# Soil amendments question?



## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

Is there any cost effective amendment to treat soil to make it less hydrophobic?? I have different soils or conditions that make some areas resistent to watering. I use one of those soil probes to sample across the yard and I come up with extreme differences between excessively dry to wet all from running the irrigation the same amount of time about 35 minutes on average. I have 5 zones on Hunter heads and 3 sprinklers in my back yard running on timers. We have not had rain (maybe 3/8) in 30 days and none in the 10 day forecast! I tried to aerate the dry stressed aeras because I thought something needed to be done but I don't think that helped much. I did run the irrigation before trying the core aerator but it did not pull plugs well. I have a spike aerator perhaps that may have worked better penetrating the soil, I don't know??? So anyone else have this problem and do things like liquid aeration products work?? Or what soil amendments do work?? Cost is an issue as I'm retired with budget constraints.


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## Burg05 (5 mo ago)

I wonder if something soapy would work? Soap breaks surface tension.


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## Ben4Birdies (12 mo ago)

Do you have a soil test to show us?

If your soil is high in magnesium, you could add gypsum to try and soften the soil a bit.


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

3oz baby shampoo/M with a hose end sprayer. Might help. It's cheap.


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## robjak (Mar 31, 2020)

From Grassdaddy 2016

https://www.grassdaddy.net/videos/the-best-lawn-soil-conditioner


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## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

My magnesium level on soil analysis was optimal. I have heard about using a pure liquid soap to decrease surface tension but also saw information that indicated that was not a long term intervention for correction. We had our 1st rain two days ago 0.59 in. I also irrigated that day so I may have seen .75 for the day. The next day I was able to penetrate the soil in areas that I was unable to before the rain. Still as I testef around the yard with the moistue meter I was finding areas registering dry and other areas wet so wet you can hear it squish under your feet. I ordered Simple Lawn Solutions liquid aeration product. I think figuring how to get a more uniform distribution of water will go a long way to solving what is wrong with my turf! I will review the video link from robjak as well thanks!


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## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

I reviewed the grassdaddy video. Interesting! The link to yucca extract looks expensive something like 39 dollars for 4 oz. The lauryl sulfate seems reasonably priced. What I didn't see or missed is how much coverage did the gallon he mixed actually provide. Was that solution used full strength or diluted further by a hose end sprayer or mixed with more water in a tank sprayer. I did find another source of the yucca extract for 8 oz for 30 $$. Something to consider!


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## robjak (Mar 31, 2020)

I use the SLS without the yucca. I mix with other stuff sometimes.

Search this site and/or Google for (BLSC) and kelp help .


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