Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 21, 2012 8:06 pm Noticed that it's not easy to find a fertilizer which doesn't have these added . Was looking at 'oragnic based' DL for new lawns (or whatever it's called) but it has them. Seamungus has them. Anohter Scott's soil improver/fertilizer has them. And these 3 were on my top list to use under my new lawn - all 3 have the crystals. Now, all would be fine, but I read ages ago that they can be completely counterproductive and basically deprive the young roots of water as they tend to soak it in and gel up. Has anyone done any experiments on this? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Water crystals as additive 2Mar 21, 2012 9:51 pm Its been scientifically tested/trailed that the gels work in container plantings, but not in the soil. As you have read they do tie up nutrients so they aren't as readily avaliable to the plant. Having some clay content in your soil does wonders conpared to gels. Re: Water crystals as additive 3Mar 22, 2012 10:47 am I'd like to add to this by saying, if we topdress our lawns with products such as Dabco Saturaid, Munns Weta Lawn and Garden etc, is it really any benefit to the rootzone? Because we've added these products to the SURFACE of the soil, not below where its really needed!? I'm not convinced that these products are of any benefit to our lawns. Re: Water crystals as additive 4Mar 22, 2012 11:41 am Depends entirely on your soil type. Clay/loams not worth the money. With sandy water resistant soils/potting mix then yes they can be of use. But only in open exposed areas like turf, in garden beds a layer of mulch combined with soil amendments sort any wettability problems out. Re: Water crystals as additive 5Mar 22, 2012 11:47 am As for your other question, wetting agents basically break the surface tension of the water allowing it to cling more easily to water resistant soils. So your water doesnt just run off the surface. Your thinking is correct that they need to be through the entire soil profile to achieve max benefit. But they do help getting water to get into the soil until the the wetting agents work their way further down into the soil. By continually adding organic matter to your lawns the soil will naturally hold water better and this will be less of a problem. Eg leave the grass clipping on the lawn in areas where people/kids don't roll around on. Re: Water crystals as additive 6Jul 30, 2012 10:33 pm Krilnik I'd like to add to this by saying, if we topdress our lawns with products such as Dabco Saturaid, Munns Weta Lawn and Garden etc, is it really any benefit to the rootzone? Because we've added these products to the SURFACE of the soil, not below where its really needed!? I'm not convinced that these products are of any benefit to our lawns. Wetting agents are best used when no soil amendments have been used in a landscape. Organic compost is not a soil amendment. They are surfactants (the good ones) and allow water to penetrate the soil. There would be no other way to do this unless the soil has been amended. wetting agents are very essential. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhO545XzU5M 18 90480 From what I know about water tanks (I've been working with a client on them for a few years now) is this - The concrete can last a lifetime if they don't crack for some… 2 10629 4 10821 |