Dry Spot Experiment

[jparadise81]

So after reading this I think I'm going to switch from shampoo and dish soap to laundry detergent. Wal-Mart has the big jug of Xtra fairly cheap.

I've been applying the shampoo at 4-5 oz/K but after reading this I feel like I should up it in my trouble spots. Would 10oz/K over the yard with an extra 20oz/K in the trouble spots every other week be overkill. I'll be watering it in thoroughly. Hoe does this regimen sound? Im also applying the Kelp help as recommended and following the bermuda bible.

[MorpheusPA]

It's immaterial what you use, really, so long as the amounts of surfactants are there. The only reason I chose Dawn and Xtra were convenience at that particular moment, and future heavy apps will be done using BL Soil Conditioner, or sodium lauryl sulfate in my case. Because I have 4 1/2 pounds of pure SLS on hand.

If you water it in, 10-20 oz is fine; I applied 22 ounces per thousand across the whole property, 50 in trouble spots. But the keywords there are "if you water it in."

[NiciPicki]

Well, I can't speak for others, but I know the reason that I follow the brands you use to a T is because I'm afraid I may buy a brand with something harmful in it out of ignorance. I noticed that the dish soaps didn't have ingredients listed, so I was afraid to stray from regular Dawn (although there are cheaper brands). I also don't know which brands are the best bang for the buck - yeah, some may appear to be cheaper, but what is the price per ounce of desired ingredient?

What are some brands or ingredients to avoid when picking out a dish or laundry soap for the yard?

[ Post made via Android ]

[fmzip]

You can get the ingredients of most products by googling the brand name followed by "msds pdf"

example:

https://www.google.com/search?q=joy+soa ... =firefox-a

Whiteners, ingredients like oils (orange oil is fine, though), and those sorts of things are bad. Boron, if listed, means avoid it.

This is one case where the harsher and cheaper it is, the better it usually works. Stuff that would strip your hair and leave it dry is actually great for the soil.

[NiciPicki]

Oh, well, how about that! Thanks, fmzip!

As a chemical engineer, you'd think it'd occur to me to look up the MSDS....

[fmzip]

Oh, well, how about that! Thanks, fmzip!

As a chemical engineer, you'd think it'd occur to me to look up the MSDS....

You're welcome!

[MorpheusPA]

I just dropped another 34 ounces of a mixed bag across the lawn (the rest of the detergent, the last of the Dawn, and 2 gallons of soil conditioner made with sodium lauryl sulfate at the 8 ounce per gallon level). This was in anticipation of heavy rainfall that so far we haven't gotten.

If we don't--and there's another nice set of storms coming in that look good--I'll irrigate this evening.

[RockinMyLawn]

Bringing up an old thread because I'm beginning my journey on shampooing & soil conditioning.

So I used an old ortho dial & spray hose end sprayer I had lying around but never used:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/23 ... ulture.jpg

Instructions said to put in the amount of material liquid I wanted per 1K sqft but don't add any water into the plastic can.
Hooked it up to my hose as instructed with only 4 oz of baby shampoo in there to test it out over 1K.
Dial was set for 4oz/1K on sprayer.

It didn't do anything.
Duh. There's not enough of the shampoo for sprayer to meaningfully siphon anything out.

So I dumped my entire bottle of 16 oz left of J&J shampoo into the can & put a teeny bit of H20 in it - thinking i could at least see what I am spraying with more suds coming out.

I have a 7K sqft lawn area to cover & got about 1/2 of it done when I ran out of soap in the can.
I figured I used ~ 16oz over 3500 sqft. or 4.6oz/K.

I would need a 28 oz bottle of shampoo to do the entire lawn @ my preferred rate of 4oz/1K sf.

Question:
Should I have put the entire bottle of shampoo in the sprayer can?
Should I have put any water in the can along with the shampoo? - if so, @ what amount/ratio?

[Green]

I don't know the answer the answer to your question, Rock, but I have a question, too. Seeing this thread is already bumped...

Someone left what appears to be an unused Softsoap shower soap bottle on my grandfather's lawn (people throw trash out their car windows sometimes, I guess. Usually it's cigarette wrappers or waters). Anyway, it has sodium laureth sulfate in it. Is a product with "laureth" ok or beneficial to spray like "lauryl"?

[micvog]

@RockinMyLawn -
It doesn't matter. The key, in your case, is to spread 28oz evenly over your entire lawn. If the undiluted shampoo flows through your sprayer, and you are able to get even coverage, then put the entire bottle in the sprayer can. How much the shampoo is diluted "in the can" vs. diluted as it is sprayed (using the dial) vs. diluted as it is watered in, makes no difference.

To clarify a possible misunderstanding, you wrote you set the dial for "4oz/1K". It doesn't work that way. The dial is diluting what is in the "can" with the water through the hose. The "4oz" setting is per gallon of water. Depending on your water pressure, the Ortho dispenses 2G water/minute so it should use up the 32oz. "can" in about 4 minutes at that rate.

[RockinMyLawn]

@RockinMyLawn -
It doesn't matter. The key, in your case, is to spread 28oz evenly over your entire lawn. If the undiluted shampoo flows through your sprayer, and you are able to get even coverage, then put the entire bottle in the sprayer can. How much the shampoo is diluted "in the can" vs. diluted as it is sprayed (using the dial) vs. diluted as it is watered in, makes no difference.

To clarify a possible misunderstanding, you wrote you set the dial for "4oz/1K". It doesn't work that way. The dial is diluting what is in the "can" with the water through the hose. The "4oz" setting is per gallon of water. Depending on your water pressure, the Ortho dispenses 2G water/minute so it should use up the 32oz. "can" in about 4 minutes at that rate.

Thank you for those clarifications.
Good catch on the dial setting.
I missed that altogether.

I think i read - besides anti-bacterial ingredients - there were other bad components to look out for on the label.
Trying to search for those...