Dry Spot Experiment

[B.LaB]

How are you applying this to your lawn and not smothering the grass?

[ Post made via Android ]

[MorpheusPA]

Most of the lawn, including the southern face, isn't at that large an app. 60 pounds was my standard corn addition some years ago when I was slamming the soil.

The trouble areas do require a bit of raking afterwards to settle the stuff, but the high rate is still only about a quarter inch of sawdust. That's fine, and it won't smother anything.

[midnightKBG]

Can Joy Ultra (Yellow bottle) be used as well? I have a large container just wasting space in my cabinet

[MorpheusPA]

I wouldn't see why not. A quick check of the ingredients says it's just fine.

It's not gonna smell the same as a nice shot of Dawn, however.

[ckone]

I wouldn't see why not. A quick check of the ingredients says it's just fine.

It's not gonna smell the same as a nice shot of Dawn, however.

Teach me to fish:

What do I not want to see on the ingredients list for soap/shampoo etc? I know antibacterial is bad. What else?

[MorpheusPA]

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.

[mattya]

So then I take it White Rain body wash instead of Shampoo would work too? Fiance picked that up instead, but knows to look for Sodium Laureth Sulfate and it's listed at #2. Only other thing listed on the front is "enriched with sea algae extract, vitamin E and chamomile". Good?

What have you found to be the cheapest source of this stuff? I'm taking on my dads lawn which is quite large and is going to need a lot of SLS/SLES.

[MorpheusPA]

Body wash is a bit thin on the SLES, but should work. Sea algae is fine, as is vitamine E and chamomile--there's not enough to really have an effect either way.

So far, the cheapest source I've found is the sodium laureth sulfate powder from Brambeberry.

[nowataboomer]

Body wash is a bit thin on the SLES, but should work. Sea algae is fine, as is vitamine E and chamomile--there's not enough to really have an effect either way.

So far, the cheapest source I've found is the sodium laureth sulfate powder from Brambeberry.

Morph, is the product from Brambeberry sodium laureth sulfate powder or sodium lauryl sulfate powder? Are they same item?

[fmzip]

I have some of this stuff that came with the house. Can I use it for a dry spot experiment?

https://www.stmarytx.edu/environmental- ... ergent.pdf

[MorpheusPA]

Body wash is a bit thin on the SLES, but should work. Sea algae is fine, as is vitamine E and chamomile--there's not enough to really have an effect either way.

So far, the cheapest source I've found is the sodium laureth sulfate powder from Brambeberry.

Morph, is the product from Brambeberry sodium laureth sulfate powder or sodium lauryl sulfate powder? Are they same item?

Lauryl. Sorry, I was typing that really, really early in the morning.

[MorpheusPA]

I have some of this stuff that came with the house. Can I use it for a dry spot experiment?

https://www.stmarytx.edu/environmental- ... ergent.pdf

Looks fine, and a similar concoction to Dawn.

[MorpheusPA]

Experiment update: in our rather warm weather (88 degrees, dry, and windy with no rain in sight) the lawn finally started to fade a bit. While the trouble areas went first, early indications are that the rest of the lawn isn't far behind.

So far I'd call this whole thing a smashing success and cheap enough to warrant redoing whenever the weather turns like this.

[HanLawn]

how many days since it last had water?

[MorpheusPA]

We had a minor rainfall on July 6th, but not much and it came down in buckets for a bit and then stopped dead.

Er, before that...I half irrigated July 3rd. Prior to that was at least another week since a full irrigation.

[HanLawn]

This has been a crazy summer.all last year I was able to go a minimum of 9 days in-between soakings either thru rainfall or sprinklers,this summer,recently anyways,even after an inch, the lawn is begging for more within 4-5 days.Abnormally hot,low humidity, and wind is a bad combination,despite well over 8% OM levels and withholding nitrogen apps.

[MorpheusPA]

Yeah, so far it stinks pretty bad. They keep saying it'll rain in a week. They've been saying that for three weeks now...

[HanLawn]

We were doing very well rainfall timing wise until mid June,then it all fell apart,still good soaking rains every time we got them, but too far apart to keep the lawn happy,and I refuse to water more than every 7 days,even then, neighbors look at you like you are wasting a precious resource.

[NiciPicki]

I can tell a huge difference between the spots I treated heavily and the spots I either lightly treated missed. I sprayed some water on the far corner of the lawn right beside the sidewalk (notorious for having hard soil/drying quickly) and it ran right off onto the sidewalk. Oops. So then I moved down the sidewalk toward my driveway a few feet, sprayed some more water, and it soaked right in.

Time to buy a vat of Dawn.

[MorpheusPA]

With a reno coming, you can safely overdo it into early August at least. After that, I'd let it leach out so the soil isn't fifty percent soap.

Although I'm also rather famous in the area for treating my pots with a thick mix of soapy water and then washing it through the next day. The plants not only don't mind, they tend to respond by blooming heavily. The neighbors find the froth spilling off the patio amusing, but the gardens benefit from the runoff as well.