Ten (10) Bag of Crystal Soil Water Beads (10 Colors)

by Seven Color Crystal Ball

• 10 Bag (3grams/bag;10 Colors) of Crystal Soil Water Beads.
• Perfect for:
• Parties & Wedding Centerpiece,decoration,Fresh cut flower and Bamboo, Floating candles, Air Freshener, etc.
• Reusable up to 2 years, Non-fade, Non-Toxic, 100% Biodegradable, Non-Flammable.
• Harvest Size: 3 grams of Crystal Soil dry under maximum hydration (24 hrs) will yield about 2 cups of round bouncy crystal soil beads.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B003VCU0FE
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818 in Patio, Lawn & Garden (See Top 100 in Patio, Lawn & Garden)
  • #16 in Patio, Lawn & Garden > Gardening > Soils, Fertilizers & Mulches > Soils

Product Description

Simple to use 1.Apply one pack of Crystal Soil in about 3 cups of distilled water (if possible) in extra large bowl. 2.Allow the beads to fully expand in 12-24 hours. 3.Remove the expanded beads from the water and pour into vases or bowls and ready to use.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Does the Job March 7, 2012

By Stoney TOP 500 REVIEWER

Amazon Verified Purchase

WHAT'S INCLUDED
The package I recieved contained 10 packages of water beads, each a different bright color. Each contains enough beads for perhaps a 6" or 8" vase. The photo is representative of the colors and quantities.

COLOR
The color weakens as the beads expand, so that, for example the little bright red beads become pink "marbles". The hydrated clear beads are virtually invisible in water, seeming to hold the stems of your flowers by "magic". For special occasions (e.g., for a centerpeice for one evening) immersed lights can provide stronger colors.Waterproof Wedding Underwater Battery Sub Lights LED 10 Lights~RED~Wedding~Tea Light

PACKAGING
The little bags close by an almost invisible folded-over flap on the back side---the bags are NOT sealed. There is an adhesive strip long the top edge of the flap. If you want to open a bag without the beads falling out, hold it with the printing upside down. The bags are actually easy to pull open and even reseal. If you try to open a bag by slicing off an edge with scissors, you could easily make a mess with little colored balls everywhere---and I mean EVERYWHERE, they bounce and ricochet off into every conceivable corner. Even if you carefully pull the flap open, the same thing will probably happen. So, regardless of your method, open the first packatte CAREFULY in a bowl to catch the beads.

The package arrived a day or two after my order, in a small paper envelope. It would be easy to cut into the bags opening the envelope, or a bag might have burst open in shipment (as happened in my case).... I was able to recover the beads with no harm done, but that is only because I was very cautious opening the envelope.

USE
The beads hydrated well to about 5/8" in diameter. Some colors and some individual beads, hydrate better than others. According to the instructions, the beads hydrate best in distilled water. Since the beads are 99% water, they provide little more resistance than water for holding plant stems in place when emersed in water. Hydrated beads WITHOUT any free water between them do a good job of holding your plant stems in place. In addition, the colored water-beads look "muddy" when emersed in water. So:

> Hydrate the beads you will need. It takes at least 12 hours---so it's best to start the day before.
> To make your flower arrangement, start with a vase with NO water in it.
> Strain the hydrated water beads out of your hydrating container (fingers or a slotted spoon work well) and pour the hydrated water beads around the stems of your flowers ***
> If you need to add any water to cover the tips of the plant stems, do that LAST. Do not add any more water than absolutely necessary
The result is bright, attractive display. The beads will look like glass marbles, and will do a good job of holding the plant stems in place.

***If you just jam your flower stems down into the beads, you'll damage many of them---not a big problem if you intend to use them once and discard them. If the surface is even slightly damaged, the balls can crumble. Indeed, some can come "pre-damaged", about 20% of the blue balls in my shipment were "pre-damaged" and crumbled when touched after being hydrated---the other colors were fine.

