BL Soil Conditioner Formula and Making Your Own Mix

[IwantItgreen]

My experience today with spraying BESTLAWN SOIL CONDITIONER & BESTLAWN KELP HELP WITH HUMATES.
I recieved the kelp & humatic acid today and the yucca three days ago and this is how I proceeded today:
In a 1 gallon jug I mixed 2oz. (1/4 cup) kelp & 4 oz. (1/2 cup) humic acid with 1 gallon water.
In another 1 gallon jug I mixed 4 oz. yucca & about 48 oz shampoo with about 12-16 oz. water. I didn't add the amount of water the recipe states thinking that there was already water in the shampoo. [Again I halved the recipe]
I needed to cover 4300 sq ft so in my ortho sprayer I added 9 oz. of each and then added a bit of molasses to the mix. I guess I didn't moved fast enough because I only covered about 3000 sq feet with this. It feels like I didn't spray enough to even get to the thatch layer, getting only the top a little wet. So what do you think? I have a lot of water pressure, would that make a difference?

[MorpheusPA]

Probably the water pressure didn't help. Fortunately, overapplication isn't much of an issue.

I use a backpack sprayer so I can more carefully control the amounts. It's more work, but I do get down what I should, and with the correct level of dilution. I don't care for Ortho sprayers unless I'm trying to ground-soak something.

[McLovin]

Lesco has "PHC Yucca Liquid Concentrate" 9930604P for $57.55 a gallon.

[IwantItgreen]

I wish I had a lesco in my area. The nearest one is HUNDREDS of miles away!

[andy10917]

Damn! I mentioned that Lesco had it early on in the thread (July 23rd) but that got lost in the conversation somehow. That makes it even cheaper!

[McLovin]

Yes thanks for mentioning Lesco, I was having trouble finding that stuff so I gave them a call (could not find it on their website). And thanks to everyone who provided the recipes, application rates, etc.

[andy10917]

Make sure to give us progress reports - you can't make things better if people don't tell you what works and what doesn't.

[IwantItgreen]

I use cheap Baby Shampoo in my formulas, but may switch to the SLS since I can then know how much of the ingredient I am adding.

Question: Why do you use Baby Shampoo when is doesn't contain either sodium laureth sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate? The recipe for Bestlawn Soil Cond. calls for SLS. According to the Walmart website their generic baby shampoo contains: Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Peg-80 Sorbitan Laurate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Peg-150 Distearate, Fragrance, Polyquarternium-10, Tetrasodium Edta, Quarternium-15, Citric Acid, Yellow No 10, Orange No 4

Can you explain to me why/if this is better than any other shampoo that contains sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, etc.?

[andy10917]

Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a surfactant that can act as either an acid or a base, and is a bit "gentler" (hence the baby angle). For the most part, any soil-safe surfactant is going to get the job done. This isn't an exact thing - we're washing dirt after all. It isn't a "better/worse" situation - just different. If I were making gallons and gallons of the stuff, I'd buy the known quantity - SLS. If I'm slapping a little sauce together and I know my chemistry, then it's more of a "hmmm, what do I have laying around" question.

[IwantItgreen]

So when I have a calcium level of over 19,000 and a cec of 100.3% would the genuine SLS be the most bang for the buck? UMAAS soil test results here.

[andy10917]

There is nothing magical about SLS. It's just that when you buy 100% SLS, you can calculate the dilution you want. With Baby Shampoo, you have no idea what the dilution in the bottle you buy is. It's OK if your hacking around your own lawn and understand chemicals like "Methyl Ethyl Badstuff", as long as you don't tell others to make 100 gallons of it. Do you really think that chefs in the best restaurants really measure the ingredients with a teaspoon? When you decide to tell others about what you're doing, though, you'd better have the teaspoons handy.

[IwantItgreen]

ok, thanks Then I will just buy the cheap shampoo for awhile... I think!

[McLovin]

I went to pick up the yucca extract at Lesco (aka John Deere Landscapes) and it was $48.78 out the door. Total cost per gal for Bestlawn Soil Conditioner came to $10.55/gal.... Bestlawn Kelp Help with Humates $4.13/gal.

[pauly_walnutz]

How have you guys made out using your conditioner's? If anyone could post a link to their supplier for their SLS I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, was the 80 ounces of sodium laureth sulfate, 80 ounces of the 28% concentrate that some you bought on ebay?

[MorpheusPA]

The (current) link for SLS is below, and the current price is $14.35 per gallon:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sodium-Laureth-Sulf ... 518b74d765

If you really want to use ALS instead, here's the link. Current price is $13.50 per gallon:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ammonium-Lauryl-Sul ... 518cf3cc33

And yep, 80 ounces of the concentrate, 8 oz of yucca extract, 40 ounces of water.

[simpson]

just bringing this back. its that time of year again.

[reppend]

Not being the chemistry expert, I'm just double checking something that stood out to me after reading the MSDS sheet for Aerify! -- Clicky

They listed the follwing ingredients in the "hazardous ingredients" section:
Denatured Ethyl Alcohol (610 ppm) and Isopropyl Alcohol (6 - 7%.)

How much of a role do these ingredients play in the recipe, if any? I'm guessing they may help the solubility of the ALS?

[MorpheusPA]

ALS (and SLS) are water-soluble surfactants, hence the reason we use SLS in our shampoo. They also grab onto fat molecules pretty well, which is why SLS was developed as a grease remover and why it gets used, in smaller amounts, in soap and shampoo.

My guess is that it's there to stabilize the mix and keep it from going bad. Not that SLS or ALS will, but there are other things in there as well--probably yucca extract, which should be preserved. They could have used Paraben, but that would be harmful to bacteria, definitely not organic, and required a major label change. Alcohol, no, not in those limited amounts.

[MiniDriver]

Would the BESTLAWN SOIL CONDITIONER & BESTLAWN KELP HELP WITH HUMATES be beneficial in garden beds as well?

[MorpheusPA]

Yep, I throw the stuff in my garden beds (and on shrubs) as well. I do try to rinse it off the plants after it has an hour or so to absorb, but if I don't they don't seem to care.