Cold pack gel as fertilizer?

[Desert O'Piñon]

I have a family member on insulin. Every month, a cooler is shipped same day air with two or three gel packs to keep the medication cool enough. I've heard these can be used as soil supplements and/or fertilizer, but online research has kind of left me cold. (Yep, that was intentionally bad.)
Does anyone have experience with this? Success, failure, or no change, please let me know. I have a couple dozen, and if I can use them instead of wasting them, that would be my preference.

I plan to use some of the coolers for winter protection for my most susceptible trees. I might even try chopping some up to build cold frame walls.

 

[ShadyStump]

As I understand it it's the same stuff as water beads, or the absorbent from diapers, meaning we've had this conversation a few times around here.

There's no nutrient value to it for a plant, but you can find potting soil mixes with it to help water retention. I've seen people spread the water beads on top of potted plants when they leave for a few days to help with watering.

A couple years ago my youngest daughter and I tried an experiment where we planted marigold seeds in water beads soaked in different things. Hardly anything even sprouted because there was too much air space between the beads.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

Ok, that makes sense. So it's the same as the dry crunchy crystals that you put in a vase to grow houseplants, I assume.

There is a gel pack product called Enviro-Ice that is marketed as a nitrogen-based product. Unfortunately, it is purportedly a ratio of .1-0-0. 1,000 pounds will yield 1 pound of nitrogen. Whoop-dee-doo.

I guess I'll be looking for a different use for the stuff. I don't have much interest in storing and/or freezing dozens of these things.

 

[nuttiest]

(C₃H₃NaO₂)ₙ
what percent sodium is this. If I was going to put that much I would use extra kelp or soy sauce.

 

[ShadyStump]

Ok, that makes sense. So it's the same as the dry crunchy crystals that you put in a vase to grow houseplants, I assume.

There is a gel pack product called Enviro-Ice that is marketed as a nitrogen-based product. Unfortunately, it is purportedly a ratio of .1-0-0. 1,000 pounds will yield 1 pound of nitrogen. Whoop-dee-doo.

I guess I'll be looking for a different use for the stuff. I don't have much interest in storing and/or freezing dozens of these things.

I think that enviro ice stuff is just supposed to be more decomposable, but that doesn't mean there's significant nutrition in it.

I would experiment some with whatever's inside. Pour it out, measure weight and volume, let it dry out, measure again. Depending on the consistency of it, you might find i t more useful than the grains or beads.