“Hard” water has one of the biggest negative impacts on spray performance, severely affecting the performance of certain herbicides such as glyphosate. X-Change water conditioner makes "hard" water "soft".
How X-Change® water conditioner gets more from vulnerable sprays
“Hard” water has one of the biggest negative impacts on spray performance, according to UPL NZ Ltd.’s Adjuvant Product Manager David Lingan.
Hard water is high in mineral salts, such as calcium, iron, and magnesium. These can impact negatively on sprays’ potency and David says that’s particularly true with some widely used herbicides.
“Never underestimate the impact of the type of water in spray. What people often forget is water is an active chemical (H20). And it’s up to 90% of the spray tank.”
Some chemicals, including glyphosates, are very susceptible to the effect of hard water. David explains the positively charged cations in calcium, magnesium, iron etc. bind to the negatively charged glyphosate molecule. “This slows up-take, reduces solubility, and can precipitate out of the solution, reducing the efficacy of glyphosate.”
Sacrificial X-Change saving your water
David recommends water conditioner and ion scavenger X-Change to optimise spray performance. X-Change acts as a “sacrificial” product changing hard water into ‘soft’ by locking up free ions which would otherwise deactivate products.
“People will tell you that 3 litres of glyphosate ‘just isn’t working’. So, they increase the amount. But actually, it’s hard water that’s the problem.”
He says this leads to unnecessary expense and reduced efficacy; issues easily fixed by using water conditioner X-Change. David says the first step is to test the water. “Clear water doesn’t mean no cations.”
Testing water quality is easy, fast and cheap
The easiest, fastest, and cheapest, way to test water David says is using swimming pool water test strips from hardware stores. He suggests all spray applicators have a pack of strips handy, and check water source frequently, as concentration of cations can change seasonally.
The result from the test strip determines the water hardness. If water hardness of 150 ppm or above is found, address this issue with X-Change (refer to X-Change label for correct dose rate). As a water conditioner, X-Change must be added to the water first before any herbicide.
Find out more about X-Change online.
