Lancelot FerroGreen Crystals - Iron Sulphate - Ferrous Sulphate Damp 2Kg- Lawn Treatment, Conditioner & Tonic - Easy to dissolve

The media could not be loaded.  Ferrous Sulphate or Iron Sulphate.This substance, is apparently, the groundskeepers secret weapon, used for conditioning grass, making it tougher and greener.At higher doses or concentrates, it also works as a moss controller and killer.This is the ingredient you will find in ready mixed lawn greening and moss control products in garden centres, usually combined with some kind of weed killer and at a much higher price..PET/ANIMAL SAFETYAt lower doses, allow the product to dry, better still, overnight preferably for 12 hours before allowing them on the grass.Some suggest very high doses, should be allowed longer (maybe I week) especially if used where grazing animals might be eating the grass...Also remember, this product contains iron, so will leave rust marks on concrete etc, so try not to get it on anything you don't want to be stained..As with all chemicals common sense should be used. It's probably best to wear gloves and not to try mixing it on a windy day, where the product is liable to blow into your mouth or eyes... It is NOT for internal use.Working Out DilutionAs this product arrives with no information, other than the fact that you have 1KG of it., and because I hadn't taken in the product description properly, I had to look online to figure out how to use it.Apparently, it is best to apply it in cool damp weather. Applying it in hot sun, might cause scorching. It can also be applied at any time of year, though, it is best not to use it during frost, as this reduces it's effectiveness.Product description below. (Reading this properly, would have saved me a lot of confusion as regards area covered per litre, which is called the application rate.)Ferrous SulphateIt is used as a lawn conditioner,and is the active substance in many commercial moss killers. 1 Kg of Iron sulphate will treat 500 sq metres using a solution of between 1% (10g/L of water) and 3% (20g/L of water) - (apply at a rate of 5 sq m per litre).This will lead to greening up of grass and hardening of lawn against disease.(this = 2 grams of iron/ferrous sulphate per square meter to make it cover 500.)How Big Is A Square Metre?1 square metre is about the size of a standard car bonnet. To visualise an area of approximately 5 square metres, imagine a standard fence panel, the type that slots between two concrete posts, that you see pretty much everywhere (in the UK anyway) the large 6ft x 6ft ones, that only tall people can see over.The panel plus the concrete or wooden posts either side of it measure about 2 metres long.. If you picture it being as high as it is long i.e. 2 metres x 2 metres.. that = 4 square metres.Now imagine it lying on the ground. That gives you a rough idea, how much 5 square metres is, if you are trying to visualise it in your head and don't have or can't be bothered using a tape measure..Application Rates.The problem I had was, when I worked out how big 5 square metres would be, I thought, surely 1 litre of the mixed solution, won't cover that properly?? Surely I will run out before I have managed to cover it evenly?Then I discovered, that the important thing, was not only the area the solution covered but also how strong a mixture the solution was made up to. i.e how many grams should you put in 1 litre of water.According to the way I had figured things out, if the product description said 1000 grams would cover 500 square metres, that had to mean 2 grams for 1 square metre of ground.I thought well if I put 1 litre of water on one square metre of ground and 2 grams of the iron sulphate in every litre of water, that should keep things simple and I would have plenty of liquid to cover that amount of ground evenly... Therefore, if your watering can held 5 litres of water, you would put in 10 grams of powder and that watering can would cover 5 square metres...This meant by my theory, that you could now just measure how big your garden was and then tell how many watering cans it would take to cover it..If for instance your lawn was 5 metres wide x 10 metres long = 50 square metres... Watering can covers 5 square metres, so 50 ÷ 5 = 10, so you need 10 watering cans full to cover your garden and by the time you had finished, you would have used 100 grams of iron sulphate over the 50 square metres = 2 grams per square metre.I was still not sure if my theory was correct, so I decided to see what information I could find online, to see if I could verify it.. I give a few sections of what I found below.Maybe they will help someone but I just found them all totally confusing...First site...Ferrous SulphateFor use as a Moss KillerWe would advise that initially you test a small area with a 1% Ferrous Sulphate Heptahydrate solution (ie. 10gms/1L of water). If this does not give the desired effect a stronger solution can be used up to a maximum of 5% Ferrous Sulphate Heptahydrate (50gms/1L of water ).A typical average strength to use would be a 3% solution. To make the solution add 30g of ferrous sulphate for every litre of water (for example for a 15L sprayer you will need 450g of ferrous sulphate).Second site0.5 to 1g per square meter for green-up (50 to 100g for 100 square metres)*1.5 to 2g per square metre for turf hardening (150to 200g for 100 metres)*4 to 5g per square metre for blackening (400 to 500g for 100 square metres)To use Ferrous Sulphate as a moss killer, the chemical is usually mixed with water to form a solution. To begin with use a ratio of approximately 10 gms Ferrous Sulphate/1 litre water but if this does not produce the desired effect, a ratio of 50 gms Ferrous Sulphate/1 litre water can be used. The solution can be sprayed or watered on the area of grass to be treated although it is advisable to test a small area first.An application rate guideline is approximately 5 square metres for every litre of chemical solution mixture. Be careful to avoid spraying the solution onto other garden plants and paths. After a couple of days the moss will start to turn black and this should be raked out. DO NOT PUT TREATED DEAD MOSS RAKINGS IN THE COMPOST BIN.Third Site (this one using the imperial system)Mix 3 ounces sulphate of iron in 5 gallons of water. Five gallons of diluted sulphate of iron covers 1,000 square feet. Take precautions when mixing the sulphate of iron with water, as sulphate of iron stains wood, concrete and other non-organic materials.If my calculations are right...This equates to...85.049g in 22.7305 litres of water. 