@dchall_san_antonio You are quite welcome. :) I don't think manufacturers and distributors should have to hide who they are on forums - we really can be an excellent source of information. (And thanks for fixing my botched link!) @texas-weed - Excellent reasearch. :) You are correct that surfactants are classified in the same chemistry range as "soaps" (baby shampoo included), but keep in mind that this range is quite wide. An occasional drench with a mild soap-based mix probably won't do much damage (my grandmother swore by an occasional tossing of dishwater in the flowerbed!), but many soaps are anionic which over time can deflocculate your soils. (Meaning that it will keep soil particles from naturally clumping together, which is necessary to create pore spaces for air and water to circulate correctly through the soil profile.) I did a quick check of name-brand baby shampoos and most of the "no tears" kind are listed as non-ionic (same general chem class as turf surfactants), but I would still be cautious of using on a regular basis. Test it on a small area for a while first to make sure it's working the way you want it to. The article you cited is correct, in that a soil that is not water repellent doesn't need wetting agents. Why fix something that ain't broke? ;-) As long as a soil remains moist, it is less likely to develop water repellency issues. The problem comes when it's allowed to dry out -- in very basic terms, the water-catching organic matter on the soil particles starts to curl in on itself, and if let go too far will harden to the point that it no longer readily accepts water. If you have gotten to this point, wetting agents are the easiest fix for the problem. The best way to tell if your soils are in need of wetting agent help is to do a Water Droplet Penetration Test (WDPT). I couldn't find a simple protocol for this on the internet, but I can get one from our R&D department if you're interested. It basically involves pulling a soil core, drying it out for a couple of days, and then putting water droplets along the length of the core. How quickly the water drop absorbs into the soil (or if it does at all) will help you determine the level of water repellency, as well as how deep into your profile it goes. (Most often it's just within a 1/2 inch of the surface.) Knowing how severe and how deep the water repellency is (if present) will help you determine the best product for your needs. If you have the patience, pulling and testing cores from several areas across your turf will tell you if you have a localized problem that only requires spot treatment, or if it's an issue that needs area-wide treatment. (Just remember to label where each core was pulled from!) Thanks for allowing me to participate in the discussion, and please let me know if I can help with any additional information!

I like Nimbleweed and prefer calling it Nimblewill. It's not really a weed but a grass--and a turfgrass at that (as opposed to a pasture grass). The Michigan State site at MSUturfweeds.net calls it a turfgrass and kind of compares it to bermudagrass: Nimblewill is a warm-season turfgrass that will infest cool-season turf. It has excellent winter hardiness which allows it to establish and compete. It will often stay dormant (white-to-tan) until Memorial Day and will go dormant soon after Labor Day. Nimble will has the growth habit of bermudagrass but is hairless and somewhat more upright. ( http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/nimblewill_44/ I have some Nimblewill in my backyard near where there used to be 3 trees (now 2 trees after I removed one last year that was in a bad spot). Nimblewill looks kind of like improved Bermudagrass but without the ghastly seedheads. The seedheads of Nimblewill look more like a single long spike that's kind of feathery. If it weren't for the difference in seedheads you could mistake Nimblewill for improved Bermuda. Like I said, I let Nimblewill grow in my backyard near the tree area all it wants, and it spreads fast. It beats having true weeds like plantains and dandelions occupying the space. The rhizomes and stolons of Nimblewill are thinner and more elegant than Bermudagrass rhizomes and stolons. Unlike Bermuda, Nimblewill can tolerate shade. From NCSU: "Nimblewill has very slender, thin leaves, which can be confused with bermudagrass." Like Bermuda, Nimblewill has both stolons and rhizomes but thinner, finer. ( http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/weeds/Nimblewill.aspx From PSU: "NImblewill can be confused with either creeping bentgrass or bermudagrass. Some quick ways to tell them apart: Bentgrass is a cool season grower, so it maintains green color into fall past frost. Bermudagrass has stolons and rhizomes that are flatter and much thicker; and seedheads with 3-7 finger-like spikes arranged like a pinwheel." ( http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:c1lPL9xaN48J:extension.psu.edu/greenindustry/turfgrass/turfgrass-factsheets/nimbleweed-factsheet+&hl=en&gl=us George Weigel's blog at PennLive says Nimblewill is "in the same family as desirable perennial turfgrasses." ( http://blog.pennlive.com/gardening/2010/09/controlling_nimblewill_in_the.html ) Someone at AllExperts wrote: Nimbleweed is opportunistic. It will kick in at the slightest thought of shade or drought. If your grass is getting 70 percent sun, it might not be tough enough to fight the Nimbleweed. Get a good shadetolerant grass to win this war. ( http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lawns-725/nimble.htm ) From the Washington Post: "Begin by analyzing your lawn. Nimblewill is indicative of saturated soil and shade. You can alleviate the soil saturation by installing drain tiles or by providing better surface drainage by filling in any depressions. It also grows in soil with much lower pH than most grasses will tolerate, so have your soil tested. You may need to add lime to bring the pH to a level that is acceptable for turf grasses. If trees are shading the area heavily, consider removing some of the lower branches to allow in more sunlight." ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031500552.html )

We have also plugged 2 shady areas of our backyard with Turfallo's "Shadow Turf." One of the areas is on a slope shaded by a tree. We've had to do many, shallow waterings to make sure we have no erosion there. That area has only been planted for a week and a half, the other for just a handful of days, so it's way, way too early to determine how things will shape up. The rest of our lawn is "609" buffalograss (with weeds that we are treating with Drive 75). One aspect of Shadow Turf that didn't sink in to my consciousness when eveluating turf was that it actually takes a fair amount of water! During establishment, it takes half an inch a day! The brochure that came with the plugs indicates that after the grass is established it will "...stay green on as little as 4" of water per month." As little as????? This is in contrast to the Tech Turf (the other Turfallo product) that can stay green on a more reasonable 2" of water per month. So, it will be interesting to see how the 2 grasses we have (Shadow Turf and 609 buffalograss) will do being in the same sprinkler zones. "609" is very, very drought-tolerant and too much water on "609" encourages weeds. Yet, it appears we'll need much more water on the Shadow Turf, to the tune of an inch a week. Also...FWIW, the brochure that came with the plugs indicated Shadow Turf "...will grow in up to 80% shade..." while their website indicates it can handle up to 90% shade, yet in another area it states 80-90% shade is what it can handle. It may not make that much difference, but it would be nice to see consistency in their marketing.

Luckily for me the sprinklers are already installed from the prior grass we had so reconfiguring a few to water down the turf every once in a while is simple. We are looking at Global Synturf right now which has a W Blade 80 turf that is suppose to be 15 degrees cooler. We did look at Tiger which seems very similar. Also looked at Grasstex (which I love but its the most expensive and the one that holds the most heat), Purchase Green and one more I can't remember the name of that was similar to Tiger. We are looking at using Zeolite for the infill instead of sand to help with the heat and odors for pets, etc. Rubber bits are used for sports field and now there are other options beside those nasty little things for fields too. It's a huge decision and I hope we don't make a mistake installing this stuff. It seems like the installers here can't get it down fast enough to keep up the demand for turf right now.