By ANDREA JOHNSON, Assistant Editor
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 1:24 PM CST

An innovative soil product, Stockosorb, hydrates and dehydrates and rehydrates providing moisture to nearby plants. The potassium-based polymer has shown benefits to rows crops as well as to alfalfa stands.

Anyone who has changed a baby in the last 20 years or so knows there's an interesting material in disposable diapers that draws liquid away from the baby and makes a gel type substance in the center of the diaper. Scientists began wondering in the 1960s if they could use that gel substance to grab up water in the crop furrow in times of heavy rain, and release water to growing crops when it is dry. In the past five years, products have become available that use the gel to assist in crop production.

American Soil Technologies, Inc. is the master distributor of Stockosorb¨, a cross-linked polymer related to the hydrogel found in diapers. The polymer is also sold under the name AgriBlend that includes Zeolite. The products are available dry and can be mixed with P & K, or are available as liquid products that can be blended with fertilizers. The product is available to the turf industry and the home and garden market as Nutrimoist¨.

"It's a neat product. We have something that is actually fun, and if you don't even have a house plant you almost want to get one to put it in there," said John Babinat, La Porte, Iowa, adding that it's also interesting to see the effects of Stockosorb in field plots. Babinat, a corn and soybean farmer in northeastern Iowa, is also a distributor for American Soil Technologies. In 2003, he applied two pounds of Stockosorb/acre on 587 acres of corn ground. Filling the corn planter insecticide boxes with the polymer, Babinat pulled the drop hose out of the scatterer and fastened it so the dry polymer would drop along with the corn seed into the trench behind double disk openers.

The polymer must be placed at least 4 inches into the ground because it will break down into ammonia, carbon dioxide and water if it is exposed to ultraviolet rays.

Conditions were wet in the spring in northeast Iowa, and then the rains stopped on July 1 - a perfect opportunity to test the polymer. Babinat recorded a 5-12 bushel/acre increase in the polymer-applied fields over those fields where the polymer was not applied. His results are similar to those obtained at ACRES Research of Cedar Falls, Iowa. Bert Schou operates the private custom research firm and has run his own field trials with American Soil Technologies' polymers for the past four years. "We verified in the laboratory that the product actually retains water," said Schou. "Then we went to the field and we had the best success putting it in furrows down by the seeds. We were getting 5-10 percent yield increases." Schou, who has no investment in American Soil Technologies, said he thinks the product could be used in areas where stress conditions are anticipated, although the product is not a cure-all for drought. "This year we went through some super stress conditions - our driest August on record in Iowa - and our alfalfa gave us a small increase, but we think it was just too dry," said Schou. "When you go beyond a certain point and there is no water, it doesn't work. "You have to have some water - in a clay soil where there is plenty of water-retention capacity you probably wouldn't have as great of a chance - but where you have a sandy or silt loam soil, then it could work the best."

Use this paragraph if possible: The Stockosorb polymer swells up to about 400 times its weight, and scientists have designed it to hydrate, dehydrate and re-hydrate for five to seven years. Stockosorb polymers are potassium-based and unlike many competitors-whose products are sodium-based, the potassium-based structure of the Stockosorb brands won1t add unwanted salinity levels to the soil.

Jerry Gigot farms near Garden City, Kan., and is also an American Soil Technologies distributor. Farmers have applied Stockosorb and AgriBlend to about 10,000 acres in his area. "The amount of water saved by using Stockosorb is the main benefit I stress when talking to farmers interested in using the product," said Gigot, adding that many Kansas wells are not producing the amount of water needed to raise a crop under irrigation. "On average, a farmer will see a 25 percent savings in water applied to an irrigated circle with use of 25 pounds/acre, which means they have also reduced pumping costs. In alfalfa fields, we've seen a 38 percent savings in water." Gigot says the biggest challenge is application because Stockosorb has to be tilled into the soil at a 4-5 inch depth to prevent degradation from the sun. He has used a subsurface blade plow that has blades and air nozzles underneath that blow the polymer down to the required soil depth. He has experimented with putting the polymer in with coulters and either putting it on with starter fertilizer or even going into alfalfa applying it every eight inches in width down to the four-inch depth. He's also applied the polymer with modified fertilizer application equipment as well as with air drills with 24-inch coulters that go four inches deep. "Our basic reason for applying the polymer in our area was for water conservation. If you get a dry year, it's like miniature reservoirs in the soil, and it's going to carry the crop a lot further before the crops begin to stress but it has other benefits as well," said Gigot. "You're going to have some pretty good benefit from fertilizer and herbicide retention."

American Soil Technologies' vice president of sales and marketing is Johnny Dickinson who spent 33 years working for John Deere and retired as a global marketing manager. Dickinson, who worked with track equipment, recognized that the polymer helped break up compaction, creating a mellow root zone for plants. "The bottom line is better yields, healthier crops," said Dickinson. "At our test field, we were really astonished how much cleaner our beans and corn were from the herbicide where this stuff held it and continued to kill those weed seeds that were germinating later vs. not having it." The amount of Stockosorb needed can vary depending on the crop, application method and farming practices.

For example, in a perennial crop such as alfalfa, growers can broadcast the polymer at about 35 pounds/acre. In corn, where the polymer is blended into the seed row, a grower may only need to apply 8 pounds. Additional polymers are needed in areas where irrigation with hard water is necessary. Rainwater will purge the polymer of minerals absorbed during irrigation allowing it to again hydrate to its fullest capacity. "One of the neat things about the polymers is it will not only hold the moisture, but it holds nutrients for the plants as well," said Dickinson. "It will hold on to the chemicals - insecticide, herbicide or fertilizer."

If you would like more information on Stockosorb, please feel free to call 800-798-7645, or visit americansoiltech.com.

ACRES Research is located at: 6621 W. Ridgeway Ave., P.O. Box 249, Cedar Falls, IA 50613-0249; phone: 319-277-6661; email: AcresResearch@aol.com.

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