Review: Zeba Root Dip for Transplanting

The death rate in the first days after plants are transplanted from their nursery pots or flats to another pot, a kitchen garden, or a landscape can be high. The plant's delicate root hairs inevitably get damaged during the process and the plant cannot absorb enough water. A plant may die from the stress or its growth slows down until more root hairs develop. This is called "transplant shock." Zeba Root Dip from Absorbent Technologies minimizes transplant shock by soaking up a lot of water and preventing the soil from taking it away from the plant's roots.

Absorbing and retaining water isn't enough for a soil conditioner. The material also has to give it to the plant's roots as needed or it's useless. The particles in Zeba Root Dip store 400 times their own weight in water, release the water to the plant's roots as it is needed, and absorb another supply of water the next time water is available.

I first used Zeba Root Dip because it was recommended by the nursery that sold me plugs of Buffalo grass for a new lawn. I didn't test the material by applying it to part of the plants and leaving the rest untreated because I didn't want to risk losing part of my lawn. However, out of more than 600 plugs of grass that I planted, none died. I saw 100% survival, 0% mortality! Even the plugs that were just 3 blades of grass and a thread of root survived. Even with the best of care, that's an impressive survival rate.

About Zeba Root Dip:

* Zeba is based on corn starch, not petroleum like the polyacrylamide pellets sold as moisture retention additives.
* Zeba is FDA certified organic, and non-toxic, although maybe not organic enough for the purists.
* Zeba is slowly biodegradable. It lasts about a year in most soils.
* Similar products are available to improve the survival rate of sod, to improve the moisture capacity of garden plots, or to use for field crops.

Tips for Using Zeba Root Dip:

Zeba Root Dip cannot compensate for lack of watering. It will buffer the water supply for the tiny rootlets, but there has to be water available for it to work with. Dig the holes for your transplants, fill them with water and let the water drain out. Then put your dipped transplants in the holes and fill around them with soil. Water as usual.

One ounce makes 4 to 5 gallons of dipping solution. That is enough for a thousand small transplants. The dip doesn't store well. Unless you are planting a whole lawn, use a sensitive scale to weigh out 1/8 ounce and make 1/2 gallon of root dip.

Mixing Zeba Root Dip is like making gravy - to avoid lumps, add the powder to the water very slowly, sprinkling it on a tiny bit at a time, stirring constantly. I used a hand beater to break up the lumps. Let it sit overnight.

Dip and drain: Place the plants into a container with enough dipping solution to cover the roots and let them soak for several minutes. Move the plants to an empty container and let the excess solution drain off for a few minutes before you plant them out. You can pour the used dip back into the main batch.

PERSONAL NOTE: It's great to see that this product made it to market, after only 30 years of research. In the late 1970s one of my business trips took me to the USDA lab in Peoria, Illinois where development work on absorbent cornstarch polymers was done.

I don't remember why I was there, but I still remember the coffee they brought me. I dumped my usual load of sugar and powdered creamer into the cup, stirred, and the coffee solidified into a quivering glob of slime on my spoon. The creamer for the "special coffee" was blended with one of their super-absorbent powders. It was gross and disgusting, and they gave me an ounce of the stuff to take with me so I could play the same trick on my friends.