Soil Moisture

How wet the ground is on the day changes whether a treatment works, and on some products it changes whether we should be applying it at all.

Very Wet

A soil moisture level classified as 'Very Wet' indicates that the soil is thoroughly saturated with water. This condition often occurs after heavy rainfall or irrigation, and the soil may even exhibit surface pooling or runoff.

Wet

A 'Wet' soil moisture level in the context of spraying signifies that the soil has a healthy amount of moisture content. This condition is generally favorable for most spray treatments, as it ensures effective absorption by plants.

Moist

A 'Moist' soil moisture level in the context of spraying indicates that the soil has a moderate amount of moisture. This condition is generally favorable for spray treatments, as it supports effective absorption.

Dry

A 'Dry' soil moisture level in the context of spraying suggests that the soil lacks sufficient moisture content. In these conditions, plants may struggle to absorb the sprays effectively. To address this, we may need to consider supplemental watering or choose a different time for spraying.

Why it matters more than it sounds like it should

A pre-emergent needs water to do anything. It forms a barrier in the top layer of soil, and it needs moisture to move down and settle into place. Applied to bone-dry ground with no rain or irrigation behind it, it sits on the surface and degrades. That is a wasted application and a season of weeds nobody planned for.

Saturated ground is the opposite problem. Water sitting on the surface, or ground so full it cannot take any more, means anything applied runs off rather than staying where it was put. On a slope, or anywhere near a ditch or a pond, that is the condition where an application ends up somewhere it was never meant to go.

And drought-stressed plants absorb differently. A weed shutting down under heat and no water is not actively growing, and a systemic herbicide relies on active growth to move through the plant. The same product on the same weed gives a different result on a dry August afternoon than after a good rain.

What that means in practice

It is one of the reasons a date gets moved. If you have just irrigated heavily, or we are coming off a week of rain, or the ground has been dry for a month with nothing forecast, the right call is sometimes to wait a few days rather than apply something that will not work.

We record the soil condition on every application, so when a treatment underperforms there is a record of what the ground was doing at the time rather than a guess.

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