How to Determine Which Gypsum is Right for You
This is the time of year when most superintendents and turf managers are looking back on their growing season and assessing things that worked for them and things that they may want to improve. When determining your gypsum needs moving forward, there are a few areas where you will want to pay close attention.
What makes a gypsum?
There are multiple forms of gypsum that are available to the turf industry: dihydrate gypsum, anhydrite gypsum and synthetic gypsum. Synthetic gypsum is a by-product of coal-fired power plants and may contain heavy metals.
SO4 is a true dihydrate gypsum making it one of the purest and most soluble gypsum products that also handles easily and quickly improves soil structure. Anhydrite products may never fully solubilize and the overall unknown about synthetic gypsums make them risky to use and their high moisture content make them difficult to apply uniformly.
What roles do purity and particle size play?
Gypsum products vary greatly in purity and particle size, tremendously impacting speed and completeness of reactivity. Low purity means less gypsum to react in the soil and particle size dictates how much of that purity goes into solution. Finer ground products will go into the soil solution faster than coarsely ground products, which may never fully solubilize.
How does SO4 compare?
Purity and particle size matter when it comes to getting the most effective product for your soil. SO4 is manufactured from one of the purest sources of dihydrate gypsums in the world, making it dissolve and solubilize quickly to improve soil quality without disrupting the appearance and playability of the turf. SO4 is manufactured in three SGN ranges, standard, mini and micro, making it suitable for every turfgrass application.