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Absolute necessity for any gardener, previously recommended by a friend and it's never failed me.
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Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil: get water back into dry compost, pots and lawn dry patch
Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil is a natural soap-nut and aloe vera concentrate that makes water soak into dry, water-repellent ground instead of beading and running off. Dilute 2.5–5 ml per litre and water it on: the same can of water finally reaches the roots. I formulate and blend it in Stockport, with no petroleum surfactants.
- Fixes lawn dry patch. Water sinks into hydrophobic thatch and soil on the next watering, and green-up follows over 1–2 weeks where the crowns are alive.
- Rescues dried-out pots and baskets. Compost that has shrunk from the pot wall rewets instead of letting water run straight through.
- Makes every watering count. Less run-off means less wasted water and feed in summer.
- Natural ingredients. Organic soap-nut saponins and aloe vera, plant-derived and biodegradable.
- Goes a long way. A 500 ml bottle makes 100 litres and treats about 100 m².
Part of our lawn care range. Work out the dose for your lawn or pots with the wetting agent calculator.
What's in Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil
How to use Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil: dilution rates and application guide
Rates below are given in teaspoons and in millilitres. One level teaspoon is 5 ml. A standard 9 litre watering can takes 45 ml, which is nine teaspoons, and covers 9 square metres at the lawn rate, and at the top of the soil drench range. For other areas, the wetting agent calculator does the sums.
This is a naturally derived concentrate containing saponins that settle over time. Shake or stir vigorously before measuring and diluting. Soft water (rainwater, filtered, or dechlorinated) gives best results. Hard water can reduce saponin effectiveness.
Application rates
Foliar spray, helps a foliar feed spread across waxy leaves
Add to any foliar spray to improve leaf coverage and absorption. Mix with seaweed, fulvic acid, or foliar fertilisers. Apply as a fine mist to both upper and lower leaf surfaces. The saponins reduce surface tension, allowing the spray to spread and stay on the leaf.
When: early morning or late evening, never in strong midday sun. A spread film on a hot leaf in full sun dries too fast to be absorbed and can mark the foliage. How long for: use it in every foliar spray for as long as you are spraying. There is nothing to build up and nothing to rest between.
Root drench, dry soil and container rewetting
Apply to dry or water-shedding soil and growing media. Particularly effective for peat-based composts that turn water away once dried out. Water the solution across the surface and allow it to soak through. The reduced surface tension enables even moisture distribution throughout the root zone.
First, on a badly dried pot: if the compost has shrunk away from the sides, water once with plain water to settle it back against the walls, then apply the diluted solution. Otherwise the solution simply runs down the gap. How long for: a container that has dried right out usually takes two or three waterings with the solution before it wets evenly again. Once it does, go back to plain water and use the wetting agent again only when it next dries out hard. More on containers in why pots and baskets stop taking water.
Peat-free compost
Peat-free compost takes the same rate as the root drench. Water the solution across the surface and allow it to soak through.
Transplant drench
Water newly transplanted seedlings and plants with a dilute solution so that water makes immediate contact with the roots. Particularly valuable when planting into dry soil, or when the root ball has dried out in transit.
When: at the time of planting, as the first watering in. How long for: once is enough. Water normally after that.
Lawn, grass and turf rewetting
Apply to lawns suffering from dry patch or a water-shedding thatch layer, the brown areas that stay crisp however much you water them. The reduced surface tension lets water move down through the thatch and into the root zone. Particularly useful after scarification or aeration, when the exposed soil surface can dry out and turn water away.
When: early morning or evening, on a cool or overcast day, never on turf in strong midday sun. Water the treated area in with plain water afterwards, roughly another litre per square metre, so the solution carries down into the thatch.
How long for: in the UK the useful window is roughly May to September, when the ground dries enough to shed water. Apply the lawn treatment once a week while a dry spell lasts, at the lawn rate above, and keep watering normally between applications. Established dry patch can need repeated treatment. The RHS cultural programme combines spiking and hollow-tine aeration with thorough watering, repeated monthly for three to four months. Its wetting-agent advice says repeat treatment is likely to be necessary alongside those cultural methods. A wetting agent helps water soak in; regular watering is still needed.
Compost tea and biological brew additive
Add to compost teas, aerated brews, or microbial inoculants to improve application spread. Improves soil contact and distribution of biological inputs.
When: once the brew is ready, at the point of application, and apply the brew the same day.
Step-by-step preparation
- Shake the bottle vigorously. Natural saponins settle between uses. A good shake ensures consistent concentration in every measure.
- Measure the required amount. One level teaspoon is 5 ml. Start with the lower end of the recommended range and increase if needed.
- Add to your water or spray solution. Stir or agitate to distribute evenly. If adding to a foliar feed, mix the wetting agent into the water first before adding other inputs.
- Apply promptly. For foliar sprays, use a fine mist setting and target both leaf surfaces. For soil and lawn drenches, water evenly across the area. Apply in early morning or late evening to maximise uptake and minimise evaporation.
- Water in, on lawns and bare soil. Follow a turf or soil application with plain water so the solution travels down into the thatch and root zone.
How to tell whether it has worked
Judge it by the water. The morning after treating, put the hose or can on the treated ground and watch what the water does. If it now sinks in where it previously beaded and ran to the edges, the wetting agent has done its job. Green-up is a separate and slower thing: it follows over the following week or two, and only where the grass crowns are still alive. Where the grass has actually died off, the patch will need reseeding once the ground is accepting water again.
Hard water contains calcium and magnesium ions that can interact with saponins and reduce their surfactant effectiveness. For best results, use rainwater, filtered water, or water that has been left to stand and dechlorinate. If only hard tap water is available, the product will still work. You may just need the higher end of the dilution range.
Use alongside Organic Seaweed Extract Powder for foliar sprays where leaf coverage matters, with Fulvic Acid Powder for chelated foliar feeding, and with any Dr Forest crop-specific fertiliser applied as a liquid feed. On a lawn, pair it with Organic Lawn Fertiliser: the wetting agent gets the water in, the feed does the growing.
Keep cool, dark and tightly capped. The concentrate keeps for at least 12 months from opening. Use diluted solution within 24 hours; the dilute solution is not preserved. Shake before each use.
How Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil works
Dry compost and summer thatch develop a water-repellent surface. Until surface tension drops, water beads and runs to the bits that are already wet.
- Saponins are natural surfactants. Soap nut (Sapindus mukorossi) shells carry triterpenoid saponins: one end of each molecule likes water and the other avoids it (Sochacki and Vogt, 2022).
- Water spreads and sinks. At the soil surface the saponins lower surface tension, so water wets the particles and moves down into the root zone.
- It stores no water itself. It helps water get in; it does not hold extra moisture, and very hard tap water blunts it slightly.
For dry patch, pots and homemade options, read What is a wetting agent?
References
- Sochacki, M. and Vogt, O. (2022). Triterpenoid saponins from washnut (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.): a source of natural surfactants and other active components. Plants, 11(18), 2355. doi:10.3390/plants11182355
Figures from published research are not a trial of this product.
Use Wetting Agent for Lawns & Soil with
- Organic Lawn Fertiliser 10-3-3.5: once water gets in, a slow-release feed thickens the sward.
- Liquid Lawn Feed 7-2-3: tank it up in the same watering can for a quick green-up.
- Liquid Gypsum: on clay, where water sits on top, gypsum opens the soil while the wetting agent gets it moving.
Which to choose: for waterlogged clay rather than dry patch, the Liquid Gypsum and Wetting Agent kit gives you both for about 10% less.