It's not bad, really, but you do have several issues. Let's go through step by step. Exchange Capacity: 7 is fine, and indicates a sandier soil with silt--and very little clay. You can increase your organic matter levels to slowly raise this a bit. Organic Matter: 2.17% is low but not abysmal. Feed organically when you can to slowly raise this. It'll also make your pH matter less. Bermuda's demanding, and this year will include a lot of starter fertilizer. Still, you can add in an extra organic feeding whenever you like to increase this. The grass won't mind the extra nitrogen. Sulfur 27: Right in the normal range, with plenty of margin for soil amendments (which tend to be sulfur based). Phosphorus 65: And right on cue, here's an issue. Phosphorus should be around 200 for a normal pH and for Bermuda. This is severely impacting grass quality. My recommendations are below. Calcium 54%: Low, we'll want this in the 65% range for Bermuda. Because magnesium levels are normal, we'll need to use a calcitic lime like Mir-A-Cal or Encap. Cheap lime is going to destroy the calcium-magnesium ratio. Magnesium 12%: Exactly where it should be, no adjustment required. Potassium 3.4%: While a touch trim, it's nothing to worry about. With all the other adjustments, I'm content to let this ride another year. Most Minor Elements: Fine except boron... Boron <0.2: Deficient, and this is also impacting your grass quality. While I wouldn't normally adjust the minor elements while also doing two major ones, this is an exception to that rule. To adjust boron, mix the recommended number of tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax (available in the laundry section of your supermarket) in 1 bag of Milorganite (Home Depot or other retailer) in a wheelbarrow. Keep mixing until fully distributed, then put in your spreader and apply at exactly the recommended rate. One bag of Milo covers 2,500 square feet. Don't overapply; boron can be an issue if amounts go too high, although the levels I have you set at will be fine at any reasonable error level. Iron 123: While this is certainly not deficient, you may notice the color of your lawn fades a bit as the calcium works in and the pH rises (higher pH levels block iron absorption). If that's disappointing, you can slip in extra feeding with Milorganite whenever you want to add more iron and deepen the color. Recommendations: I'm guessing for Georgia and Bermuda that the grass is back and functional around mid-April. That might be wrong, so if so, just shift the feeding with starter fertilizer around appropriately. Just keep 2 weeks between any feeding and a soil amendment, so this schedule has a great deal of flexibility in it. I'm also guessing last feeding will be around October 15. April 1: Apply 4 pounds per thousand square feet Encap or Mir-A-Cal calcitic limestone. April 15: Feed with any off the shelf starter fertilizer at bag rate. May 1: Apply 7.5 tablespoons borax in Milorganite per 2,500 square feet. May 15: Starter at bag rate. June 15: Starter at bag rate. July 15: Feed with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. August 15: Feed with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. September 1: Apply 4 pounds per thousand square feet Encap or Mir-A-Cal calcitic limestone. September 15: Starter at bag rate. October 1: Apply 7.5 tablespoons borax in Milorganite per 2,500 square feet. October 15: Starter at bag rate.

1) Theoretically yes, and it won't be a problem. Since Milo has some free nitrogen, I might shift it two weeks off the starter fertilizer application just to be safe, particularly in very hot weather. 2) Nope, the amounts are large enough that they won't stick, and potassium sulfate tends to be granular. A small hand-held whirlygig spreader will be able to meter amounts this small, and you can get them at most big box stores with the other spreaders.

