PENMAX™ - A true non-ionic soil penetrant. Moves water horizontally and vertically. Flushes salts from the root zone. Helps increase microbial activity. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY IMITATIONS!

NEW PENMAX™ is now available for home gardners in consumer sizes. NEW

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Comparison of Soil Penetrants
General rules for best results using non-ionic soil penetrants
Results and General Use
Micro-Sprinkler Irrigation Trials - Almonds
Water Penetration Trials - Neutron Probes
Water Penetration Trials - Alfalfa
Applications with Sulfuric Acid
Reduced Sodium Levels
Various Test Results

Any properly formulated penetrant can only provide a lowering of the evaporation rate of water and allow the water to penetrate the soil and reach field capacity more easily. The limitation of the usefulness of a penetrant is a measure of whether the penetrant is stable in high saline concentrations and extremes in pH, specifically in basic, hard water conditions. PENMAX™ meets these standards.

There are two general classes of soil penetrants:

1. Non-Ionic Penetrants: This class of penetrants varies widely depending on the active ingredients, stability in various waters, and effectiveness in specific soil types. If the penetrant is properly formulated it should not have an adverse effect on soil organism balance. The non-ionic penetrant should not alter electrical conductivity of the water in which it has been dissolved and should remain unaltered even if the pH were to be changed over a wide range. A good quality non-ionic penetrant will move evenly into the soil and have a very low volatility. Once the penetrant has been properly incorporated into the soil, vapor pressure of the water in the soil profile can be lowered, keeping the soil moisture at or near an ideal level. PENMAX™ is a non-ionic penetrant that has been field and lab tested for 20 years and meets the above requirements.

2. Ionic Penetrants: This class of penetrants usually contains the salt of an organic acid, either carboxylic, or sulfonic. These are usually sodium salts and can interact with hard water calcium, magnesium ions form a low solubility scum that may restrict water movement in the soil. This is especially true in basic, high pH waters.

Application Rates: The 0.5 to 1.0 gallon/acre/month seems to be an adequate application rate. These applications can provide for a gradual elimination of even severe inconsistencies in soil moisture acceptance. If the soil is extremely dry then an extension of the number of irrigation days that the penetrant is injected will provide better results. The most effective long term use of the non-ionic penetrants involves the injection at extremely low rates of injection. It is possible to set the injection rate low enough that the penetrant may be applied along with each irrigation. Very good results have been obtained by using PENMAX™ as one of the components in the normal fertilizer blends.

PENMAX™ can provide an aid to allow water to penetrate the soil more readily. The deeper penetration of the water can allow more water to be stored and allow the roots to penetrate the soil to a greater depth. The fertilizers are carried deeper into the soils and allow a more efficient uptake of the nutrients. A non-ionic penetrant will not add to the salt concentration.

Under severe drying conditions PENMAX may provide a reduction in water evaporation rate. The lower water evaporation rate may reduce salt wicking to the surface, reducing the drought damage tot he plants.

When the water is able to flow through the soil more readily, then and only then, can the excess salts be leached beyond the root zone. Only after the water reaches field capacity can the water begin to leach the salts and lower the salt concentration around the roots of the plants.

The original application rate may need to be slightly higher to provide an initial build up in the soil, but in general, with time, the rate may be decreased and still maintain the desired soil moisture and salt leaching efficiency.

When liquid fertilizers are foliarly applied, either using a fertigation system or spray tank, the material applied may be better utilized by the crop, if a very low concentration of PENMAX is applied along with either fertilizers or micronutrients. The rate of nutrient foliar uptake may be increased by the reduction in surface tension of the water so that the water may "spread" more evenly over the surface of the leaf.

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In general PENMAX will double the set time on irrigation. Water penetration is greatly incredased.

A general use rate for PENMAX starts in February or March at 1/2 gallon PENMAX per acre. This application will last through three irrigations. Apply 1 quart per acre PENMAX on each third irrigation until harvest.

A general use rate over the growing season is a total of 1 gallon per acre.

On tree crops that will not take water PENMAX at the rate of 1/2 gallon per acre will move water approximately 8 feet vertically and 12 feet horizontally. This is generally what is observed.