22.7305 litres of diluted sulphate of iron covers.92.903m²Divide the litres into the square metres gets you, around 1 litre of water covers approximately 4 square metres.After reading all this information, below is what I actually did and you can see the results in the video I have posted.Applied on a cool cloudy day in March.I measured the lawn in my front garden.. 3.5 metres wide x 5 metres long = 17.5 square metres (for ease of calculation I could have rounded down to 15 or up to 20.I chose to round up to 20)My watering can holds 7 litres (awkward not 5 or 10) so how much iron sulphate do I put in it?I decide to experiment by going with the lowest dosage, using the info from the first site above ie.10gms/1L of water, even though I was still a bit confused by how much area this should cover, I had befuddled myself with all these figures and ratios I was digesting and my doubts, that 1 litre of solution could cover 5 square metres evenly... I decided on 1 litre per square metre from my original theory as well..I have 20 square metres of lawn. To provide a litre of water for every square metre using my 7 litre watering can, means I need about three watering cans worth 3 x 7 = 21 litres. I figure that is near enough.This is not an exact science after all, as it all depends on how fast the water comes out of your watering can and how fast you walk up and down.. Should mention at this point, that I used a sprinkle bar attached to the watering can and not a standard rose..10 grams per litre in a 7 litre can = 70 grams per can, this is what I apply to the lawn.This is a total of 210 grams over the three cans spread over aprox 20 square metersI later realise, that this means I have applied 10.1 grams of iron sulphate per square metre... I thought I might have overdone it and killed all my grass...Then I checked the info from the FIRST SITE (see above)If I had mixed it at their suggested strongest ratio (50gms/1L of water) at an application rate of (5 sq m per litre). Then my 7 litre watering can, would have used 350 grams over my 20 square metres, so at least I was underneath that, so my grass should be ok...Should mention here, that I also discovered, how to quickly approximately measure, a few grams of product.1 milliliter of water is approximately 1 gram, so if you happen to have one of those 5ml plastic spoons that come with cough medicine, about, one level spoonful = aprox 5 grams.Because I had misunderstood how many litres of product per square metre to use and got confused about the dilution and application rates, I had actually used more than three times as much as I might have needed to on the front lawn.If one litre of mixed solution, at 10gms/1L of water could cover 5 square metres, then a 7 litre watering can, could cover 35 square metres. I only had 20 to cover, so one can would have been more than enough theoretically, though I do think it is harder to cover evenly, with that much solution, over that much of an area.Instead, I used three.. So I think I had done the equivalent of putting a much higher dose of of 30gms/1L of water rather than the 10gms/1L was aiming at.This mixture at this strength, dosage and area covered, turned the moss black frighteningly quickly, within minutes.I had just finished my third can and by the time I had walked indoors and looked out the window, it had started blackening already... You could almost watch it melting it..(2 weeks later) The moss is all dead and the grass still seems undamaged, so I seem to have gotten away with my miscalculation without any damage to the grass)Back Lawn Experiment (a few days later)Having learned all this, I now proceeded with phase two of my experiment. I decide to forget about this 10/50 grams per litre and ounces and gallons that I have been reading about, as I had just ended up confusing myself and go with my own theory of 1-2 grams per litre and 1 litre to 1 square metre.My back garden turns out to be approx 64 square metres.My watering can holds 7 litres. 9 x 7 = 63. I need approximately 9 cans for the whole garden. I need 2 grams per litre, so each watering can has 14 grams of iron sulphate in it. 9x14 = 126.126 grams for the whole garden 126 ÷ 64 = 1.96875.. Nearly 2 grams per square metre. That is around what I was aiming for.. This way of diluting it, made much more sense to me..Now according to the info from the SECOND SITE (see above), in order to blacken moss, the ferrous sulphate should be applied as 4-5 grams per square metre, maybe my 2 grams per litre might be a little too weak to affect it.So this is what I did the second time I used it..I got out my trusty cough medicine spoon and using the 5 ML side of it, I put 4 scoops in the 7 litre watering can. each scoop was approximately 5 grams, so this gives you 20 grams ÷ 7 litres which = around 2.8 grams per litre by my reckoning.I thought this seemed a better strength mixture for moss control especially as sometimes the scoops were heaped, so probably a bit more than 20 grams went in each can.I was going to use 9 watering cans, so 9 X 20grams = 180 grams for the whole garden.180 grams ÷ 64 square metres = 2.8 grams per square metre, sounds ok to me..This is the mixture I put on the back garden.Thought it did not obliterate the moss within seconds like the maybe overly strong mixture I had put on the front, within a few hours, it had turned some of the moss black, so it still did the job, just more slowly and using much less of the product, by the next day all the moss was black..This is the dosage I am going to use in future. I think, 2-3 grams per litre of water and one litre of water to 1 square metre of ground/grass put on once or twice a year, maybe once in the Spring March/April and once in late Autumn September/Oct, along with feeding and aerating etc, will keep my grass pretty much moss free.If you only want to green your grass and don't have much moss, maybe 1-2 grams per litre will do. I think for moss killing, if you have a lot of it and want to see super quick results. Maybe 4-5 or even 8-10 grams per litre, if it is really bad (though I feel that is a bit strong)Hopefully this is of some use to some of you, if you are thinking of trying this product out yourselves or want to try your own mixture. This stuff does work...If I'm still alive in a couple of years I will let you know how well it goes over time....End noteI also saw online, one person, who did not bother to dilute the powder but scattered it around in its dry form over the moss.. I think using that method, it would be more difficult, to spread evenly over an area. But it might be handy in really bad spots, just to drop some powder exactly where you wanted it.Also it seems, certain lawn weed killers can be mixed with this product, enabling you to make your own solution, that does two jobs at once. Ferrous sulphate to control moss and another weedkiller to control dandelions etc..