This particular water bead assortment makes about 2 cups of beads per packet. So consider mixing contrasting or theme colors, such as red and green for Christmas, blue and pink for baby events, blue and yellow for Easter, green and orange (?) for St. Patrick's day, black and orange for Halloween, etc.

Since the clear beads are invisble in water, and the colored beads look muddly in water, the ideal arrangement is to start with hydrated clear beads, add water to cover the clear beads (which makes them disappear), and then add hydrated colored beads without any additional free water. That way the display will look as though glass marbles are floating above clear water.

Won't they dry out if not covered (or nearly covered) with water? If there is any free water in the bottom of the vase, the beads will absorb it before they start to skrink. Practically speaking, you will not notice the beads shrinking---your flowers will wilt and die long before the beads shrink.

If you are actually growing or rooting plants (such as a sweet potato or the pseudo-bamboo plants) in gel beads, obviously you need some free water. Clear beads will probably look best, and you can keep the water level anywhere you want. Some plants like their roots in water, most don't. Many plants will be able to absorb sufficient water directly from the hydrated beads without being emersed in water, particularly if there is some free water below. Generally avoid tall skinny vases for this purpose---they can go anoxic (the plant roots can absorb all of the dissolved oxygen faster that oxygen can be absorbed from air at the surface). Un-emersed hydrated beads will usually stay oxygenated, but emersed beads can go anoxic quickly.

REUSE
Although a major advantage of the gel beads is that they are disposable, they are also reusable---you can allow them to dry up (a large casserole dish is ideal), back down to little beads, and reuse them. It may take up to 2 weeks to dry up a batch. It may be tempting to just pour off the water when you change fowers, and perhaps rinse the balls, then add more water and flowers. I suggest exercising some caution--after all these are gelatin, and hypothetically bacteria could grow in the balls. I suggest that after a month that you either discard the balls, or at least rinse them, and allow them to dry down. Then at some later time rehydrate them and reuse them. Read more ›

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A much better value than Orbeez December 29, 2011

By Toymom

Amazon Verified Purchase

My 7 year old wanted Orbeez for Christmas, but I didn't want to pay a ridiculous price for something I could get so much cheaper. So, I ordered these soil water beads, printed out the Orbeez logo and taped it to the front of the package. He is none the wiser and has so far had a blast playing with them. They grew to full size in about 4 hours and squish, bounce and roll just as Orbeez claim to. The product description says they are non-toxic, so no worries there. When he is done playing with them, I will throw them in the soil for my house plants. It's a win-win situation!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited colors! December 13, 2011

By Tiffany

Amazon Verified Purchase

I was disappointed that they were not all different colors. There were 3 packages of green and several packages of red. I wish I would have gotten a variety of 10 colors!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy!! September 2, 2011

By previous Apple fanatic

I don't know if these are old or what, but some of the balls get to be the normal size and others are very small. I am going to have to buy some from another company because these won't fill up my container since they don't all become the right size. Don't buy these, they are either old or they are not checked for quality.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 10 different colors June 27, 2012

By marriedwith2

Amazon Verified Purchase

Very nice. Got them in 2 days after ordering them. Package included these colors: pink, red, yellow, black, dark red, clear, white, orange, purple, and a pack of mixed (rainbow) colors. Very pleased. And all my packages came sealed in their own packages.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Cool product April 15, 2012

By Allison k

Amazon Verified Purchase

I was highly impressed with the shipping timeline, and how the product worked. I was disappointed when I opened the shipping envelope to find 10 packs of only 5 colors (blue, green, yellow, red, clear). By the product description, I expected to receive 10 different colors.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Received All One Color January 10, 2012

By Heather

Amazon Verified Purchase

I was disappointed when I received the package and saw that I was sent 10 bags that all contained red water beads.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Did the job :) September 16, 2012

By Gouron

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'll be honest... my reason for getting these wasn't at all for their intended use. I bought them so that when they had absorbed enough water, I could randomly bombard/attack unsuspecting co-workers. That being said, they work great!! They soak up plenty of water, I'm sure my co-workers would agree :)