Insecticides & Fungicides/Spreader-stickers, Wetting Agents:

Spreader-stickers, Wetting Agents: Getting the most out of Your Sprays

Thomas Ogren

Spreader-stickers or if you prefer, sticker-spreaders, are agents we can add to garden sprays to make them more effective. These additives are commonly used in commercial horticulture and in agriculture, but for some reason are as yet relatively unknown to most gardeners.
Sticker-spreaders can be made of many different components, organic or inorganic. Often the actual ingredients in a particular brand of sticker-spreader will be kept secret, as a proprietary formulation known only within the company producing it.
Some brands use silicone-based surfactants, oils, emulsifiers and buffering agents, while others may use odd combinations of things like fish oil and fatty acid soaps. Several are made entirely from some sort of emulsified soybean oil. Actually, common dish soap will act as a sticker-spreader, it just won