# FEature = No Results



## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

Just wondering why FEature, or any liquid iron product I've used, has not given me any type of green up?

I've used Feature twice this year and once last year, never noticed any type of green up (full rate). Used simple lawn solutions liquid iron product last year and didn't notice anything either.

My pH is 5.48 (soil savvy, take it for what it's worth).. Would that make things an issue with chelated iron?


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## Grass Clippins (Apr 30, 2018)

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with your pH. My pH is 5.8 and @g-man recommended I use FAS as opposed to Feature (chelated Fe). I read through the FAS thread and my take away was that FAS works better in acidic souls. Not sure why though.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

What is your water pH?


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

g-man said:


> What is your water pH?


Never have tested it. It's city water. Looked online and couldn't find it either. I can purchase a test if it's important to know.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

how did you apply it?
rate per k?
how long did it stay on the leaf?


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Definitely how long it stayed on the leaf is apparently a big deal with iron. This last application I sprayed PGR with FAS. Only got about 45 to 55 minutes on the leaf before it poured. PGR for sure took effect but didnt see any green up whereas when i leave it overnight and wash off in the AM it is a huge difference.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Potential problems:

It rained or was irrigated too soon after application

You used too little product

Your carrier volume is too high (optimal is around 0.8 gallons per 1000, 0.5-1.0 is acceptable)

You tank mixed a phosphate fertilizer (or other incompatible salt)

Your water quality is terrible and managed to bind up the iron in the tank (unlikely but possible)

Soil pH doesn't matter, if you're doing a foliar application it shouldn't touch the soil anyway.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've been using 2 oz/1 gallon/1k. The only thing I've ever mixed it with is a very small amount of urea, but I've also used it by itself. Oh and a little bit of surfactant.

Also, I have never washed it off. I know it's foliar and needs at least 4 hours to stay on the leaf. This last time was it was on there 10 hours before it rained.

I did have some issues with my sprayer clogging on my last application and had to a lot out at the end up of my spray pattern, but that doesn't explain all of the other times I've used it.

I bought a paint mixer and am going to mix it with hot water next time I use it so I don't get any clogging.

Now I'm just more confused though. Sounds like it should be working. I have city water so the water shouldn't be that terrible...


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

City water can be terrible. Do you have hard water? Do you use a water softener?

Try this, water + AMS or Citric Acid first (~1oz/gallon). Make sure it is dissolved/mixed. This should get the water pH lower (maybe not all the way). Then add the FEature and mix. Then pour into your tank with a coffee filter.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

I had good results with hard water and ph of 8.7


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

FEAture also works best if the grass actually needs the Iron, Magnesium, and Manganese. If the grass is already sufficient and at its genetic maximum color, more is not better. I have seen it for myself that some cultivars of turfgrass are destined to be chlorotic unless they are grossly overfertilized.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

g-man said:


> City water can be terrible. Do you have hard water? Do you use a water softener?
> 
> Try this, water + AMS or Citric Acid first (~1oz/gallon). Make sure it is dissolved/mixed. This should get the water pH lower (maybe not all the way). Then add the FEature and mix. Then pour into your tank with a coffee filter.


I bought a pH meter and it should be here tomorrow. What's the ideal pH the water should be? Will probably be picking up some AMS since I'll want to try FAS at some point.


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## turfnsurf (Apr 29, 2020)

jrubb42 said:


> Just wondering why FEature, or any liquid iron product I've used, has not given me any type of green up?
> 
> I've used Feature twice this year and once last year, never noticed any type of green up (full rate). Used simple lawn solutions liquid iron product last year and didn't notice anything either.
> 
> My pH is 5.48 (soil savvy, take it for what it's worth).. Would that make things an issue with chelated iron?


@jrubb42 as a sidenote, where did you get Feature from? I've called the corporate office, the Nutriens offices in my state and the neighboring state, and I am always told that Feature 6-0-0 isn't available. Seems like everyone keeps scoring this product besides me.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

turfnsurf said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> > Just wondering why FEature, or any liquid iron product I've used, has not given me any type of green up?
> ...


I bought it last year and only used it once so I had a ton left over. I've casually browsed this year to see what the current prices are for it and I couldn't find it anywhere either. Sorry man.


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## NJ-lawn (Jun 25, 2018)

Is feature foliar or absorbed via the roots? If foliar how long is it left on the grass before watering in?


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

If your pH is that low the grass may be getting all the iron it needs through root uptake.


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## dacoyne (May 27, 2018)

jrubb42 said:


> turfnsurf said:
> 
> 
> > jrubb42 said:
> ...


From what I have read it hasn't been available since the end of last season. There are other threads discussing this and that Feature users have switched to something similar called MainEvent


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

As @Stuofsci02 said, I am wondering if you reached the darkest genetic color your grass can get.
There are limitations for a specific grass and there is no product that can change that.
@jrubb42 I found lately 'dark green' to become more of an obsession. People asking which cultivar is the darkest, which product makes it even darker etc, forgetting about all the more important aspects of a grass, like how resiliant is to disease, growth habits, draught resistance, HOC tolerance, texture....I can go on.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

Babameca said:


> As @Stuofsci02 said, I am wondering if you reached the darkest genetic color your grass can get.
> There are limitations for a specific grass and there is no product that can change that.
> @jrubb42 I found lately 'dark green' to become more of an obsession. People asking which cultivar is the darkest, which product makes it even darker etc, forgetting about all the more important aspects of a grass, like how resiliant is to disease, growth habits, draught resistance, HOC tolerance, texture....I can go on.


