Liquid Soil Loosener

My yard has been dying in the back and thinning up front. Cool season perennial rye does great but come warm season, large bare sand patches. Noticed water pooling as I watered sod plugs to see if one variant would grow better than another. Sandy soil was also hard to dig in at places. Figuring that out led me down a rabbit hole of watering agents and to this product. Bit skeptical but gave it a go and I was shocked at how fast and well it worked. The sand began soaking in the water, the hard patches did too. My sloped areas took in the water with little movement of water. When I was done I turned the sprinklers on for 10 minutes a zone to help get it in. The irrigation was done at 9pm. Normally in the morning even after irrigating, soil looks mostly dry, but at 11am most of it looked damp still like it was finally holding onto moisture. Will spray it down today again to make sure every inch got hit as the weekend is bringing storms to soak the soil and hopefully trigger my grass to start coming back.

This worked as I am definitely noticing a difference in my watering since applying this product. My grass responds so much better to watering as evidenced by the blades appearing greener after watering. My soil was so compacted, I just don’t think the water was getting very far. I would water for 20-30 minutes and my moisture reader would show dry to normal, or in some areas it would be wet, but it didn’t retain. I also wasn’t noticing a big impact on my grass from watering. Here’s the downside…my water bill will probably go up now because I’m officially addicted to watering my grass now that I clearly can see the results of becoming more and more green. 😂😂 So why 4 stars instead of 5? I can tell it significantly helped aerate my soil with just one application. I also like that I can get two full applications for my yard out of one bottle. It works, no complaints about the product. I would use it again. However, it does not beat Jonathan Green’s Love Your Soil. The year I used that for the first time, I was shocked how much it softened and loosened up my soil. Combine it with Mag-I-Cal Plus and wow….amazing. However….That is a bigger financial investment. So is it the best? No. But this definitely made a magnificent difference and is good for the price!

I've been an avid gardener and 'beautiful lawn' enthusiast for decades. I like using products that are all organic, safe, effective and priced well. I first heard of SLS products while watching some Ryan Knorr youtube vids on lawn renovation - my fall project - and decided to try the products. Reviews were good, but the 'pull the trigger and buy' moment for me was learning it was a family owned business and reading others reviews on their helpful customer service. After narrowing down the products best suited to this project, I reached out to Pam H. at SLS and heard back within a few minutes with answers to my questions. No automated answers either! She is a delight and very knowledgeable about each product. With her help and encouragement, I first used the Soil Loosener, followed a few weeks later with the Root Hume and Micronutrient Booster both applied on the same day. This weekend, I will be applying the 3-18-18 lawn food. While I had never been a fan of products that had to be applied by spraying or misting, with Pam's help I now consider myself a pro. The trick to it was less reading or the Ortho Dial &Spray directions and more watching of related youtubes, then running it all by her for last minute tips. I know that sounds like a lot of 'hand holding' over something so simple - but while sad, still true. Bottom line: I found the application to be a piece of cake - what had I been waiting for????? The Soil Loosener...I'm not kidding...is a miracle product. I was shocked to see that the directions only called for using a very small amount, but it worked like a charm. I sprayed it on all my lawn areas and even in my flower beds to improve water and air flow. I watered it in well, but still timed it to go down right before a heavy rain. Weeks later and eight days after receiving a 3" rainfall, I used a moisture meter and found that not only was the soil soft enough for the probe to easily insert 5-6 inches, but the soil was moist all the way down - something I'd had a hard time achieving due to compacted, hydrophobic soil and run-off. So Soil Loosener gets 5 stars for sure. I opted for the Root Hume and Micronutrient Booster to improve the over-all health of the soil and give my new grass seed the best growing conditions possible. I don't have a way of determining how much these products changed the condition of the soil, except to say that my new grass is dense, emerald green and gorgeous. I'll be applying the 3-18-18 as stated above to give the lawn the best pre-winter treatment in anticipation of the coming 3 months in the 20's & 30's. Very recent studies have shown that higher doses of nitrogen are good in September and even October, but as the temperature drops, the need for nitrogen decreases while the need for phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) increase. The P for root development and the K for over-all stamina and health. I'm truly delighted with these products and plan to use the 16-4-8 lawn food as we come out of winter for green-up, growth, root development, vigor and strength. I encourage you to give these a try, contact Pam by email or phone if you have questions (both contacts are on the web page). You won't be disappointed.

Burned our grass due to high concentration. Recommend you follow the instructions and use with caution.

