Every week, I receive food from Hungryroot. It’s a great service through which you can get meal prep or just general groceries. Much of the food needs to stay cold. Therefore, they put cold packs inside the box. They use an option called Enviro Ice. You can dispose of it in many ways, including apparently by using it as plant food. Should I do that?
What Is Enviro Ice?
Here’s what the Enviro Ice package looks like:
When it arrives, it’s frozen. It works just like any other cold pack for food. Apparently, you can simply reuse it if you want to do that. However, I don’t have a lot of use for cold packs. And I get one of these (which is probably about 9″ x 12″ every week. I certainly don’t need that many. So I need to figure out other ways to use them.
Options for Reusing / Recycling Enviro Ice
Here’s what the back of the package says:
All of this time, I’ve been doing the latter option. I leave the bag inside my sink until it’s no longer frozen. Then I cut it open and let it drain into the sink. The first time that I tried it, I was worried that it would clog the sink. But true to what the brand advertises, it does no such thing. It’s designed specifically to go down the drain. So I drain it, rinse the bag, and recycle the bag.
However, as I was doing this habitually last week, I re-read the package. I noticed that the first option is actually to use it as plant food. So, I got curious about that. Should I feed Enviro Ice to plants instead of to the drain?
Enviro Ice For Plants
According to their website, Enviro Ice is the only product of its kind. It’s a nitrogen-based product. This means that it’s good for plants. They say that you can pour the gel directly onto the soil. Alternatively, you can dilute it with water. There’s no particular benefit to the latter other than that it flows more easily.
They report that you get all of the benefits of nitrogen for your plants when you use this gel. It adds nutrients and improves growth. It’s food for your plants. They say that you can use it for both indoor and outdoor plants.
What’s My Hesitation?
All signs indicate that I should go ahead and try this in my own gardening efforts. So why am I hesitating at all? The truth is that I trust the product just fine, but I don’t trust my own instincts when it comes to planting. As I’ve confessed to you in the past, I don’t have a natural green thumb. I never really know what my plants want or need. I over-water and under-sun and all of the things that are bad for them.
So, what I’m worried about is that I won’t use Enviro Ice properly. Will I give the plant too much of it and not realize what’s happening until it’s too late? Will it change the balance of other things I give the plant (water, light, etc.)? If so, will it be able to correct that?
The great thing about gardening, though, is that the stakes are low. I already have the product. I can try it and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Have you used Enviro Ice in gardening? What’s your experience been?
Read More:
- 5 Reasons To Use Fish Amino Acid On Your Plants
- 4 Cost-Effective Organic Garden Fertilizers
- Does My Brown Thumb Make Gardening a Waste of Money?
Kathryn Vercillo is a long time writer, crafter and author of several books. A resident of San Francisco, she is committed to helping others explore, articulate and share their own individuals stories. When she’s not evaluating investing opportunities Kathryn is an avid knitter, researcher, and blogger.
So have you done it? How did it go? I just got a pack today and am trying to decide whether to use it on my food garden. Other than nitrogen, I don’t know what else is in the gel. Do I really want my edible plants soaking it up?
right?? i want to know too!
I used this crap very sparing with water and it killed most of the stuff I put it on. Needs to be dumped on weeds in the woods. Totally worthless. DO NOT use.
I used the enviro ice and diluted it per package instructions, now I have 4 dead bushes. Called the company and she took my information, but so far no one has called back. I DO NOT recommend using this.