Hello all, I'm a first-time poster here in the Lawn Care forum. I'm an avid gardener but still consider myself a newbie--especially when it comes to lawns. I just got the results from my soil test from my local UT Extension & would appreciate your help with developing my plan for the coming seasons. The lawn I currently have is maybe 50% common Bermuda, which I hate and would like to eliminate. The remainder is probaby 25% tall fescue which I've overseeded and tried to keep the Bermuda from choking out, and the last 25% is weeds: crabgrass, dandelions, wild strawberries, and an awful lot of purple deadnettle in the winter. I had great results from overseeding in the fall last year. But I'd like to spread pre-emergent to prevent the forest of purple deadnettle I had last year. So when should I overseed fescue relative to spreading pre-emergent? Same sort of balancing act goes for spring... I need to spread pre-emergent for general broadleaf weeds, but would also like to try (for the first time) something to suppress the Bermuda. Will fall-seeded fescue be able to stand up to those herbicides in the spring? And would a fertilization schedule (which has been recommended by my county extension) need to be altered according to these factors? FYI: Irrigation is not an option outside of extreme circumstances. I don't have the infrastructure in place, nor the funds to put it there. And to be honest, no one around me has it either and (some of) their lawns look fantastic. I'm in Middle TN, slightly northwest of Nashville, zone 6B. Soil is mostly clay, but getting better as I mulch-mow grass & leaves into the turf. (This year I've been mowing at ~3.75" which has noticeably helped the fescue.) --- Soil Test results: (Note that I selected turf type as "Lawn, Cool Season". My rationale was that I want to know what helps the fescue the most--not what helps the Bermuda the most.) Water ph - 6.5 Phosphorus - 51 (high) Potassium - 183 (high) Calcuim - 1562 (sufficient) Magnesium - 142 (sufficient Recommendations: Lime is not recommended at this time. II. Medium Level Maintenance of an established lawn. Topdress annually Sept. 1 with 6.2 lbs of 16-4-8 or (other amounts of similar-ratio ferts here... I don't need to type them all out.) per 1000 sq ft. Topdress annually Oct 15 with 3.5 lbs and Mar 1 and Apr 15 with 1.75 lbs of 34-0-0 (or other similar ratio) per 1000 sq ft. If the fertilizer contains at least 30 percent slow-release form of nitrogen, the Mar and Apr applications can be combined as one application in March. --- So, ye masters of all things lawn care... any thoughts regarding the timing of: Fall overseeding Fall application of pre-emergent (mainly targeting deadnettle) Fall applications of fertilizer recommended by my county extension Spring application of fert recommended by extension Spring pre-emergent Spring application of (something like Fusliade or Acclaim?) for Bermuda suppression And one more noobish question... how can I tell which ferts are slow-release and which are not? Thanks in advance for answering my million questions. I've already learned so much from you guys; I'm just trying to tie it all together. :-) --Jon

Y'know, this isn't a bad test. Who did it? There are a few things missing--most notably the minor elements (although minor, they're important), but I can actually give you a partial read off this, good enough to insure some lawn improvement pretty quickly. If you want, you can re-test through Logan Labs, which will include OM, sulfur, minor elements, toxins including aluminum and sodium, and a better phosphorus test for $20. Feeding organically, mulch mowing the lawn, and mowing in all your fall leaves is never a mistake in this type of soil, so if you want to do these things, do them! pH 6.1: This is one answer I don't happen to believe. With your calcium and magnesium levels, you should be in the upper 5.X range, although 6.1 is possible if there's a higher than average level of sodium and lower than average level of aluminum and/or sulfur in the soil. CEC 14.5: Your soil is probably silty, although you'd need to do a jar test to be certain. Regardless, this is a nice number in the middle of the range, and just about optimal in terms of resource retention versus difficulty in altering the soil. Delaware county varies widely from sandy through silty soils (I live in Northampton county, so I'm familiar). Phosphorus 62 PPA/ 31 PPM: I'm going to be gentle here as the Melich 3 ICP test is a little different than what I'm used to. Melich 3 ICP test results show that your levels are already optimal, but they're recommending 1.5 pounds of phosphorus per thousand square feet. I'm going to turn that down to 1 pound per thousand barring a Logan Labs test, which gives me the answer for the entire soil bank of phosphorus. You can use any starter fertilizer that's handy--I usually recommend the cheapest as they're all very similar. 31 PPM is just another way of saying 62 PPA. Calcium 49.1%: Our target here is 60-70%, and I generally target the middle of the range for soils with a good CEC. Rather than use 70 pounds per thousand of cheap but ineffective lime, purchase Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime (all calcium carbonate with enough other stuff to stick them together) as they'll work faster, require far less material, and won't add elements I don't want to be adding to this soil. Magnesium 14.4%: Optimal. No magnesium is required or desired, another reason not to use a cheap lime (which tends to be too heavy in magnesium). Potassium 5.5%/311 PPM: They call this off the charts high, but I actually like this answer and I'm a fan of having some extra potassium hanging around. This will increase your cold and heat resistance, plus disease resistance, and with proper care will help your lawn stay green all winter. No potassium is required or desired, but this certainly isn't a problem. Organic matter, sulfur, sodium, iron, boron, copper, zinc, manganese, and aluminum: Not tested. Recommendations: August 1 or before: Apply 9 pounds per thousand square feet of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast lime. Labor Day: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. April 1, 2016: Apply 5 pounds per thousand square feet of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast lime.

A 6.1 pH in a soil that fizzes (free calcium/Magnesium carbonate). No anomaly that would produce that comes to mind. Don't bother with a AA test. It's not going to be beneficial this year. We'll assume that all the soil is 8.4 pH and you can retest next year with AA. I don't like making recommendations at the 3-6" level for turf but here goes: Everything in your soil is not only above minimum levels, but decently into sufficient and some even at optimal levels EXCEPT Phosphorous which is detrimentally deficient ( your turf probably did well the first couple of years because sod farms pound their turf with P and you used up the residual that was present). In fact. P is well below critical. Potassium (K) and Boron are also a bit low. but we only need to keep an eye on B and kick K up. It's Phosphorous though, big time. The clay is going to be a real PITA. Edited: Before we go forward: Are you willing/can you afford to aerate twice this year? Can you find/want to pay for Triple fertilizer (10-10-10, 12-12-12, etc) ? Can you find/want to pay for Triplesuper Phosphate ? Can you find/want to pay for Sulfate of Potash/Potassium Sulfate/Sop? Can you find/want to pay for Milorganite (5-4-0) ?

In addition to tox's very good comments, let me add this. We tend to think of stuff like compost, composted manures, chopped leaves, grass clippings, etc. as organic matter when they should really be considered as organic material. There is a significant difference. The organic 'materials' will continue to break down and decompose over time and shrink as much as 90% in volume before they actually become organic 'matter'. Organic material is very temporary and changeable - organic matter is pretty stable in the soil. It is the relatively permanent and stable levels of organic matter that soil labs test for (if they do that type of testing). So a 50-50 mix of soil and compost is unlikely to be an excessive amount of OM......once it fully breaks down - which will happen quite rapidly, usually within a single growing season - it should put you somewhere in the 5-8% range that is most desirable. Based on how this process actually works, I would argue that it is pretty near impossible to have too much organic matter!! I wrote about this in another thread and included this LINK that you might find useful and explains this concept very well. btw, I would not be concerned about adding any rabbit manure - the level of potassium it contains is negligible.