Some people say that this product is the same as baby soap or shampoo. I refuse to use shampoo To save $$$ the placebo effect would bother me, plus shampoo has fragrance in it. My lawn is a sign of pride and respect. Because I built it from Nothing by hand, by myself. . 10th yr running the best. Ive seen people feel in on my cameras, I even had a women say “it looks like a bed and laid down on it 50yr old women, in the middle of the day. Point is its my thing. Nothing goes on this lawn without me having experience with it. Except for this time. Aeration is important, lawn has to breath, soil compacts but the machines they seem to destroy lawns. However, I knew i should do something this yr to loosen up the soil as It has become so thick I do worry about it choking the lawn( happened many yrs ago) My lawn has gotten so dense that a weed couldn't grow if it wanted to. If your soil is too compact or the lawn is too thick. Not thatch, I bag everything and thatch every spring with my own machine. What others should know; It does NOT matter how much you water your lawn. Because, the water has to be able to get down deep down the roots. If it can not your lawn will not look right and could die off. mature roots are deeper takes 3 yrs for lawn to establish the new seed to get the roots down. I know my lawn, I know how it feels to walk on( only when mowing lol, as no one is messing up my Fenway Stadium Stripes.) what to do- first Get the ortho garden hose attachment empty bottle.( they do sell it at lowes too. White bottle with red top. Its small and only 12bux. U do not need a backpack pump sprayer. Forget all that. Jus fill the ortho bottle with this product. Do not mix water, the ortho does it itself, at the proper ratio as it has a dial uou set. Its idiot proof if you read the directions. set it the dial liquid aeration READ THE BOTTLE instruction. Turn the water on full blast. What I did was act as If I was hand watering the lawn. I hit every inch. But keep it moving but slow steady pace. When done I said please do not let me loose my title. Believe me YOUR NEIGHBORS COMPETE! I will say this…..within 2 days after applying this. I presses my hand down on my grass all the way down and it felt like a sponge. I said ohhh… it def loosened up the soil( was actually impressed. Then 5 days or so I waited and cut it. So I had to walk all over the lawn and with every step it felt so soft. Not muddy, soft.. So, I knew it did loosen the soil. That was 2 months ago I will continue to use this product. It does what it says. You wanna put shampoo on it fine. Not doing that to my lawn. Even if it is the same also too shampoo has fragrances and other things. This did not smell bad and it did not smell like shampoo. All I can attest to is the 100% it softened the soil this year I have had 0 problems. People assume a lawn like mine maintains itself. I am always observing it. If i see brown patch or anything. I know what to do. Alot of work. Im telling my fellow lawn nuts out there that this did not hurt my lawn one bit. I believe it helped. If the soil is softer which is was then that is what you want. You need air to get in, you need water to get in and deep. You can do this yourself, u don't need to pay or rent an aeration machine. It got my vote. Pics where taken months after. To show it held up and is NOT choking itself. and that is all I care about.

Headsup, this is a long review. The only reason I am spending the time to write it here is because I like it a lot and I know how good reviews is important to a good product. We have clay soil in our yards which makes it hard for lawn to grow healthy and even. The local nursery guy suggested us to aerate the soil. But the clay soil makes it extremely hard to aerate lawn. We have tried using manual aerator that you step on it to poke holes. It takes lots of times and efforts and it hurts my shoulders from pulling it up an pushing it down. Then we tried to use the plug aerator which connects to our riding lawn mower. It's too light and doesn't work very well to those rock hard clay soil. So we have to put a cinder block on the aerator to make it heavy. But it hurts my lawn mower connector and it burns fuels. So I researched online and found this product. I am not going to lie, I didn't quite trust it at the beginning. But it doesn't cost a lot, comparing with all other aerating approaches I bought. I thought I would give it a try. I have used it twice now and it made a tremendous difference. I mixed it based on the ratio provided from instruction and used a 2gallon ACE spray bottle. It's as easy as spraying yard with fertilizer or water. Then the soil started to bubble. About 1 hour later, I took the manual aerator to see if it works. It made my soil become like a angel food cake. Doesn't take any effort to push the aerator into the ground. So I just aerate the whole front and back yards. You don't really have to do it. I did it because it's very easy after applying the liquid aerator and also because I was planning to seed the lawn later on and would love the seeds to go deep. What's better is It's organic, so there is nothing hurting my grass nor my pet. My neighbor bought it after he saw me using it. I mean he was using a drill to aerator his lawn. Lol. I waited so long to write this review cause I want to see how my lawn go this year. It's never been this even and healthy. I am excited to see new growth next year.

