# Baby Shampoo



## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

There are a couple of spots in my yard that are drying out much faster than the rest. As a short term solution to the problem, would treating it with baby shampoo help retain moisture in between waterings? It has basically lightly rained for 2 straight days, including this morning. I haven't ran the irrigation for at least 2 days so it isn't a coverage problem. It is currently 75 degrees, sunny, and calm. My lot is flat. I suspect the areas that dry out are slight high spots.

Here is a picture of one of the areas. 









I circled the spot that is drying out. There is a slight channel where the water drains away from the house.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Baby shampoo won't help retain moisture to any great degree. It will help if the ground is repelling water and it isn't soaking in. It primarily increases water penetration, but not retention.

If you want water retention, you should look at more expensive products with polymer chemistry (Cascade Plus and TriCure are two). For a lot of information check out:  this USGA page. The article about understanding wetting agent chemistry is long, but has a lot of useful information.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

I agree with @bernstem also baby shampoo has little if any residual soil activity so it can help get water in that you are applying now but unless you add it every time it won't be helping after the application. The advanced wetting agent chemistries have residual soil activity for 2+ weeks which can really improve your watering efficiency. If you're going to drop some coin on a premium wetting agent, check Cascade and TriCure but also look at Soaker Plus. That's what I use and I've had fantastic results and I've seen a big improvement in watering efficiency. Almost July in SC and haven't needed to add water to my yard yet.


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