Day 9: Even more interesting.

The 2 ounce areas are wilting badly a bit earlier than expected (the humidity has been extremely low for PA). They'll cycle for watering a day earlier than I thought as no rain's expected until, if we're very lucky, Monday (and then not much).

The 4 ounce areas are still holding with no wilt, but has that look to it like it's going to think about it shortly in some areas. Since that's the southern face, I'm surprised it went this long. The northern face looks fine except the area by the driveway, which overheats badly and is thinking about needing water.

The 8 ounce area looks like I watered it yesterday. Strangely, the extreme back line wilted, but I'm willing to bet I didn't get enough down there as I'm always very careful not to overlap onto my neighbor's lawn,

Early Conclusion: 2 ounces isn't enough. 4 seems to work better. 8 works pretty well, at least so far. At $23 per gallon, 8 ounces per thousand across the lawn isn't a great price point, although 4 is tolerable.

I still dont understand what the Glycerine is supposed to do?

less watering?

macarciero wrote:I still dont understand what the Glycerine is supposed to do?

less watering?

Yes. Glycerine is a humectant, which means it can draw water from any surroundings to wet itself. If you left 1 ounce of glycerine in a glass on your counter, it would expand to 5 ounces of glycerine/water mix just from the humidity it sucks out of the air.

Since I've accidentally done that, I can confirm it works but does take time. The glass is small, the glycerine fairly deep in it, and there's not much surface area there.

In theory, the glycerine should be able to pull water from the air if the air is humid enough. Its ability to hold the water isn't very strong, so the roots should have no issue pulling it away and using it.

I know you explained it already, but for some reason, it didn't completely click until just now.

Glycerine could backfire for me, because it's going to draw water from the surroundings, whatever they are. Since the humidity here is very low (almost always below 10% and often below 5%), it wouldn't be drawing water from the air and would instead draw it from the soil, thus making it less available to the plants.

I make my own lotion and I think I might start making some that is glycerine free. I'd use the glycerine version when I travel and the glycerine free version here. It's so dry here, that glycerine could be taking moisture from my skin.

bpgreen wrote:I know you explained it already, but for some reason, it didn't completely click until just now.

Glycerine could backfire for me, because it's going to draw water from the surroundings, whatever they are. Since the humidity here is very low (almost always below 10% and often below 5%), it wouldn't be drawing water from the air and would instead draw it from the soil, thus making it less available to the plants.

That's possible. The last few days have been in the 35% range here, or incredibly dry for Pennsylvania in July. The Magic Expanding Glass of glycerine was in winter inside, where humidity tends to sit in the 30% range. Note to self; put back in bottle even if you're going to make more soap in a few days... Although I used it anyway. It's just extra water.

I'd have to do a controlled test under set humidity conditions, and that's tough when the stuff's grabbing it out of the air.

I make my own lotion and I think I might start making some that is glycerine free. I'd use the glycerine version when I travel and the glycerine free version here. It's so dry here, that glycerine could be taking moisture from my skin.

Try it, some people do report that tendency in low humidity regions. Other things to avoid would be any urea additives as they do the same thing. Lanolin (which I can't use 'cause I'm allergic to it) would be great, though.

MorpheusPA wrote:Try it, some people do report that tendency in low humidity regions. Other things to avoid would be any urea additives as they do the same thing. Lanolin (which I can't use 'cause I'm allergic to it) would be great, though.

I'm not allergic to lanolin and it does wonders.

Hwoever, I've seen some pretty dramatic results by adding about 10% urea to my lotions. My fingers used to crack so badly that they'd bleed from the fingertips. It was pretty bad because If I put bandages on, it made typing difficult (which makes it tough to write programs). Then a Canadian friend brought me some uremol (it's about $15 for a 250 ml (about 8 fl oz) bottle. I found Nutraplus at drugstore.com for about the same price (but a 16 fl oz bottle). Then I found a place tu buy urea online and started adding it to lotion, then started making my own.

I've still got a couple of places on the backs of my hands that will flake occasionally, but no cracking or bleeding for years.

Day 11: Front and back shocked badly and got watered yesterday. Temperatures are in the 85-90 range, and rising through the week toward 95.

The southern face, with higher amounts, still looks fairly good with only faint wilting, although the worst areas there were covered liberally in sawdust so don't really count. The north face is still fine as well, but generally is.

Overall, the evaluation is that it does seem to help a bit, but nothing extreme. Two and four ounces may not be enough.

I'm ending the first test here with a neutral to faintly positive evaluation and no recommendation to use it.

Once I can reset, probably this week, I'll try a higher level and see if that works.

bpgreen wrote:I'm not allergic to lanolin and it does wonders.

Hwoever, I've seen some pretty dramatic results by adding about 10% urea to my lotions. My fingers used to crack so badly that they'd bleed from the fingertips. It was pretty bad because If I put bandages on, it made typing difficult (which makes it tough to write programs). Then a Canadian friend brought me some uremol (it's about $15 for a 250 ml (about 8 fl oz) bottle. I found Nutraplus at drugstore.com for about the same price (but a 16 fl oz bottle). Then I found a place tu buy urea online and started adding it to lotion, then started making my own.

I've still got a couple of places on the backs of my hands that will flake occasionally, but no cracking or bleeding for years.

Mom has that problem sometimes, although it's more chillblains. A lot of people like urea-based items in lotions--I use one myself--but they can dry you out a touch if the environment is also very dry.

I'm not primarily a lotion-maker, and that's difficult to add to soap (you can, but only minimal amounts). Plus soap isn't a leave-on product, so it doesn't help!