BL Soil Conditioner Formula and Making Your Own Mix

Learn how improving your soil can lead to a better looking lawn
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simpson
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BL Soil Conditioner Formula and Making Your Own Mix

Post by simpson » July 23rd, 2009, 4:57 pm

Well i just got my Aerify Plus so you know i had to put that down. I really dont know how it could work? What is it really. I know you have used it Eric what do you think?
Last edited by simpson on September 15th, 2009, 12:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » July 23rd, 2009, 7:05 pm

What is it? Nobody knows. :-)

It's ammonium laureth sulfate, plus some proprietary ingredients, plus kelp extract and humic acid. It works by opening small holes in the soil (the ALS unbinds the soil chemically) and allowing the kelp and humates to enter the crack.

And it does work; post the next rainfall you should notice your soil is easier to dig.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by turf_toes » July 23rd, 2009, 7:37 pm

Jon,

It's about a teaspoon of baby shampoo and tap water. (I'm only 60 percent kidding).

Check out the ingredients:

60%-Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
40%-other ingredients

I added the wikipedia link for Ammonium Laureth Sulfate for your edification.

I've often thought it would be easy to sell your own product with similar ingredients. You could call it separify. (As in separating customers from their money). You could explain that it means that your product separates the "clay molecules" making it easier for water to penetrate the soil.

Seriously though, I'm not saying Aerify doesn't do any good. It might even be possible that the 40 percent other ingredients actually do something for your soil. (Though I would like more specifics before I believe it)

I just think it would be a lot cheaper to mix some baby shampoo and water yourself...

A couple of years ago, I purchased a bottle and it certainly didn't do any harm. But since seeing the ingredients, I've tended to make my own from Johnson's Baby Shampoo.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by andy10917 » July 23rd, 2009, 8:25 pm

Oh, you're selling it short. They claim that it contains (or maybe its Nitron) "proprietary enzymes" or something along those lines. It turns out that it is Yucca Extract. You can get Yucca Extract at any Lesco.

If you go through the early threads of this site, you'll find a thread where I said I was going to compare Aerify, Nitron and Homemade "surfactant sauce". The weather didn't cooperate (too much rain) but the unscientific answer is that a beer, some baby shampoo and a little Yucca Extract is damned close to those products.

Somebody give TW a jab - he'll start ranting that the enzyme is the same thing that is in human spit.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by simpson » July 23rd, 2009, 9:37 pm

lol Bob

Sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), is a detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste etc.). It is an inexpensive and very effective foaming agent.


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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by simpson » July 23rd, 2009, 9:41 pm

andy10917 wrote:he'll start ranting that the enzyme is the same thing that is in human spit.
uggggg. i can only spit so many times i don't think i can cover my lawn with it.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by cactus » July 23rd, 2009, 10:38 pm

andy10917 wrote:I was going to compare Aerify, Nitron and Homemade "surfactant sauce". The weather didn't cooperate (too much rain) but the unscientific answer is that a beer, some baby shampoo and a little Yucca Extract is damned close to those products.
Andy,
What criteria were you going to use to compare the effect of the products?
The infiltration rate in my test patches went through the roof - expansive clay and drought-like conditions open the soil surface right up. I'm going to try again on some bare soil here at the house - my clay-loam doesn't have quite the same issues.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » July 23rd, 2009, 11:14 pm

Given the price of 1 gallon of yucca extract and 1 gallon of sodium laureth sulfate (if I could find it, that is), I think the Aerify may be cheaper...!

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by andy10917 » July 24th, 2009, 8:27 am

A gallon of each would be a 40-year supply. :shock: Baby shampoo at Wally Mart is almost cheaper than water.

I did screwdriver tests and water percolation tests. The problem was that all of the percolation tests were unreliable when it was raining heavily every day. The effect of a day's worth of rain was bigger than the difference between the commercial and homemade products.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » July 24th, 2009, 8:49 am

What would the mix be for a thousand square feet? Quarts of yucca extract aren't that expensive, and I can manage baby shampoo locally, I'm sure.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » July 24th, 2009, 9:07 am

Update...I found sodium laureth sulfate on EBay for $14.95 per gallon, 28% solution.

