ERA Lundry Detergent. OK? Ingredient List.

[rydaddy]

I have 150 fl oz. of ERA laundry detergent. Would like to use it on the lawn. Ingredient List follows, anyone see anything alarming? If I can't use it, the world won't end.

[turf_toes]

Why do you want to apply it to your lawn?

Just because?

It's got Borox as an ingredient. Too much of that will destroy your lawn and perhaps prevent you from growing anything for several years.

This hobby doesn't need to be a chemistry class. If you don't know what, if any, benefit it provides, don't apply it.

I've never done a soil test for the same reason. My lawns have always looked great. It got that way by applying basic cultural practices like when to feed and water.

I swear, sometimes I think folks just over think this stuff.

My house is full of detergents and cleaners. I've never once thought of applying any of them to my lawn.

[rydaddy]

ooops. I will be sure to not use it. sorry.

[MorpheusPA]

+1 TT. Use this for your laundry, not your lawn. Some surfactants I recognize, some I don't, and I'd have to research some of the process aids. The boron in the borax is definitely a no-no, and it's enough to just say "no" to using it without any further thought.

Really, I'm happy with almost all shampoos, liquid hand soaps (without antibacterial agents), SLS, SLES, and a whole host of additional sodium-, ammonium-, and potassium-based salts of fatty acids. But something with this many ingredients and defoaming agents and...random stuff...no.

[gergev]

+1 TT. Use this for your laundry, not your lawn. Some surfactants I recognize, some I don't, and I'd have to research some of the process aids. The boron in the borax is definitely a no-no, and it's enough to just say "no" to using it without any further thought.

Really, I'm happy with almost all shampoos, liquid hand soaps (without antibacterial agents), SLS, SLES, and a whole host of additional sodium-, ammonium-, and potassium-based salts of fatty acids. But something with this many ingredients and defoaming agents and...random stuff...no.

The boron in the borax is a no-no because we don't know the concentration and/or whether it is even needed in that soil, not because boron is necessarily bad, correct? I was advised to mix some 20 mule team with milorganite and spread it after a soil analysis.

[turf_toes]

Yes.

Boron is one of those things where a little (in certain conditions) can help. But if over applied can be very, very bad.

Without a soil test, there's no way to know how much, or even if you need any at all, to apply. It isn't something that should be applied if it isn't warranted.

Again, having a great lawn doesn't need to be a chemistry class.

[MorpheusPA]

Again, +1 TT.

For the amounts you were told to mix with Milo, that's fine. They're small, gentle, and won't cause any issues.

Boron is an agent we don't fool around with. Amounts in laundry detergents vary; I make my own, where elemental boron comprises 2% of the mix (borax is a 25% component of the detergent). But that's ultra-concentrated and you use 1 tbsp per load.

Just in greywater from households, boron levels have been found to be high enough to damage sensitive plants: http://www.ewisa.co.za/literature/files ... 0Singh.pdf

You're applying it directly, without the 20 gallon per cup dilution in the laundry and without further dilution and rinsing out by other greywater sources within the household.

While there are ways of side-stepping problems from mild to modest boron overapplication, it's not wise to flirt with the issue in the first place. Severe boron overloads will render them incapable of growing anything.

Before we scare you, boron is one of the touchiest elements--which is why fertilizers contain very little of it if any at all, unless they're specifically a boron fertilizer. Most other elements have enormous ranges of tolerable values, and in some cases even a severe overload simply won't cause much damage, if any at all (iron comes to mind here).