Refreshing. You're no math or lawn novice. I see you selected to amend potassium to the 4" depth AND accounted for the potassium in the starter. Allow me to throw a curve ball at you. Nearly all fertilizer mixes use potassium chloride as the potassium source. Rather than the 0.5lbs of actual potassium in each lb of SOP, potassium chloride contains 0.6 lbs of potassium per lb of product. A slight adjustment. When making my recommendations, I was leaning more towards a sugar sand with the TEC inflated by clay contamination during sampling. Although application of phosphorous at a rate of 1.25 to 1.3 or so is not detrimental to the grass, the preferred method when applying any amendment is smaller applications over extended time particularly as TEC increases. Your description of the top 4-6" of soil gives me confidence of the accuracy of the 9+ TEC and let's take that into account. Although there is likely some inflation due to the presence of free calcium. Phosphorous: First, I would adjust the the amount for a depth of 4" for consistency as you did for the potassium. 2/3 of 4.75, 3.2, and 4 would be no problem. Second, Let's spread the applications out a bit. Phosphorous is an incredibly slow mover into the soil. Let's give it some increased time, and employ slightly reduced application rates. What is your current nitrogen fertilization regiment? Thirdly, Rather than 18-24-6, a 24-25-X will be more convenient for application purposes. That way you can apply close to 1 lb of N while reducing the P application to 1 lb. per thousand square feet. Potassium: Potassium, although no speed demon, moves down much faster than phosphorous. Generally, I recommend no more than 3lbs of product per application in 3 applications spread out over a season with emphasis on early spring and mid to late fall if well before ground freeze (not a problem for you). I like to separate by 6-8 weeks. Because potassium sulfate and chloride are salts, a reduced rate (1 or 2lbs) should be made during the heat months. Also as chemical N fertilizers are also a salt, try to separate N and K applications by a couple of weeks. This wont create a toxic situation, but the salt presence will increase plant stress and require more attention to watering. Keep in mind that amendments don't got feet and can only move down into the soil on the water train. Amendments should be watered in, followed by weekly water apps. Your atrazine treatment should be no problem. Trace elements: I'm not a fan of playing with these. Unless the turf is actually showing signs of deficiency- malformed plants, leaf streaks etc., there are enough trace elements to satisfy the needs of the grass. It is extremely rare, almost unheard of, that the soil is detrimentally short for the needs of grass. Many of the trace elements cannot successfully be surfaced applied as they almost immediately get tied up upon hitting the soil. Most require foliar application every couple of weeks. Over application can be detrimental, even toxic and very very seldom can anyone see any change for the better. Ending my "vent", (no offense intended to you) most of the trace element amendments can be found on the internet in soluble sulfate form. There used to be/is a site that caters to lawns. Before purchasing, verify that there are instructions for turf application rates. As to your Boron question. To raise Boron by 1 ppm in a 4" depth, 0.43 oz of boron would be applied over 1000 sq feet.. That would require about 3.8 oz of Twenty Mule Team Borax. As you may have guessed, I'm very conservative with these applications. I wouldn't try to make more than a 0.5ppm change in any one season, and I'd divide it into two applications and retest before attempting the next year adjustment. So I wouldn't apply more than one ounce of TMT Borax at a time. Sorry, I have no idea how many tablespoons that is, nor how much Boron would be in 4 tbls. I like to use weight, not volume. We can firm up the P and K rates and timing once you post your current/desired seasonal N regiment.

An excellent analysis and I'm very impressed. As an engineer, I live in the world of assumptions. As long as they’re understood, all is well. However here, I’m making a LOT of assumptions that I don’t understand very well at all, so I’m not too comfortable with my conclusions. That is compounded by the inability to really check the change from last year because of my lack of consistency (I know, I know). After going through the numbers in detail, I now see just how helpful a truly consistent measurement would have been. I'd say that's a pretty accurate description for soil analysis: a bunch of assumptions. This isn't a controlled lab situation and each year's soil sampling and test results can/will very sometimes significantly, so any variable we can control when sampling helps reduce those fluctuations. To try to stay grounded in expertise, I’ve generally just taken morpheuspa’s plan from 2016 and based on RidgeRunner’s ranges and comments, tried to convince myself of whether I could justify using the same 2016 recommendations. So, my thoughts: Why not? It's as good a place to start as any and better than starting from scratch. Assuming M III Phosphorus is what I’m adding with starter fert, bag rate of scotts starter fert (24-25-4) is 0.75 lb/k Phosphorous, or 32.67 lb/ac. I added that 4 times in 2016 for a total of 131 lb/ac of P. Not all of that hung around apparently, and since the B1 section increased by 47lb/ac and the F1 section only increased by 14lb/ac, it appears that the F1 section uses/loses P faster than the B1 section. A couple of clarifications: 1) M III (M3) is the test that was used. It is a cocktail of chemicals that is used to extract nutrients for measurement. In this case the Phosphorous is reported as lbs per acre of P2O5. (Other labs may report it as ppm of elemental Phosphorous). The nice thing about reporting it as P2O5, is that P2O5 is the form of Phosphorous contained in fertilizers. So your assumption is right. 