, so as to create a basin when the rains come. Tamp down the soil to reduce any air pockets from around the roots. But not too hard.
They should be watered right away. If possible, plant then on a cloudy day.
As apposed to full sun and wind.

Wish ya well !!

 

[bushinspector]

I just did a search for the Terra-Sorb and came up with several hits. I am sure it is sold by many other names as well. It looked like it is about $15 a pound. We did the root dip as well and had good results.

Great advice that kevin j was dishing out. Take the time and make the holes around three times the size of the container. I like blending peat moss with sand and the native soil to backfill with. But we live in a very heavy clay soil part of Oklahoma