I decided to treat the moss on my lawn using this essential ingredient myself.I was happy with the price and the packaging but while this product was easy to dilute(with the required amount of water) to spray the lawn the overall efficacy was lacking.So I've reverted to buying proprietary lawn sand with moss killer.

Very surprised this comes in a tub with no usage or safety labelling or instructions whatsoever. The tub also wasn't 100% sealed with crystals inside the package when opened. Have applied its spring dosage (found application rates on web) and will wait to see if it works.

Great purchase that did a great job killing moss in the lawn at a fraction of the price of the commercial weed, feed and moss kill products. However I found that 1Kg wasn't enough for a large lawn so then bought a 25Kg bag from another supplier at a quarter of the price per kilo. Doesn't work quite as well but does the job and I now have enough for several years. However for a first time purchase to check it out I don't think this 1Kg bag can be beaten

Used it via a watering can with a 50cm sprinkler bar fitted. Filled the can with water 7L then marked out 10sqm practised watering it until I worked out how fast to walk to just empty the can. Then walked at that speed with 50gms of ferrous sulphate dissolved in the water every 10sqm. Ferrous sulphate dissolves best by starting with about 1.5L of hot water then when more or less dissolved diluting to a full can. Care when dissolving saves time by not getting blockages in the sprinkler bar. Only a trace on red iron oxide left in the can when empty so the product is easily pure enough for this use. Moss went black almost over night, grass went green and the worms couldn't care less whether the lawn had been treated or not.

Discovered I could have purchased it cheaper in my local garden centre and got 1.5kg instead of 1kg! Product was as required

Found it much cheaper in a garden centre after I had bought it. Very disappointing

We had a fungus problem with a fairy ring in the middle of the lawn. A good dose of this certainly reduced the effect and greened the lawn. After a wash out summer I suspect it will need another dose this Autumn but it does help!