The measure of soluble salts in the soils:

1. 25g soil to 25ml water
2. Mix for 30 seconds
3. Test EC value-
   Less that 1.000 M Mohs, problems for some plant material

   Greater than 1.500 M Mohs, problems for some plant material

There are the salts that are able to be moved or leached from the soils. Only if the excess salts are soluble can they be leached from the soil.

PENMAX will help soluabilize and leach salts away from the root zone.

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Micro-Sprinkler Irrigation Trials - Almonds An almond orchard with micro sprinkler irrigation was getting water penetration to a depth of approximately 2 feet and a diameter of 3 ft. PENMAX™ was added at the rate of 1/2 gallon per acre over the entire length of the set. The water penetration went down 8 feet and out 12 feet. This application revived the orchard and saved it. Yields went from 800 lbs to 1800 lbs.

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Water Penetration Trials - Neutron Probes Neutron probes were placed in a almond orchard to measure water penetration. The probes measured water penetration to a depth of 3.5 feet. PENMAX™ was slowly added at the rate of 1/2 gallon per acre, over the entire set time. The neutron probes measured water penetration down to a depth of 8 feet. Water penetration was held to this depth with additional applications of 1 qt. PENMAX™ per acre on the third and sixth irrigation. A total of 1 gallon per acre was used over the season

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Water Penetration Trials - Alfalfa An alfalfa field had water running out the tail ditch after a nine-hour set. There was minimal penetration about 4 - 6 inches. PENMAX™ was slowly added to the irrigation water at a rate of 1/2 gallon per acre over the nine-hour period. The set time was increased to 18 hours before the water reached the end of the field. The tail ditch had very little water in it. Water penetration was greatly increased.

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PENMAX™ is most effective when applied to the first irrigation set followed by sulfuric acid in the second irritation set.

PENMAX™ will remove sodium and other salts from the sil profile and move water down 8 to 10 feet and 12 feet across.

Sulfuric acid can then be added with less chance of tie ups with salts to move deeper in the soil profile.

PENMAX™ can be added at the same time sulfuric acid is added to the irrigation set. This practice is not recommended because direct contact of PENMAX™ with sulfuric acid slightly alters the effectiveness of PENMAX™.

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Reduces Sodium Levels

PENMAX™ reduced sodium levels in tests conducted in Greenfield on grapes, by 38.6% with one PENMAX™ application.

An 18 foot soil probe was used to pull soil columns. The base saturation of sodium in the soil columns was 8.8%. PENMAX™ was applied to the irrigation set at .5 gallons/acre. PENMAX™ was applied over the entire irrigation set. One week after the PENMAX™ application soil columns were pulled in the same marked areas and showed a reductio of sodium to 5.4%.

The response of grapes was visual with growth and color. Yield increases should follow.

Tests will continue to determine if PENMAX™ will eliminate most of the sodium from the soil profile.

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The question of this study is just how the PENMAX™ would alter thenormal growth of soil born organisms. This is a preliminary study to allow any alteration of the growth rate to be observed.

Please note that the following observed results were performed on only one soil sample (1.0 grams mixed with 100 ml of water) and the resulting clear solution spread onto the surface of a series of plates. Two separate tests were done on the plates.

Two dilutions of PENMAX™ were made, the first diluted by a factor of 4.0 x 105 to one and the second by a factor of 4.0 x 106 to one.

On the first test, on each of two plates an indentation was created in the media and two drops of the solution were placed into the indentation and the plates incubated for 24 hours.

On the second test, two pieces of filter paper saturated with the solutions were placed onto the surface of the media and the plates incubated for 24 hours.

Please note that there is a marked increase in the growth when the solution was used. This increase was observed in both tests #1 and #2. The organisms were able to multiply much more rapidly in the presense of PENMAX™.

The supposition by Dr. James Harkrider, Cypress College Biology Department is that "the nutrients were made appreciably more available to the organisms. The actual mechanism by which the growth process is caused to increase can not be known without a much more extensive study."

One drop of field strength PENMAX™ was applied to the center of the left petri dish.
One drop of 1/10th strength PENMAX™ was applied to the cent of the right petri dish.

RESULTS: PENMAX™ permeated the entire area and created conditions to completely cover the petri dish with microbes.
CONCLUSION: PENMAX™ helps increase the microbial population of the soil.

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