Phosphatic clay products for use as soil wetting agents, methods of delivery of phosphatic clays to soil, and phosphatic clay coatings for purpose of water retention

A soil wetting agent composition for altering moisture retention qualities of soil, the soil wetting agent comprising:

• a carrier, wherein the carrier comprises a plurality of base fertilizer granules;
• and
• a phosphatic clay source incorporated on the carrier, the phosphatic clay source including dry phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less,
• wherein the phosphatic clay source comprises a phosphatic clay coating covering at least a portion of an exterior of each of the base fertilizer granules.

A soil wetting agent composition for altering moisture retention qualities of soil, the soil wetting agent comprising:

• a carrier, wherein the carrier comprises a plurality of seeds;
• and
• a phosphatic clay source incorporated on the carrier, the phosphatic clay source including dry phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less,
• wherein the phosphatic clay source comprises a phosphatic clay coating covering at least a portion of an exterior of each of the seeds.

A method of producing a soil wetting agent, the method comprising:

• providing a phosphatic clay slurry including phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less suspended in a liquid carrier;
• applying the phosphatic clay slurry to a plurality of base fertilizer granules or seeds;
• and
• drying the phosphatic clay slurry to extract the liquid carrier therefrom after applying the phosphatic clay slurry to the base fertilizer granules or seeds, thereby generating a dry coating of the phosphatic clay grains covering at least a portion of an exterior of each fertilizer granule or seed as the soil wetting agent.

A method of producing a soil wetting agent, the method comprising:

• providing a phosphatic clay slurry including phosphatic clay grains having an average clay grain particulate size of about 4 μm or less suspended in a liquid carrier;
• drying the phosphatic clay slurry to extract liquid therefrom to generate a dried phosphatic clay source as the soil wetting agent;
• formulating a base fertilizer composition;
• granulating the base fertilizer composition in a granulator to form fertilizer granules;
• and
• adding the dried phosphatic clay source to the granulator during granulation, such that the phosphate clay grains are distributed throughout the individual fertilizer granules.