BLSC and KH Questions

[kwoody51]

Another question from me

Is there an ideal time/ soil temp to start applying BLSC and KH? I'm at ~50F so don't know if best to wait a bit or apply now.

Similarly once I start applying how often should I apply? Have seen varied timing suggested.

I have done mechanical core aeration annually but have some VERY compacted spots due to spots of high clay soil.

Thanks!

[MorpheusPA]

Fifty and up is fine, although I probably wouldn't go with the kelp any lower than that. It won't hurt, but won't help. The soap is more of a chemical process and it matters less--if it's above freezing, it's fine.

You can do this monthly at the suggested rates (2-4 oz per month) assuming normal rainfall of about 3-4" per month (or equivalent irrigation). If lower, I'd say go every other month.

[kwoody51]

Fifty and up is fine, although I probably wouldn't go with the kelp any lower than that. It won't hurt, but won't help. The soap is more of a chemical process and it matters less--if it's above freezing, it's fine.

You can do this monthly at the suggested rates (2-4 oz per month) assuming normal rainfall of about 3-4" per month (or equivalent irrigation). If lower, I'd say go every other month.

Thanks for this! Maybe I'll wait a little bit until soil temps are up and I'm getting actual growth vs just greening of grass.

[Riverpilot]

Hey Morph, and anyone else...
Where are you finding liquid sodium lauryl sulfate? The supplier I was using on Ebay is gone, and I can't seem to find any.
I really don't want to get involved with powder form. Or even the kind of kiddie shampoo? I'm looking at ingredients and they all seem to be getting away from using this.

I'm almost to the point of just going to siteone and buying their wetting agent, though it's a HUGE price increase.

Thanks much..

[MorpheusPA]

I'm not, I'm using powder. If you'd rather just mix in a half gallon of Suave from the store, I'm fine with this, or a half gallon of whatever you can get from the dollar store.

Those use thickeners, so a half gallon plus water so you can get it to thin out. If you can manage to make it thin enough using more, go for it. Exact amounts aren't terribly important; this falls within "wing it" chemistry where close enough is good enough.

[R2k]

Regarding the kelp that comes from kelp4less, could I apply it the way micronutrients are applied by mixing it with Milorganite? Are there good reasons not to do that?

Thanks!

[andy10917]

I don't know if it will make a sticky mess when you dampen it or not. There is no testing done that I'm aware of. There is nothing chemically that is wrong with doing it.

[MorpheusPA]

Ditto. It's going to be a sticky, disgusting, brown-staining mess when it gets damp. Ask me how I know. But it's fine to do from a chemical perspective; I'd simply water it in a bit immediately afterward or risk making a mess if you track it in.

[R2k]

I appreciate the feedback. I hate the hose spraying. We'll see how this works out in a few weeks.

[R2k]

*Note: I'm mixing just Milogranite and kelp from Kelp4less to see if I notice any benefits. I am not introducing moisture when mixing the two. I am using the Kelp Help recipe as a starting point for how much dry weight of kelp I should apply per 1k sqft.



When I ran the math on the KH recipe, I get ~0.89 grams of dry kelp being distributed over 1k sqft.

#1 Do you guys agree that my math result above is in the right ballpark or is it way off?

#2 If I'm applying kelp mixed with Milo, would you stick with 1 gram of kelp per 1k sqft, or would you increase the kelp amount being added per 1k sqft?

My goal is to see color enhancement (if any) and promote root health and any other benefits from Kelp. I do not want to increase top growth rates from using kelp, but I will tolerate it if my other goals are achieved.



An FYI: Today, I applied 3 grams of kelp w/100 oz of Milo mixed together and applied it to a 1350 sqft section of the yard. I have a 1400 sqft control that I treated with just Milo at 103 oz (effectively 4.6 lbs per 1k sqft, vs the bag rate of 12.8 lbs per 1k). Both were watered in.

[MorpheusPA]

1) Seems about right off the cuff. There's really not going to be a major issue with more, I wing it.

2) It doesn't really matter. If your primary nutrients are in order, it will help a bit. If not, it really won't.

Kelp won't set off top growth. There really isn't enough nitrogen there to do so.

[R2k]

Thanks!

I gotcha on the table needs to be set with the nutrient levels first before kelp could helpful. I think they're in passable order from my last soil test but I haven't had you folks evaluate them. I'm waiting to do another soil test in a week and then I'll post one for the official spring season review in a few weeks when Logan Labs gets them back to me.

For reference purposes, I'll include my test from Nov 2022. Note: I believe I used the whole cores instead of 3"- 4" sections of the cores. Notable inputs since this test: 51 lbs of Gypsum per 1k on March 23rd & 2 lbs of SOP per 1k on 4/5. Ammonium Sulfate/Milo are my N sources.


I have zero experience using kelp, so I'm not sure what will be visually tangible. I've seen some claims of chelation on the internet. Since my pH is at 7.0 (& had a history of it at 7.3), I wanted to see if I notice any color differences from potential chelation interaction with iron.

Experimenting is fun! We just had a nice gentle rain for 30 minutes here. I'll post back in a few days to see if anything interesting is happening. If not, I'm going to up the kelp rate substantially since I'm targeting soil vs foliar (at my own risk). I'm capturing pictures along the way, but nothing interesting to post yet.

[R2k]

Just for the record I wanted to revisit my prior comments since I said I was experimenting with kelp via soil app bound with milo.

I did not detect any visual enhancement in the section I tested in my experiment, but I didn't use a much higher dose than the foliar amount. There's nothing really to draw from my experiment other than it was flawed to begin with because I started with the foliar dose and went up slightly. I'm not planning on doing any more kelp testing via soil since I've seen the light and now I am setting myself up for broadcast spraying.

Maybe I'll spray some kelp sometime and see what happens.

[MorpheusPA]

Kelp is an add-on, not a primary, and tends to do small things. I note that use in the garden leads to better blossoms than otherwise, but double-blind testing isn't possible as I'm the one doing the application. However, plants that are treated do notably better than those that are not. At this point, I use a small amount in every feeding.

For the lawn, it tends to enhance the heat and cold tolerance a bit, but I notice very little difference in growth rates (already quite good) or color (always excellent on my lawn anyway) or density (extremely high).

[R2k]

Thank you, Morph. That info is helpful.

My soil was shipped off to Logan Labs today. Can't wait to get those results back!