Yucca extract is $22.50 a quart from T&J enterprises.

Even if it took the whole thing of both, that would be about $37 (plus shipping) for more than a gallon, far less than the Aerify.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by turf_toes » July 24th, 2009, 9:58 pm

Now you just need to buy some cheap bottles and print some labels.

At what they charge for Aerify, it is almost like printing money.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by pcrispy » August 3rd, 2009, 5:07 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:Update...I found sodium laureth sulfate on EBay for $14.95 per gallon, 28% solution.

Yucca extract is $22.50 a quart from T&J enterprises.

Even if it took the whole thing of both, that would be about $37 (plus shipping) for more than a gallon, far less than the Aerify.

Not to hi-jack this thread but I still have some interest in regards to making your own Aerify or similar product. Did you ever decide to go ahead with this?

I have looked at making my own Nature's Magic from liquid kelp extract on ebay 1 gallon for $29.99 shipped and humic acid for $19.99 shipped. So for $50 you get 2 gallons with lower quality products, when Nature's Magic works out to about $52 for 2 gallons if you buy the 2.5 gallon. It just seems like a better deal to buy the Nature's Magic in the first place.

Thoughts?

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » August 3rd, 2009, 7:07 pm

pcrispy wrote:
MorpheusPA wrote:Update...I found sodium laureth sulfate on EBay for $14.95 per gallon, 28% solution.

Yucca extract is $22.50 a quart from T&J enterprises.

Even if it took the whole thing of both, that would be about $37 (plus shipping) for more than a gallon, far less than the Aerify.

Not to hi-jack this thread but I still have some interest in regards to making your own Aerify or similar product. Did you ever decide to go ahead with this?

I have looked at making my own Nature's Magic from liquid kelp extract on ebay 1 gallon for $29.99 shipped and humic acid for $19.99 shipped. So for $50 you get 2 gallons with lower quality products, when Nature's Magic works out to about $52 for 2 gallons if you buy the 2.5 gallon. It just seems like a better deal to buy the Nature's Magic in the first place.

Thoughts?
I did, actually, and I'm waiting for the last of the Aerify to run out before switching over.

I got 1 gallon of SLS for $14.95, plus 1 quart of yucca extract for $22.50, a total of $37.45, or a hair under $30 per gallon. One gallon of Aerify runs $85.85.

Assembling humic acid and kelp meal sounds like a good idea, and a bit cheaper than the Nature's Magic.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by simpson » August 3rd, 2009, 8:18 pm

Hey Eric tell me how you like mixing your own. I would really like to keep up on it myself

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » August 3rd, 2009, 9:26 pm

simpson wrote:Hey Eric tell me how you like mixing your own. I would really like to keep up on it myself
Done this evening after I shredded eight feeding bags and one box for the compost pile.

The neighbors think I'm mad. But hey...browns in August! :-)

It was really easy; about 2/3 quart of the yucca extract, the remainder SLS. I haven't used it yet and won't for a while, but I don't expect issues.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by simpson » August 3rd, 2009, 9:47 pm

shredded eight feeding bags?

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by pcrispy » August 3rd, 2009, 9:57 pm

What was the shipping like on the SLS and yucca? Can you post a link to your sources? Some of the stuff on Ebay has ridiculous shipping, like $16 shipping for 1 gallon of $15 SLS or something like that. It kills to pay more for shipping than the actual product.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by MorpheusPA » August 3rd, 2009, 10:20 pm

Yeah, that's it. The shipping was kind of a hit on the SLS, but I wasn't too concerned about it. It's still miles cheaper than the Aerify.

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Re: soil test are BACK

Post by pcrispy » August 3rd, 2009, 10:43 pm

I looked at the shipping on the sls and it is $16 for 1 gallon but $18 for 2 gallons. Looks like i may just be getting a whole bunch of the stuff to save cash. I suppose it wouldn't hurt since my soil is so much clay.

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