Saw this on a YouTube video from Ryan Knorr and thought I'd give it a shot. Reasons for me trying it are simple. 1. I have a small lawn and live in a windy area. Using a hand broadcast sprayer with granulated product can be difficult and using a drop spreader is not convenient in my back yard. 2. I am less worried that it will cause problems with my dogs The pictures I posted are because they didnt really have a good front and back photo to really understand this product before purchase. I'll provide better updates on my YouTube channel and here. Check me out if you like. My channel is called "The Weekend" and look for Ep 2: Adulting for a Day so you can see my lawn and what I'm working with. Update 5/21/2019 I added a before photo so you can see if it does anything. No other fertilizer was put down. As you can see this is a freshly mowed lawn with new see put down. I used this plus the humic product. I'll add another photo in about a week or so. Soil temps are optimal right now where I live in California to have new seed grow and be established before it gets to hot. Soil loosener is 1 ounce per 1000 sq ft. I use a little more then I needed for this area. Make sure you soak the lawn after to allow penetration. Update 6/4/2019 Just mowed the lawn and this is what I've seen so far. More grass has popped up, but does not appear any thicker. I can tell that my soil is a little less compacted since it's not holding water like is used to in certain spots. I have added an additional picture to update this review and I have also bumped it up to 4 stars. I am going to add another application down soon, but this will also be with some nitrogen as well via another product. Unless someone wants to send me their summer blend. 6/22/2019: I have to say that this stuff plus the humic/fulvic acid has done wonders to turn my lawn around. Pictures are in order of the progression of my lawn rehab. I can say that my lawn is very thick and has done very well. I have adjusted my watering times by just a few minutes every other day. I do not have to worry to much about my lawn right now. I just recently got the summer/spring fertilizer to see how else my lawn can become the best it can be. If you are interested. Follow my review on that product. Make sure you like my post if you enjoyed my review.

Update: After 1+ years of adding this to my regimen (applied May, July, September) the backyard turf is lush, has filled in, and reduced ponding, what used to pond after any thunderstorm is now non existant. I have about half of the bottle left. Background: US Zone 5a, Mixed lawn of Fescue & KY Bluegrass, Past 3 years have all been organic fertilizer and annual fall core aeration. Why I bought it: The front lawn is low traffic and full sun, hard to screw it up but I had areas that were thin and the ground was hard. The backyard is part sun and heavy dog & children traffic so it's usually compacted down pretty quickly and is part of a swale so it will flood after heavy rains. If I don't keep up the water in the summer the earth cracks and the grass goes dormant and dies off with foot traffic. How I applied: 1oz/1000sq ft applied to ~2000sq ft (front) ~1000sq ft (back) via hose end sprayer. I put 10oz water + 2oz of Soil Loosener in a popular sprayer set at 2oz/gallon and sprayed the front lawn. For the backyard I halved the above recipe and applied in same manner a couple of days later. Results: After 9" of rain spread across 3 weeks followed by a week long dry spell: the thinner areas in the front yard seem to be softer. However on the day of the backyard application the forecast estimated 0.30-0.50" of rain overnight but instead we got a brief popup hailstorm that dropped 3.1" rain about 20 minutes after I applied soil loosener. The backyard flooded and I feared all the soil loosener washed away down the swale along with my fertilizer granules I also just applied. So ~4 weeks later and drier conditions I see bare soil areas with large cracks, the soil feels much harder than the front lawn, but the grass is looking really good. Customer Service: I called the number from the contact us and spoke with Brittany (I hope I spell this correctly!) about the product and my results. Brittany was extremely knowledgeable, unscripted, and gave me troubleshooting steps I would have never thought of on my own. It was a great experience as a customer to have that instant support and I hope that as their company grows they can find a way to keep that level of support. Including a website. Overall: 4.99/5 - The "value" of the 32oz product (32,000sq ft as directed) is a bit overkill for me. I probably wont buy again since I will have this product on my shelf for years but I assume it doesn't expire. I would have much preferred an 8oz or 16oz for $10-$25 to try it out. Extra thoughts: Vendor should also publish a website that includes FAQ about their products and display some results!

I was skeptical but this stuff works SO well. There was a bit of an immediate change, but the true results have come a few weeks later. We could not get the pegs for our pitching net into the ground without using a rubber mallet; now they slide in easily. The lawn is so much healthier now and taking water in properly again.

Bought it to try and improve the soil compaction particularly in grassed areas and found it straightforward to mix, however gauging area coverage is not as easy so may have got it 'just about right'. Too soon at this point to determine its effectiveness.

Used 2 season. Not find anything change

Has helped loosen the soil and promote new growth, while helping to re-establish the dormant areas!

Excellent product. Worked as advertised.