# Alternate soil fertility product confusion and questions



## kur1j (Jul 2, 2017)

I've been seeing a lot of questions floating around regarding a lot of these "alternate" soil product and I'm getting confused at what I'm looking at. In addition, it seems that a lot of these products can be looked at as snake oil and have very weak science backing it up, but I don't even know enough about the stuff right now to even know what would fall into that category.

I might be duplicating generic and brand names here, but the ones I've seen tossed around. Humic Acid, Humate, DeTHATCH, MicroGreen, GCF Air8, PermaGreen, LazyMan Liquid Gold, Soil Tech Turf2Max, exiGrow, kelp powder, UFlexx, UMaxx, NutriSphere-N, HCU, "wetting agents",

I'm assuming that these don't fall into the same category and I might be mixing up apples and oranges here, but...

1. What groups is each of these associated with? For example, I've read the GCF Air8, Liquid Gold, Turf2Max are all liquid aeration products. @thegrassfactor did a nice video explaining them (I haven't seen a result video and if its worth it). But I don't have a clue if the other products would fall into a liquid aeration group or soil admendments type group.

2. I'm sure its quite broad but in general what other products that I missed would fall into this?

3. Which general groups are worth looking into further that aren't snake oil?

Sorry if these questions seem stupid but all of these different types of chemicals and uses are running together and I can't decipher if they are the same, or if they are completely different products.


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## oldglory2105 (Apr 25, 2018)

UFlexx and UMaxx are urea stabilizers. They decrease volitazation and maximize nutrient uptake and plant available N. The Green County Fertilizer products that you mentioned above are based around humic and fulvic acids among other things. They are not snake oil. Humic acid and kelp are proven to increase root development. I've had great results from a number of GCF products this season. I'd highly recommend finding a good source of humic acid to improve your soil for starters.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@kur1j the other products you referenced as "liquid aerators" are typically just different surfactants or wetting agents. They can help to alleviate localised dry spot (LDS), poor drainage or both. I have found that some products work better than others for my soil, but telling you which one would work best for you would just be guessing. The humic/fulvic acids will work to change your soil, so that the wetting agents would hopefully not be needed anyway.


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## zinger565 (Nov 28, 2017)

I question some of the additions of D-THATCH. It contains molasses and _"Yeast Blends"_. I assume the yeast blends are in there to show you whats going to digest and "eat" the thatch? If so, I highly doubt those yeast are alive. Either it's so viscous that it's destructive to the yeast cell (like honey is), or the yeast are awake because it's above 50F and they've eaten all the molasses. Mmmm, nothing like a D-THATCH cocktail!

If they're there for another reason, then so be it. I assume that the molasses is there to "feed" natural bugs and get them to attack the thatch, which makes sense in my mind.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Molasses are great for exactly what you describe. Actually any sugar/carb. It makes the soil microbes go into overdrive. But just buy it at the supermarket. Go for one without preservatives/sulfur (ie unsulfured blackstrap). The idea is to feed instead of killing the microbes. Use around 2-4oz/ksqft.

I have also applied turbinado sugar in the past and a rate of a couple of handfuls per ksqft. :-D


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## kur1j (Jul 2, 2017)

Ah, okay so the UFLEXX and the UMAXX are for urea and normally premixed in granular fertilizers. They aren't separate products that I would use when putting on fertilizer correct?

The other products by green county fertilizer are the "specialized" products of Humic Acid, Fulvic Acid. Several members have linked to articles showing there isn't much science to back these products up (N-Ext RGS, N-Ext Humic12). The other products from GCF N-Ext D-Thatch and N-Ext air8 have urea and potash in them as the AI. Those are obviously common nutrients for grass to thrive but not sure how that plays into the name of dethatching and aeration. However I did see thegrassfsctoes followup with air8 and according to him it helped?

The MicroGreen, FloraGreen, GreeNe Effect products seem to be just micronutrients fertilizers. These seem to be similar in fashion to something like FEature. All of these micronutrients are needed by plants to grow from my understanding so this would have a little more hard science behind them thst they would provide value. How much? I'm not sure?


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

kur1j said:


> However I did see thegrassfsctoes followup with air8 and according to him it helped?


I look at those videos with the understanding that this is an ongoing 'experiment,' and for that reason, the jury is still out--at least for me. 
However, judging solely by the appearance of the grass in the videos I have seen, the AIR-8 portions are doing as well as, if not better than, the aerated portions.


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