@becky: Good point! I should just boilerplate a disclaimer up top. In some cases, I'm slamming the grass with N. In others, nothing... >>Because the soil was so hard; I thought it may be a heavy clay based soil. So I had the irrigation system programmed to water the lawn every third day applying a half inch of water at a time to eliminate run-off. (So much for what I know!! ) Is the half inch at a time schedule okay? Or do you think the lawn may require more than 1" of water per week? If so; what would you suggest as a watering schedule? I folded all this together. :-) Observation will show you what's required; during cooler weather, like spring and fall, very little watering may be required, or even none at all. I haven't used the sprinklers since September even though rainfall's been a bit low. Half an inch on very sandy soil is generally a good place to start, and figure you may need it twice a week in hot weather. Weekly in pleasant summer weather. I always play it by ear and water when my grass starts to wilt--which also sends the signal to the grass that more root mass might be a good idea. >>Based on the soil test results do you think my soil problem can be corrected On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very bad, and 10 be very good. Where on the scale would you put my soil? All soils can be corrected and yours is certainly no exception to that. Mine started out more than ten times as acidic, with essentially no calcium, modest magnesium, and very low potassium. Not to mention a nearly complete lack of every other resource. These days, it can grow anything I throw into the soil (as long as the plant is compatible with my climate and the sunlight it gets, of course). The problem isn't getting plants to grow, it's getting them to stop taking over! There was a visible battle front between the ageratum and zinnia this year. Overall, I'd give your soil about a 5 at the present instant...it's almost exactly what I'd expect for your locale, without modifications. That can easily be turned up to the 7 to 9 range. 10 is possible but would take years of work.

I really don't like their recommendations for a number of reasons. One, sulfur doesn't work. Surface applied, you'll lose three quarters to outgassing to the atmosphere as sulfur dioxide (smog), so thanks for the air pollution. :-) They also recommend some rather difficult or expensive sources (11-52-0, for example). I have monoammonium phosphate on hand. You almost certainly don't. And so on. The zinc and copper aren't necessary, both levels are perfectly reasonable in your soil. In the below, I've assumed you have a northern lawn. If that's incorrect, this will still work, but southern lawns would benefit from a slightly different schedule. ME 22.9: This is a little overinflated by your excess calcium, which results in an ME that's somewhat high. I'm using a standard of 15 for soil applications as it's safe to do so. pH 7.6: Kind of high, but get used to it. There's not terribly much you can do about it (as mentioned, surface applied sulfur does not work very well). Fortunately, lawns are extremely tolerant of a pH in this range, although color will suffer a bit. OM 5.5%: In the Good range, so no specific work needs to be done here. Sulfur 13: Well within normal range. Phosphorus 147: While a bit low, it's nothing extreme and unlikely to be causing much in the way of visible problems. Still, with your pH, I'd really prefer this to be in the 260 range (higher pH levels inhibit phosphorus release). We use good old-fashioned starter fertilizer to do this--just get the cheapest as they all work the same. Recommendations below. Calcium 80.8%: High, but not a problem, and almost impossible to dispel. Certainly avoid any calcium sources. Magnesium 12.9%: On paper, a tad low. In reality, it's just fine--your very high Ca levels are masking some of the Mg in your soil. Your plants have no trouble getting all the magnesium they need, and then some. Don't add more. Potassium 1.8%: This is short on paper, and looks shorter in the soil than it really is. It should be enhanced, but not quite to the levels their recommendations listed. We use potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) for this, which some garden stores and landscape places carry--or they'll order it for you. Recommendations below. Minor Elements: Fine, but I do mention iron and boron below. Iron 110: Just fine and not a problem, but it won't produce the best color at a pH of 7.6. Whenever you like, you can apply Milorganite at the bag rate to very slowly raise this. Boron 0.55: A tad low. This won't be an issue, but I would like to correct it. 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 7.5 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Recommendations: May 10: Apply 3 pounds of potassium sulfate per thousand square feet. Memorial Day: Feed the lawn with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. June 15: Apply 3 tablespoons per thousand square feet (not a misprint!) of 20 Mule Team Borax. Labor Day: Feed the lawn with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. October 1: Feed the lawn with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. October 15: Apply 2 pounds of potassium sulfate per thousand square feet.

I'm losing my mind over here, and I've read a report for you before, I think. So I'll give you the compressed read (or, just what needs changing). If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll do the full read. Some of your numbers are kicked around because of your excess calcium, which tends to make things read incorrectly by a bit. I'm correcting for that. Phosphorus 57: Very low. In your case, my target would be 240 or so. We use starter fertilizer to fix this, and just get the cheapest. They all work the same. I folded in an extra feeding in June, you're pretty low. Potassium 0.9%: Not as low as it looks, but still pretty low. We use potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) to fix this, which you can get from some garden or landscape stores, or they'll order it for you. Minor Elements: All except boron and iron are fine. I mention those below. Iron 115: Low for good color at your pH, but not a problem. Whenever you like, you can use Milorganite to very slowly raise this. Boron <0.2: 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 12.5 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Recommendations: Now: Feed with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. May 25: Apply 3 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. Apply 5 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet. June 15: Feed with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. September 1: Feed with starter fertilizer at the bag rate. September 15: Apply 3 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. October 1: Feed with starter fertilizer at the bag rate.

I'm glad it improved visually! Probably what happened was that your grass absorbed the majority of the nutrients before (or as or after) they hit the soil, leaving the soil in roughly the same place. The Pennington Fast Acting was the right response, but could you tell me how many pounds per thousand square feet that worked out to be? I'd need to include it, but you can use the numbers below to adjust the calcium levels and simply add (or defer) the amount required. We've been through a lot of the basics, so I'll skip those and only note changes where they're either interesting, significant, or otherwise amusing. pH 5.1: This actually isn't significantly different than 2015 and we really do want this to rise a lot yet. OM 2.1%: Rising 0.2 is within sampling differences, but I'm pleased to see it. Continue to mulch mow, mow all your fall leaves, and so on! Phosphorus 91: No significant difference. Again, we use starter to raise this and my recommendations are below. Calcium 40.8%: No significant change. This is one case where I do a split recommendation as I'd also like to lift your magnesium and I'm willing to accept a slow, but easier, change. We'll mostly be using the Pennington you're used to, but also pick up some good old, very cheap, dolomitic limestone (usually in a bag that costs $5 for 40 pounds, marked "Dolomitic Limestone" and available anywhere). There's some variance in magnesium levels, but that's not terribly significant here as I'm only nudging things. Magnesium 5.1%: Lower than I like. I chose dolomitic to make the application easier and the release slower--next year or the year after, when calcium comes up, we'll make a final adjustment more quickly and at a more accurately calculated rate. Right now, the dolomitic is fine and won't overshoot. Potassium 3.9%: Perfect! None required. Minor Elements: Iron and boron again. Iron: Like last year, keep going with the Milorganite when you can. It'll improve your lawn color. Boron <0.2: Deficient. While grasses aren't particularly sensitive to that, it should be improved--and really will subtly improve lawn quality. 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 12.5 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Recommendations: Now-ish to June 1: Apply 5 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet. June 1: Feed with starter at the bag rate. June 15: Apply 7 pounds of Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet (adjust for what you added previously). Apply around 15 pounds of dolomitic limestone per thousand square feet--anything from around 12 to around 18 pounds is fine. July 1: Feed with starter at the bag rate. September 1: Feed with starter at the bag rate. October 1: Feed with starter at the bag rate. October 15: Apply 9 pounds of Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet (adjust for what you added previously if you still need to here).