Keep Your Plants Watered With Diapers

A few years ago I bought a watering gel from a home improvement store. I had seen them before and thought they seemed way overpriced. I just watered my plants every day or two myself. Then we went on vacation. We had just moved into our house and I didn't really feel like I knew the neighbors well enough to ask them to water my plants while gone. So, I went to the store and bought two packs of the gel. At $8 dollars each, they were expensive but cheaper than losing any of my flowers.

When I got them home and opened them up I knew I had overpaid. Inside the sausage like container was a gel that looked identical to the gel in baby diapers. More than once I had my kiddo's diaper bust on him and ended up cleaning that gel off of everything. The diaper gel looked the same as the plant gel.

I decided to try using the gel from baby diapers to see if they would keep my plants watered. Not only did the diaper gel work, I also saved so much money by using a diaper instead of the store bought gel. Want to make your own plant gel? It's so easy!

You will need to start with a baby diaper and a bowl of water. I put about 4 cups of water in the bowl.

Place the diaper in the water and hold it down for a minute so it starts to absorb the water.

Once the diaper is looking very full tear it open and remove all of the gel. The gel should absorb the remaining water in the bowl.

When you have all the gel removed from the diaper you can add more water to the bowl. I added about another 2 cups. You now have a huge bowl of plant gel for the cost of one diaper.

You will want to mix the gel in with the dirt for your plants. If you are planting something you can just mix in the gel with the dirt. I am adding them to my hanging plants so I just moved back some of the dirt and added spoonfuls of gel all around.

The gel will slowly release the water over the next week or two. When the soil starts getting dry again add some more water to the soil and the gel will once again soak up the water. This works great to keep plants watered while you are gone or on freshly planted trees and shrubs to give them extra water. I also use it on my hydrangea since they love water so much. I have found that I don't need to water my plants as often.

For the cost of a diaper (under $.50) you can easily keep a couple of plants watered for a week or two. If you are planting a bunch of new plants a small pack of diapers will keep your plants watered. Keep your plants looking great all summer long with this easy and inexpensive garden hack.