Milk on the Lawn

Spring was delayed, but came on like gangbusters this year.  It's currently around 70° F out there and absolutely perfect.

I spent most of the day putting down a bit over 1 tablespoon per thousand square feet of Prodiamine (Barricade), which will tend to deter weed sprout in the lawn and gardens for the next six months or so.  I also treated the back patio and front walk to keep weeds from growing between the bricks.  Effectiveness of the product is extremely good.

I washed that in with a gallon of milk spread over the lawn and gardens (the brick patio and walkway didn't get this, of course!), for about 8 ounces of milk per thousand.  To that, I added around 4 ounces of humic acid and about 2 ounces of dissolved sodium laureth sulfate as a soil conditioner.

The sodium laureth sulfate helps soil bits conglomerate together instead of forming large plaques, increasing water penetration over time.  The humic acid feeds the fungi in the lawn a little bit, assisting in water supply, nutrient supply, and general health.

The milk is...odd.  It's not something I'd suggest adding unless your soil is tested and tuned fairly well, but it does seem to assist growth a little bit over a very long period of time.  My idle guess is that an enzyme in there is similar enough to plant enzymes to unlock phosphorus from the soil matrix.  But that's only a guess.

Over the next month, the milk will increasingly make the lawn a little greener, grow a little more strongly, and generally improve the look and durability.  That advantage will maintain itself for the rest of the season.