None of the do-it-yourself soil tests are recommended. Highly noted for poor results and inaccuracy that can easily lead you off in the wrong direction. Professional soil testing, available from your county extension service and/or any state university for a minimal fee is the standard recommendation. Dave

Logan seems to be the same price as Rutgers, but UMass is cheaper: $9 vs. $20, $13 vs $35. However it seems UMass, which charges $60 for soil texture, is more expensive unless their test is differet: Rutgers: Sport Turf Golf/ Sports Turf Fertility Test: Nutrients, pH, estimated CEC & cation saturation, recommendations $20 Golf/ Sports Turf Total Fertility Test: Nutrients, pH, estimated CEC & cation saturation, soluble salt level, organic matter content, soil textural class, recommendations $50 Sand-based Root Zone Test: Nutrients, pH, estimated CEC & cation saturation, recommendations, soluble salt level, organic matter content by loss-on-ignition, percentage fines, recommendations $50 *Organic matter content would be determined by Loss-on-ignition for golf course greens, as described by USGA guidelines. UMass: Soil Soil Testing Brochure as Adobe PDF document Standard Soil Test .....................................................................â ¦â¦â¦.....$ 9.00 Includes pH, Buffer pH, Extractable Nutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B), Extractable Heavy Metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr), and Extractable Aluminum, Cation Exchange Capacity, Percent Base Saturation. Soil pH ...................................................................... ..............â¦â¦â¦.â¦...$ 5.00 Soil pH w/ Buffer pH .............................................................â¦â¦... ......... $ 5.00 Standard Soil Test w/ Organic Matter ....................................................$ 13.00 Same as Standard Soil Test with the addition of Percent Organic Matter by Loss on Ignition. Soluble Salts ...................................................................... .....â¦â¦â¦........$ 5.00 Includes a measure of the Electrical Conductivity of a 1:2 (soil:water) extract. Soil Texture ...................................................................... .â¦â¦â¦.......... $ 60.00 A determination of USDA Textural Classification by combined Hydrometer Analysis of silts and clay and Dry Sieving of sands. Title 5 Parameters also determined upon request at submittal. Results presented in Tabular Format. Soil Texture for Determination of Title V Sand.......................................$ 70.00 Soil Texture w/ Graphical Representation .............................................$ 70.00 Same as Soil Texture with the addition of a Grain Size Distribution Curve.

anntn: thank you for your comprehensive answer! I'm in Ontario, Canada (not California) and we're on Canadian Shield bedrock. Pretty uniform! According to soil maps of the region, I should expect clay till soil, and that's pretty much been my experience. michealg: yes, I expect that the kit wasn't particularly reliable. LynnT: Thank you for the tip about universities. An excellent idea! There's a service through the University of Guelph, which is a big aggie school not too far from here. subk3: Thank you so much for the great information about phosphorous and the link to that wonderful essay. I also navigated to the Dr Chalker-Scott's website and am looking forward to reading up on soils and other gardening practicalities in more detail. Cecily: I assume that was a rhetorical question, but even so I'm going to answer it! lol. Julia Child looked great all season last year - plentiful, healthy green foliage and great repeat on her blooms. She's truly a star. Wild Blue Yonder also grew well, though was stingy with blooms and hardly repeated at all. The rest (Blue Girl HT cl., Bolero, Carefree Beauty are a few) were pretty leggy and sparse, though they're all young plants (1 - 2 years, 3 for BG) so that's not necessarily indicative of anything. In any case, I really appreciate all the help! Please, keep it coming! :) Happy New Year, Karen

You're still low in phosphorus. Your copper numbers this year are way high. Did you use anything copper to take your samples? The copper numbers were normal last year. Avoid lime. The CEC numbers this year are both low, whereas last year two were low and one was good. So maybe the 11 number last year was a fluke? A low CEC means your soil does not hold nutrients well. They tend to leach away. One way to cope with the problem is to do lighter applications more often. Another way is to use organic feedings so that more nutrients are held by the soil organisms instead of the soil itself. Milorganite is an organic fertilizer that has a relatively high P number. I would suggest 20 lb/k now and again in early October. Then in late fall, after the grass has stopped growing and before the ground freezes, use a fast release nitrogen fertilizer (like urea). Are you sure you used a fine fescue seed from Southern States? That seems strange. I've only seen tttf there. Fine fescue would not do well in our heat. A neighbor has fine fescue and it goes dormant in April and doesn't green up until October. What seed are you using this year?