We haven’t found the freezing point for WakeUP — because we haven’t found anyplace cold enough to solidify it.
Last night, January 9, the low here in northeast Iowa was 8 degrees below zero, and we left a couple of WakeUP formulations outside on a snowbank to see if the liquid concentrate would stiffen up.
It flowed a little slower, like honey, but did not stratify or granulate or turn into gel.
Since 2008, we’ve never had a client tell us that overwinter storage in unheated farm shops has created a problem, or a reduction in effectiveness of WakeUP.
Most crop protection product labels carry a warning: Do not freeze. But that’s not a concern with WakeUP; no special heated storage is necessary.
The light amber color of WakeUP will grow somewhat darker with time, and the light ammoniacal aroma may become a bit more pronounced. However, its surfactant and cleansing power remains just as strong. Maybe even improved a bit.
There are are at least four other surfactant products on the market which create colloidal micelles in water. Three of them which we’ve tested will freeze at temperatures in the 20s. That’s an indication they’re diluted with water. They may still be useful when thawed, but freezing is a clue that you’re not getting a 100% concentrate.
Here are the two pump bottles of WakeUP (one of them is an experimental formulation) early this morning. They had chilled on a snowdrift at 8 below all last night. Both remain liquid.
When we tipped one of the pump bottles and held it just inside the door of our greenhouse, warm air from the greenhouse fogged the outside of the bottle – but you can see that the liquid inside still flows (photo below).
