Moisturizing agent with nutrients

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gelatinous moisturizing substrate such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,640 for controllably delivering water, gas micro-nutrients, plant growth additives, preservatives, and surfactants to plant tissue such as the entire vertical root system of a plant. The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a mixture of the following by percent weight: 97.6% water, 2.0% sodium carboxymethylcellulose, 0.15% aluminum sulfate, 0.04% sodium benzoate, 0.04% potassium sorbate, 0.237% zinc acetate, 0.00009% kinetin, 0.00004% indole-3-butyric acid, 0.00003% gibberellic acid, and 0.005% sodium sesquicarbonate. The concentrations of these nutrients disclosed in this invention maintain the substrate's viscosity. As a result, the moisturizing agent retains water, zinc, acetic acid, auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins in the gel and releases the water and nutrients into the soil surface at a controlled rate, enabling cell growth, formation of new leaves, vigorous shoot growth, even maturity, and improved stress tolerance.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention generally relates to a gelatinous moisturizing substrate such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,640, for controllably delivering water and nutrients to plant tissue such as the root ball of a living plant.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The commercial product DRiWATER Gel (“DriWATER”) embodies U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,640 (“the '640 patent”), the entire specification of which is incorporated herein. The product has been used throughout the world for the past several years and has successfully provided users with a time-released water delivery product for plants. DRiWATER is a carboxymethylcellulose crosslinked polymer comprised of 97.85% water, 2.0% sodium carboxymethylcellulose (“CMC”), and 0.15% aluminum sulfate. When mixed together in a high sheer mixer, cross linkage between the carboxilic acid groups of the carboxymethylcellulose compound and aluminum in aluminum sulfate traps the water in a heavy gel stabilizing at a final v...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The present invention is further directed to control the liquefaction rate of DRiWATER plus nutrients based on factors other than the degree of exposure to micro-organisms. The surface area exposed to the micro-organisms in the soil controls liquefaction rate of DRiWATER. The greater the surface area exposed, the faster the DRiWATER Gel will liquefy.

Problems solved by technology

However, zinc is a divalent cation (when in an aqueous solution depending on pH) and would therefore interfere with cross linkage between the cellulose compound and the aluminum in aluminum sulfate causing the effect of an unstable viscosity.

For example, the addition of fertilizer components, without the addition of the ionic counter-balancing chemicals, will destroy the gel cross-linkage and destabilize the gel viscosity or in some cases liquefy the gel entirely.

Furthermore, as discussed above, preliminary experiments have shown that the addition of plant growth additives, preservatives, and surfactants has negatively affected the viscosity of the DRiWATER gel.

Further, this principle is hormone / nutrient selective, meaning that some hormones / nutrients cannot be incorporated at all because they destroy gel cross-linkage.

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