I feel you completely. But I'm definitely not even close to as dark as my grass can get. It was way darker this spring and last year. Also, I've never seen even the slightest difference in color after putting down liquid iron. I've heard of ppl turning their lawn black by putting down too much and I'm not even close to that.

Just trying to figure out why I'm seeing zero difference.


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

@jrubb42 Two more factors:
Nitrogen. Did you put any lately, did you change your N input since grass was darker.
Water, did weather or irrigation changed. BTW we are entering the 'no so great looking grass' period.

If all matches, I can't think of something else.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Deficiency in Nitrogen and Iron are the two most likely causes of light color, but grass that is deficient in other nutrients can also struggle leading to color problems. I would work on fixing all the macros and pH before stressing about spray iron and micros. Odds are that if your pH is 5.4, there are a lot of potential deficiencies that won't be fixed until the pH is fixed.

You also should consider the impact of HOC on color. Longer turf will look darker in color. If you are comparing your current color at 1 inch, it won't be as deep as it was at 2 inches, but it should darken with Iron.



I would look at finding out what your pH really is with another soil test using a more traditional method and addressing it first. 5.4 is probably at the bottom end of what most grass will tolerate.


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## turfnsurf (Apr 29, 2020)

bernstem said:


> I would look at finding out what your pH really is with another soil test using a more traditional method and addressing it first. 5.4 is probably at the bottom end of what most grass will tolerate.


I am getting a new soil test...but for the sake of asking a question, my last test sported 7.0-7.1 pH.

Does grass tolerance to pH depend on the type of grass? Or is there a general rule of thumb regardless of grass type?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

@turfnsurf Centipede grass likes low pH. The others are all pretty much 6-7.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

@g-man my water pH came in at 8.5. What should I try bringing it down to before adding FEature?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Things I use: AMS, Citric acid.

One on my list to try: phosphoric acid from hydroponics products.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Phosphoric Acid and Iron form unavailable Phosphate complexes. I remember seeing one old text on golf turf maintenance calling for Sulfuric Acid to be used to keep a Ferrous Sulfate tank mix from oxidizing.


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## icepickjazz (Apr 8, 2018)

g-man said:


> Things I use: AMS, Citric acid.


 How much AMS or Citric Acid do you use to bring down the PH when you mix Feature?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@icepickjazz I was about to post about this in my journal. I did pgr and iron this evening and took some measurements of what I'm doing. I've been using soft water (after water softener), 1 scoop of ams and 2 handfuls of citric acid.

Today with pH
~3gallons of soft water 7.93pH
1lb of AMS 6.53pH
60grams of citric acid 2.67pH
I then add the FEature and mix, then the pgr and then add more city water to get the tank gallons I need.

I think @Greendoc told me a better approach is to mix the citric acid first, then feature, then ams. This way the citric can chelate the the iron without interference from the ams.

I should also repeat these measurements using city water to see how the pH changes. From my past experience the extra calcium causes precipitates.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

Just wanted to update everyone and let them know I tried out the Citric Acid along with FEature. I FINALLY have noticable results in 12 hours. Wish I would've done this earlier in the year, but It was definitely the pH. I wonder if the high pH has had an effect on my foliar N applications as well as PGR?


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## hammerhead (May 14, 2019)

@jrubb42 , glad it worked out for you. So it seems that high pH prevents the iron to be absorbed by the leaves? 
Can anyone explain why that happens? I always thought foliar application do NOT depend on pH since in that case the iron is not provided to the roots. 
Also, isn't the point of chelated iron to be working independently of pH?

Thanks for any clarifications.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@hammerhead he is discussing the water pH not the soil pH. There are areas of the usa that have hard water with a high pH. In some cases the high pH is done on purpose by the water company to prevent issues with the pipes (eg. Lead). In other the water source is around limestone.

The higher pH and hardware can cause a chemical reaction in the tank that makes the application less effective. Adjusting the water first, ensures all the iron is available to the application. AMS is a method to lower the pH. Citric acid is stronger at the reduction plus it also acts as a chelation method too.


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## hammerhead (May 14, 2019)

Thanks @g-man 
Yes it was clear to me that it's about water pH, i was just not aware that a high water pH prevents proper iron takeup by the leaves. I did an Iron EDDHA application 5 days ago (applied 0.2oz iron per ksqft) but did not really see any effect. I also have hard water (limestone), so i guess i should also look into using citric acid.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

To be clear, the water pH has nothing to do with the leaves. The water pH causes some of the iron to precipitate out and not be available. It should be a smaller effect with the chelated iron your are using. Did you do a control plot (0.3m x 0.3m) to compare?

You should be able to find citric acid at Migros. Check the baking materials section.


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## hammerhead (May 14, 2019)

@g-man, what I did was 0.2oz iron/ksft foliarly for the main section and a small 15m2 section with 0.4oz iron/ksft applied to the soil. Now there is no difference between the 2 sections. I will do a control next time. I will follow up my on my post on Iron EDDHA that i created last week (/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23329).


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## hammerhead (May 14, 2019)

BTW, @g-man does not only know everything about turf, he also knows about specific supermarkets in Switzerland :lol:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I used to travel to Switzerland (Jura) one week of every month for more than a year. On the way back, I used to stop at Migros to buy Tête de Moine to bring back home. Not all Coop and Libl had it, but Migros normally did.


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