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Best household surfactant for lawn

Posted by ljbrandt 8 (My Page) on
Wed, Oct 26, 11 at 15:10

I've heard baby shampoo is the safest household item to use as a surfactant in a hose end sprayer.

I was wondering if there's anything more concentrated like seventh generation dish soap or something else.

I have dense clay soil and need something fairly strong (but relatively cheap) to spray on a monthly basis.

Is there anything better than baby shampoo?

P.S. - I also have Meguiars car shampoo and conditioner on hand.


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

I use Dawn dish detergent in my tank sprayer. 1 teaspoon to 15 gallons. I think it's actually a little too much.

Jeff


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

Here's a quote from Texas-Weed:

"You have to be extremely careful what kind of soap, in fact not soap at all as most dish soap has anti-bacterial agents and de-greasers in it which is a recipe for dead grass.
Several years ago when my youngest Son was going to college at OSU, he did a gas Chromatigraph on a product called Nitron A-35. What he found is it is flat stale dark beer, baby shampoo, and an enzyme found in human saliva. So we came up with a recipe that closely matched it.

1 bottle of stale dark beer. Open it up and let it sit out a few days.
1 cup of spit.
1 3-0unce travel bottle of Sauve or Johnson's tearless baby shampoo.

Place in a hose end sprayer and set dial to 1 TBLSP per gallon."

This post made we re-think using Dawn dish soap due to its degreasing properties. That's why I made mention of using something along the lines of "Seventh generation" dish soap or just sticking with the baby shampoo.


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

Thank you ljbrandt. I think I'm going to stop using Dawn. Guess I'll be getting baby shampoo next season.

When you say OSU, that's Oklahoma State right? Since I'm 45 minutes from them, I suppose I'll take the advice! Go Pokes! (although I'm a Sooners fan)


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

I used dawn dish soap, one tablespoon per gallon of water when I used sedgehammer. My experience was it worked great and had no side effects .


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

Yes Oklahoma State University.


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

Aside from a helper to the soil to accept fertilizer, you have a need to help the soil grow in its clay make-up.
To that, I suggest you do research into the use of 'gypsum.
Gypsum, (calcium sulfate) can act as a soil treatment, an amendment, a conditioner and fertilizer.
Often, clay soil compacts more easily since it holds water, but doesn't release it, setting up dryness in areas you prefer moisture.
It can correct alkalinity by reducing high pH; yet it counteracts acid soil by raising low pH.

Where clay soil particularly causes difficulty growing things gypsum might be your salvation. Forget about how to improve soil viscosity by adding more what it needs to get rid of.


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RE: Best household surfactant for lawn

Jet Dry


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