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Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 14th, 2020, 8:25 am
by Hammbone81
I thought about putting this in the irrigation section, but its more specific to us cool season guys.
Does anyone put down a surfactant (ie, shampoo) before running their irrigation system for the last time before it gets winterized?

Re: Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 14th, 2020, 3:01 pm
by MorpheusPA
I don't, but you certainly can. It won't hurt anything as far as lawn, gardens, shrubs, and woodland animals are concerned.

Typically, my last app is after winterization as I spray iron in early November and there's surfactant in that in fairly large amounts.

Re: Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 14th, 2020, 11:37 pm
by Hammbone81
MorpheusPA wrote:
October 14th, 2020, 3:01 pm
Typically, my last app is after winterization as I spray iron in early November and there's surfactant in that in fairly large amounts.
Tell me more about your spray applications of iron in the fall. Or year around as far as that goes. I assume its FAS?
I bought large quantities of stuff last year and haven't done it once this year. I need it as my pH is above 8 and I can't get iron to uptake thru the soil. FAS is just kind of a pain to mix up and not spill on the concrete.

Re: Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 15th, 2020, 6:00 am
by MorpheusPA
Fall, really. And only once--other than that, the lawn is on its own as color is either excellent or simply allowed to be whatever the season dictates (summer color fades naturally).

I mix it directly in my backpack sprayer, so it's not really a pain. Well...mostly. Iron plus water in a bucket, then pour off the solution into the sprayer leaving the gritty stuff behind. Add surfactant. Spray. To date, it's not a major issue in terms of mess on the concrete.

Target's about 4 oz per thousand or a bit more since I'm working on bluegrass and in November, and it's only once per year.

Re: Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 15th, 2020, 7:13 am
by northeastlawn
Why spray iron only once, and at the end of the year?

I follow the fall fertilizer regimen,and my lawn so dark green at this point, but not familiar with this one.

I am always battling poa-a and battling fungus, I haven’t reached the point where I figured I wanted to start worrying how dark green the lawn was. :-)

Is this for aesthetics or does it function as some form of winterizing?

Always room for something else in the lawn care plan.

Re: Surfactant before last irrigation?

Posted: October 15th, 2020, 1:02 pm
by MorpheusPA
northeastlawn wrote:
October 15th, 2020, 7:13 am
Why spray iron only once, and at the end of the year?
Hi, meet Mr. Lazypants! :-) Well, that, too.

I need to photograph the lawn now that the mini-drought is...well, not over, but temps have cooled enough that it doesn't matter so much any longer. It's rich, green, dark, and doing very well. I don't really need to spray it right now.

And if I did, it would absorb the iron, turn darker green, then lighten as the chlorophyll was destroyed again by October and November sunlight and the chloroplasts mowed off.
Is this for aesthetics or does it function as some form of winterizing?
Yes and yes. It looks great over the winter, or at least until temperatures fall well under fifteen degrees. At that point, the tips sear.

Plus the darker grasses absorb sunlight better, keeping them warmer. Grass that's warm enough is photosynthesizing and producing energy--and disinclined to drop its blades and go dormant. So while the neighbors' lawns are yellow, brown, and dead, mine's still green in February. Warranted, I'm in a very transitional area, where temperatures under 10 degrees only happen a couple times a winter.

The lawn needs to be pretty dense to do this well, and darker lawns are, of course, also warmer lawns for the same reason that a black sweater absorbs more heat than a white one. Mine even melts snow faster just from the difference between deep, dark green and straw yellow ochre.