2) Phosphorous moves very slowly (down or otherwise) through the soil and phosphorous binds within days of application and can become unavailable to the plant. In acidic soils it binds to Aluminum and Iron. In high pH soils, it binds with calcium. An assumption: the difference between F1 and B1 may be due in part to the difference in pH between your two soils as reflected in the initial test. If the target is 200, seems like another season of about 4 starter fert applications would make sense, although in the B1 section it seems like I’m cutting it close. Maybe I’ll apply a couple of the apps in that section at 0.5 bag rate? I concur. As an alternative (based on your budget) Milorganite has reconfigured their formula to 5-4-0 from 5-2-0. Now only 10-20% might be organic P, but organic P is "slow" release and would help supply P to your turf better over time. (All of P2O5 is inorganic and although inorganic P is readily available to the turf plant, it also readily binds up. I gave you the 200 range, because you had mentioned that you didn't know what target you had been given last year, 200 is his/a common target for a high maintenance lawn. Some general points of clarification: 1) for every pound of N that a plant uses (not every pound of N that is applied--but USED) the plant needs and uses 1/2 pound of Potassium and 1/4 pound of of Phosphorous. whichever is missing, is the limiting factor. 2)The ranges I gave you are the ones that soil scientist have found within which plants "appear" to do well. They are quantities averaged for soil types and plants. Research has shown that values below the range result in poor performance. That as you approach the low end, additions of that nutrient are more likely to show a visible improvement in the plant and as you approach the high end, additions of the nutrient are much less likely to result in any improvement. Values above the high end are very unlikely to show any improvement and at some point can be detrimental to the plant. (did I say this before?) Bottom line, as you progress with balancing your soil, if you reach a point within the range where you no longer see improvement, you've reached your optimum in regard to any nutrient. My Ca/Mg ratios are roughly in range (F1/B1 5.1/13.1) and slightly up from 2016 (4.7/10.6), so that’s fine, but the Calcium saturation is fairly far off. I’m assuming that this is what is causing my low pH values, but not sure how that’s calculated. Also not sure how to calculate what my expected increase in Mg saturation should be based on the fast acting lime. But since my calcium is clearly low, at a minimum I can add the same calcium (lime) app I did last year (F1: 3lb/k, B1: 1lb/k, spring and fall). The question would be can I increase that app, particularly in the B1 section, and what should the corresponding Mg app be? Since the Ca/Mg ratio is on the low side in F1 maybe I should add less Epsom Salt than I did last year? Say, 1lb/k instead of 2lb/k? Add the same or more in the B1 section to keep that ratio from becoming too large. Say, 2lb/k again. This is when a buffer pH test would help- a lot IMO. If they still have your sample (30 days?) they could run that for about $10 per sample. You are correct that base saturation reflects low pH readings and if you fill up all but 10 to 15% of the cation sites with Ca, Mg. and Potassium and leave the 10-15% to Hydrogen, you should end up with a pH in the 6's. But none of those nutrients neutralize the acidity. For soils, an addition of carbonate will do that. It's better to know how much carbonate/lime (an amount derived from buffer pH testing) is needed to raise pH than to estimate based on total base saturations. BSCR, CEC, lime and differences in lime products, etc. is a bit involved, but I'm happy to clarify any questions you have on them. As it stands now, without a buffer test, as your pH is not really moving and/or dropping and as you want to avoid freeing up any more Aluminum (which can be toxic to the turf in addition to the P issue), you want to raise your pH using lime additions. Your Mg is near sufficient levels, so it shouldn't be an impediment to your turf, however, if you wish to address the base saturation ratio, yes, 1#/k for B1 only of Epsom (considering the difference in sampling and to avoid over shooting) and mixed with the lime. Yes, I'd increase the lime app. As both areas are near the same pH, fast acting lime at 9lbs/k (B1 and F1) would be indicated and even that may not make for much movement in pH on a future test. It should help the available P values to raise. Potassium values seem to be low, and the saturation fell significantly, which, based on morpheuspa’s statements, probably has to do with the Calcium. Common lawn wisdom makes me think I should add in a potassium-rich “winterizer” app in the fall to bump that number. But it again seems like I need to add at least what I added of Potassium Sulfate in 2016 (F1: 3lb/k). However, this time it looks as though adding 3lb/k to the B1 section also might be a good idea. Agree, in fact, I'd suggest increasing to three apps of 3#/k this year. Avoid applying within 2-3 weeks of any lime app. I’ve been sufficiently warned about playing with boron in my lawn to try to improve the number without very specific advice, so I’ll probably just leave that alone this round. That's up to you, based on the soil tests and your previous app,, you could apply 2 tablespoons of Borax per k again to raise values into the optimal range. Your decision. I would have done the jar test, but I came home to a light dusting of snow. Winter isn’t done with us yet, even in S. Carolina. Hope that makes sense. Feel free to ask for any clarifications. Once again, nice job.