haliwa01 , What you are saying makes perfect since too me, and will you too if you think about it for a minute. In regards to lime tells me your soil is naturally acidic by nature. I believe that is quite common for NC soils. So what that means is it will be a continuous battle for you with annual or bi-annual applications of lime just to keep at the bottom end of the optimum PH range. If you slip or miss applications your soil will turn sour quickly. It just means you have to apply lime at least every year to stay a float. Starter fertilizer contains a large dose of Phosphorous which explains your recent jump in the soil test. There is not any thing wrong with your P levels as they are just slightly above optimum levels, you just have enough for now to last a while. IMHO all you have to do in the future is lime once or twice a year and stay organic. By staying organic your NPK ratios should stay in optimum ranges. If your yearly soil test indicates otherwise; then deal with it on a post-reactive measure rather than pre-active.

Peter, Again, I am disagreeing with you about the need for phosphorus but for the sake of discussion: phosphorus rapidly reacts in soil forming stable compounds that are for the most part unavailable to plants. Over time added phosphorus becomes less and less available although a certain amount of phosphorus is always in solution. As it is removed by plants more P goes into solution and maintains an equilibrium. Note that plants can only utilize the P in solution. Measuring how much P is in solution is not very useful because what really needs to be known is how much is going to be available to plants throughout the season, that is how much P is going to go into solution as the small amount that is available to plants is taken up through the roots. Soil tests try and estimate this by digesting soil is various acid solutions (ÂBray ÂOlsen ÂMehlich etc.). Although these estimates are useful, as I said before they are by no means exact. So what I am saying isnÂt that the 26lbs is wrong and that there is really another 124lbs, what I am saying is that there is probably something like a ton of phosphorus per acre in the soil and the guess that 26lbs is going to be available is just that , a guess and there very well may end up being 200lbs available. Or it could go the other way and there could be less. There are a lot of factors that influence how much P is going to be available including things like pH and michorizal fungi. Fertilizing P in bands or clumps helps with availability because it takes longer for the P to react and become insoluble. So again, I am not disagreeing with you that some P should be added, I am just saying that I wouldnÂt lose any sleep over the results of this soil test. If the pH was 4.5 or 8 or something like that, then I would panic, but of all the things on a soil test you should take with a grain of salt, the P numbers are at the top of the list.

If you just want to use an organic fertilizer, there a tons and tons and tons of options. You can look through a list of OMRI certified products at this location. It's a PDF so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader if you don't already have it. One option to get you close enough to the original recommendation is Bull Enterprise 3-8-8 at 50 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. Soybean meal would be a little heavy on the nitrogen for your purposes. If you want to use a compost, nutrient values can vary by surprising amounts depending on what it's made from and how it was treated. Green waste composts tend to be a pretty big source of potassium, less phosphorus and even less nitrogen. Cow and horse manure tend to be higher on phosphorus and potassium but also sodium. Poultry manures are higher in nitrogen. Those are some general things to consider but again, nutrient values vary dramatically even from one cow manure compost to the other (same goes for all types). You can either have your chosen compost tested or you can just pick one, use it and adjust as necessary.

This isn't that bad, and it's not that acidic. It could certainly use improvement, but all things considered, it's not awful or anything. Sample Depth 6: Four is recommended for lawns, but I'll adjust the numbers appropriately. ME 7.5: Probably mixed sand and silt. It's a good soil mix that holds a fair level of resources and maintains itself tolerably well. pH 5.9: A little low, but nothing severe. We'll correct this under calcium and potassium below. OM 5.4: In the Good range. Certainly mulch mow and mow your fall leaves, and consider feeding organically if you like. But this is not an emergency and no quick action is required. Sulfur 15: A nice answer with plenty of margin for sulfate-based additions. Phosphorus 505 (337 adjusted): Perfect! No phosphorus is required or desired, and this is sufficient for any purpose for years. You don't specifically need to avoid phosphorus sources, but I wouldn't intentionally add any if you can avoid it. So no starter fertilizer. Calcium 61.2%: Technically OK but I'd like to adjust this a little bit. For that, we use Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime. Other cheap limes will add magnesium you don't want (and shouldn't use), work very slowly, and require far more mass for the same adjustment. I adjusted the soil shortage down to 137 PPA. Recommendations below. Magnesium 12.4%: Nose-on perfect. No magnesium is required or desired. Potassium 1.9%: Somewhat low. To adjust, we use potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash), which can be ordered from most landscape places or garden stores. Big box stores tend not to carry this, although you can get it online as a last resort. Recommendations below. Minor Elements: Fine, except for boron. I do mention iron below as well. Boron 0.22: Deficient. We use Milorganite as a carrier and 20 Mule Team Borax as the boron source. You can purchase 20 Mules at the grocery store in the laundry section. In a wheelbarrow or the like, dump the Milo. Spraying very, very lightly with water (I use a spray bottle like the kind people use to damp their clothes when they iron) will help the boron stick. Add the recommended amount of 20 Mule Team Borax and stir, spraying occasionally to get the stuff to stick to the Milo. Then apply over the recommended area. So if going for bag rate Milorganite (1 bag per 2,500 square feet), you'd add 10 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Iron 155: Not a problem, but your rising pH is likely to cause some paling out of the lawn. Whenever you like, apply Milorganite at bag rate to darken the lawn and very slowly raise the soil iron. Recommendations: September 15: Apply 5 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet. October 1: Apply 4 tablespoons (4 Tbsp; not a misprint!) of 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet in Milorganite carrier. October 15: Apply 3 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. April 1, 2016: Apply 4 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet. April 15, 2015: Apply 3 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate.