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pHairway® Water
Treatment Amendment is a turf grass management tool that lowers
alkalinity and improves water penetration. By releasing nutrients
tied up by high pH soils, pHairway increases fertilizer performance.
It also increases the effectiveness of alkaline sensitive pesticides,
and improves soil quality.
pHairway® is 100% MCDS (Monocarbamide dihydrogen sulfate). pHairway® is
a safe, non-regulated, non-hazardous material, and is the only water
treatment amendment that is guaranteed for use in golf course irrigation
systems. Its unique chemistry consists of an acid group and a base
group held together by an oxygen molecule. The breakdown of pHairway® allows
for the release of free oxygen into the water and soil thus reducing
the incidence of Black Layer.
The injection of pHairway® into
the water source starts a complex series of reactions, first with
the contained minerals in the water source and then with the soil,
where the treated water is applied. This assumes that the water
source and soil to be treated contain some, and often too much,
of the wrong kinds of dissolved salts. Cases where the water contains
too few salts will be addressed separately.
| In The Water: As
pHairway® is diluted after injection, the contained acidity
reacts with the minerals in the water primarily the bicarbonates.
It is important to understand that of all the mineral constituents
(dissolved salts), bicarbonates are usually the most important,
in terms of their potential for damaging the irrigation equipment,
soil and plants being watered. This is because bicarbonates
react with other contained minerals, especially calcium, to
form insoluble salts, specifically limestone (CaC03). This
causes several problems: |
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| 1. |
It causes a white
precipitate to form on irrigation equipment, which can
lead to corrosion and plugging. |
| 2. |
This white precipitate leaves
a white residue on plants and structures (fences, buildings,
etc.) |
| 3. |
Bicarbonates remove soluble
calcium from the water, which is needed to maintain open
soil pore spaces and good long-term soil structure and
water penetration. |
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In
The Soil: As the pHairway® treated water reaches
the soil, several additional reactions take place.
The diluted solution of calcium sulfate (gypsum) will
increase the soil aggregation. This happens when soluble
calcium reacts with soil particle surfaces, causing
them to release unwanted salts such as sodium, while
acting as a chemical adhesive to build soil structure.
This produces several related benefits:
| 1. |
Sodium
is associated with alkalinity or high pH. Alkalinity
is undesirable because it causes many of the necessary
soil contained nutrient minerals to be unavailable
for plant uptake and use. |
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| 2. |
Sodium causes
soil particles to breakdown. This physical breakdown of
the soil structure prevents water penetration and proper
aeration. The results are the plant roots do not get enough
water or enough oxygen, and the accumulated salts do not
get leached down and out of the root zone. |
| 3. |
At the same time, much of
the applied water runs off because it cannot penetrate
the soil. The addition of pHairway® can solve these
problems by providing soluble calcium to reform or maintain
the soil structure for good water penetration and aeration,
while removing the sodium and the associated alkalinity
and excess salts. |
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| Additional ingredients in pHairway® act
as a timed-release source of acidity. The availability of this
acidity is dependent upon the rate of biological processes
in the soil. The release of the "in place" acidity
is important in inhibiting the formation of alkali layers below
the soil surface, and maintaining readily available mineral
nutrients. Ultimately, all of the contained ingredients in
pHairway are utilized as plant nutrients. |
Check out AS&T's
newest informational website on
pHairway Water Treatment
Amendment at www.phairway.info |
