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Bethlehem CT

What is the difference?? I saw the fast acting at Lowes, it looks like it is some sort of byproduct of industry. Which makes me nervous for heavy metals or other contaminants.

1/13/2025 10:18:14 AM

Bethlehem CT

It was this stuff
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sta-Green-Sta-Green-Fast-Acting-Gypsum-25-lb/5013109061?store=2395&cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-PMAX_LWN_000_Priority_Item-_-5013109061-_-local-_-0-_-0&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkJO8BhCGARIsAMkswyj0FSh0t5ngtUYpXPqmSNFelX9MIaWrOmRCsFhzZhcCz5d2Ywh1baoaAkKEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

1/13/2025 10:19:45 AM

Grittyville, WA

It looks like thats a pelletized product too. I dont know how they make it "fast acting" but I doubt it involves heavy metals or repurposed household waste. Isnt some gypsum/calcium dark while other gypsum/calcium is light colored? All I could come up with for the color changes was lignosulfonates or molasses... probably for particle binding or solubility.

1/13/2025 11:05:33 AM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

Fast acting likely means it is of higher purity and finer grind. Perhaps regular gypsum is of lower quality and the pellets are bonded tighter and dissolve slower. We'd have to get a look under the hood of the ingredients of that fast acting bag.

1/13/2025 3:21:13 PM

Seattle, WA

I believe it's just surface area so slower breakdown on larger particle size.

1/13/2025 7:25:00 PM

Upa Creek, MO

This was at least 15 years ago, but I believe I used to buy liquid gypsum from Xtreme Pumpkin Store. It was supposed to be faster acting, but not sure if the quality of the product was compromised compared to regular pellets that work slower.

1/14/2025 8:29:36 AM

https://gilbasolutions.com/not-all-granular-gypsum-is-the-same-52/

1/14/2025 10:19:58 AM

Bethlehem CT

On the back of the product it says "derived from flue gas Desulfurizaton gypsum". What does that mean? The guaranteed analysis is Calcium Sulfate-Dihydrate-90%. Calcium Sulfate 68%, calcium 20%, Sulfur 16%. The active ingredient is listed as 1% sodium Acrylate/acrylamide copolymer. I don't want to add any toxic crap to my garden, perhaps it is just the unpronouncable words like acrylate/acrylamide copolymer that are scaring me off from this product. LOL

1/14/2025 10:52:10 AM

Bethlehem CT

Spudder thanks for that link and thank you to everyone else too, for the help

1/14/2025 10:56:17 AM

Deering, NH

Flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGDG) is a source of gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) that is created when sulfur dioxide is removed from the exhaust gases during the combustion of coal for energy production. It is not natural but rather considered synthetic. This gypsum can contain trace contaminants such as Hg mercury.

1/14/2025 11:27:40 AM

Bethlehem CT

Ruger, Thats exactly what I was afraid of! Luke I remember The extreme pumpkin store, it's been a while. I wonder what ever happened to Tom Privatera? So many growers have come and gone, yet so many still remain.

1/14/2025 1:22:26 PM

Grittyville, WA

Wow I had no clue gypsum would be obtained this way, and coal burning isn't clean. Naturally mined gypsum should be both cheap and organic, but the way the world is these days it seems like its always much harder to find the "good stuff"...
Everyone wants to sell something worse, and sell it at a higher price. The whole notion of being competitive by selling a better product at a lower price seems to be antiquated now... Off on a rant now. Good info here to think about.

1/16/2025 2:18:35 PM

Bethlehem CT

I don't want to pay money to take on someone else's waste product, A couple other products I stay away from our milorganite and Ironite.

1/16/2025 4:46:30 PM

Colorado

Sheetrock is just gypsum with a bit of paper or silica (fiberglass) it's already ground up super fine and once it gets wet is just dissolves. Find a construction sight. :)

1/16/2025 8:23:44 PM

Colorado

Another thing you can look for is selenite. It is the crystal form of gypsum. It dissolves slowly. It is about as pure as you can get.

1/16/2025 8:25:42 PM

Grittyville, WA

There might be different standards for things sold for lawns than things sold for gardens. Products sold for gardens are supposed to have data about heavy metals available? Not sure the same is true for lawns. I'm hesitant to even consider using lawn products, other than chelated iron maybe. And on a side note I wonder if iron should be added well after the pumpkin has started growing so that if it has a leaf-aging affect ??? then the leaves might only have 50 days of work left to do anyhow. Thats a weird thing to consider. I dont want people to think that I'm fully endorsing using chelated iron by simply mentioning it. It's a whole separate topic. Back to gypsum.

1/17/2025 1:02:22 AM

Grittyville, WA

I just came across the word lignosulfonates again. Apparently it has some chelating abilities with regard to calcium. It hardly sounds organic, if it comes from paper mills, but maybe its just a natural waste product that comes off the pulp prior to being treated with chemicals.

1/21/2025 5:32:32 AM

Colorado

You can till in sheet rock if you dont want to spread the pellets, Just saying.

1/21/2025 11:03:47 PM