Driwater Time-Release Water 9 Ounce Gel Pac (12 Units) Each Individual Pac Lasts up to 30 Days.

Driwater Time-release Water 9 Oz. Gel Pac (12 Units) Each Individual Pac Lasts up to 30 Days. If you read any of my reviews then you are aware that I am ill. You are also aware that my husband and I grow our own foods year round, and while we enjoy growing our food outdoors, living in New England makes that impossible. So we have veggies and berries going all of the time. I had purchased these for two reasons. We were going away and I had no one to take care of our food, and after watching video' about this product, and reading about it, I thought it was a no brainer.We were gone for 16 days, and these should have been fine, and should have been able to go another two weeks on just these alone, but when we got home, while our plants were still alive, we had to remove quite a bit that died. They might be ok for a few days, I would not go past 7 days though. We had such an awful drought this year, and in the back of my mind when I bought these, they were to be a go to when the droughts come every few years...but I did not have good luck with these personally. Others may have, or perhaps I was doing something wrong. I did follow the manufacturer's instructions, and went back to the video's. I may give these another shot if we go away on a shorter trip....just long enough to see if they work but not too long that if they fail my food dies. I do think these will work for short periods only and not for longer periods. I will put it to test on our next camping trip. If you are going away for a long period of time, and are not so up on the latest and greatest, you might be better off having someone take care of your food....which is what I will do next time. A much shorter trip, these would work. I would have given this 3 stars as I always thought that it was a neutral rating, but I found out it is not, which makes no sense to me either. I don't dislike these, they just did not work for the length of time expected when we needed them, but we also did not do a test run before. I have faith in these for a weekend, into day 5 I might start getting nervous, but we will try that out on something we aren't worried about losing. For the long trips, it'll be a housesitter.

I found these didn't work very well for me. I put them out ahead of a 2 week plus vacation, following the instructions carefully. I fully watered the plants and got the soil wet before putting them down, being careful to make sure that the exposed product touched the soil and not the air, using multiple packs for large diameter pots and so on.When I got back, a few plants had died and the rest were dry and stressed. It wasn't hard to see why - the bulk of the product was still in the plastic bag, it hadn't dissolved into the soil hardly at all. I bought a big box of these and put them all over - I have a lot of house plants. So it wasn't an isolated thing - it happened everywhere.The only thing I can think of is that I was away in the height of winter and we set the heat back slightly since we weren't going to be there. No, that wasn't what hurt the plants - it was only set back to the high 50's and I could feel how dry the pots were when I got home. Maybe it has to be hotter for the stuff to dissolve at the correct rate? Or maybe the relatively low humidity in the winter air caused it?I don't really know, but we are coming up on 12 weeks since they were put in - and they still aren't all dissolved. I suppose some of that is because I am no longer trusting them to actually water anything and am watering the plants myself, but the rate these dissolve into water has been positively glacial for me.Maybe these work better in warmer temperatures, but I'd be very cautious about using them in a cooler location. Either that or the positive reviews here are bogus and you are currently reading the only review from a real person on here. I don't know. The only thing I do know is that I will not be buying these again.

Knowing I had several trips planned, and afraid that I would forget to water when I was home in between trips, I worked out a system to water my houseplants and outdoor potted plants. I bought watering spikes and these DriWater gel pacs, and hoped for the best, but was dreadfully afraid that I would come home to dead plants. I had a hard time believing that these DriWater gel pacs would be able to sustain the needs of my houseplants, particularly those that also have high sun needs and thus sit in south-facing windows.Boy was I wrong.The DriWater gel pacs not only kept my houseplants alive, but they released water at such a rate that my plants looked healthier than ever!I found that the best way to use these pacs was to begin a few days before leaving town-- THOROUGHLY water the plants PRIOR TO putting the DriWater gel pac on the soil, and water again before actually leaving town. This method seems to allow the DriWater to "adapt" to the soil and to best do its job.I did find that the pacs don't last a full 30 days, but that they will do a good job for about two or three weeks before they're spent. For big pots, you also MUST use more than one pac.

I was going off for a month and wanted some of my house plants to stay where I had them and just have someone check up on them occasionally to see if these Driwater thingies worked. I had a month to test one of the gelpacks, and it seemed to work fine. Before leaving for the trip, I watered my plants as suggested, then set up my pots with the gelpacks. They worked great for the 31 days I was gone. One tube seemed sufficient for most of my not-so-bushy-stemmed plants, all of which were in 8-12 inch pots. It seems to be the number of stems and not the pot size that determines how many gels to use. I managed to jam one into my bushy-stemmed 9-inch spider, and the plant actually had a new sprout toward the end of the month.If there is any flaw, it's that the tubes are a bit awkward to fit into some crowded pots. When the tube is empty, it leaves a bit of a slime on the soil but that's easy enough to blend in with soil. I still have some left for my next trip and will plan to use them and report.