This one's interesting. What's your location and what type of grass do you have? The soil either shows severe over-liming or a naturally high-lime soil. The higher sodium level implies the latter, but... The grass type will determine the phosphorus setting. Most nothern lawns and some southern lawns require more fiddling here than a few southern ones do. The EC of nearly 15 says you have a good soil that holds lots of resources. Exactly what it is, you'd have to do a jar test. pH 8.0: Extremely high, but a lawn will still grow in this. Organic matter 3.55: In the good range, although I'd still try to push this much higher due to your high pH (and consequent very high calcium, Phosphorus 45: Short to extremely short due to the pH locking it up, but it's going to depend on your grass type. Let me know on that. Calcium 81%: High, but certainly not toxic or anything like that. We'll want to avoid lime and most calcium sources, however, simply because you don't need them. Magnesium 12%: Optimal. Again, we'll be avoiding sources of these to avoid pushing up your pH any further. Potassium 1.39%: Lower than I like (I prefer potassium levels of 3% or a little more for most lawns, and I go much higher in my own). Sodium 1.86%: Nudging a little high, but not a problem for grasses. This goes into the "keep an eye on" column and if it continues to head up we do something about it then. Most trace elements: Good to excellent, with no adjustments required. I'd be hesitant to adjust most of these with the pH that high and with two major nutrients requiring adjustment anyway. Iron 191: Very low for your pH, but not deficient. Lawns are likely to be a paler green than they would otherwise be. High pH binds up iron, and at that pH even chelated sources of iron simply won't work. Fortunately, using MIlorganite over time will work and add a lot of iron to the soil over time. Over the shorter term, you can spray iron (Bonide iron or 4 oz ferrous sulfate per thousand square feet) for color if you really want to. Current Recommendations: Now: Let me know your locale and grass type. September, as soon as you can: Apply any starter fertilizer at bag rate. Starter fertilizers have large middle numbers, like 20-27-5 or 18-24-5 or that range. Get the cheapest, the differences in that middle number aren't enough to matter and bag rate will target around 1 pound phosphorus per thousand square feet. September, one good rain or irrigation post the starter Locate potassium sulfate (most garden shops will order it for you, as will many landscapers, but this is not a common nutrient). Apply at 2 pounds per thousand square feet. Buy plenty, you're going to need it. I'll hold off on October recommendations until I know your locale and grass type; I don't want to risk ground freeze too early, nor overdoing things for your grass.

With a full acre, you may not want to head for the perfect groove, or at least not as quickly as I outlined below. Feel free to add time, any amount that's convenient, between these applications as your budget demands or simply just as you feel like doing. I also always head for the perfect analysis. If you want me to prioritize, let me know, although in this case I've noted that to some extent in the text. I don't know your general location, so I made my recommendations as if you were in central Michigan. While you probably have more of a window than that, conservative never hurts in terms of soil applications! Sample Depth 6": I'll adjust your numbers to the 4" standard. In the future, sample to four inches and state that on the form. Some numbers do change. EC 4.1: Yep, sand. Your soil doesn't hold a vast amount of resources, so plan on testing relatively regularly. Yearly would be optimal, but every other year would be just fine. pH 6.3: An interesting conundrum, some of which is set off by the sodium saturation. Still, I don't want to kick this up too much, but you do need calcium... OM 3.0%: Probably a slightly low reading if you actually took samples to the six inch depth. Still, this is in the Fair range. Certainly always mulch mow, mow all your fall leaves, import leaves if you can, and consider feeding organically (at least on areas near the house that are used). Sulfur 17: A perfectly good answer. Phosphorus 191: I'm adjusting this to 130 in the 0 to 4" profile, although I'm probably a little low on that (P levels tend to be lower the deeper you go, but I can certainly think of tons of exceptions). While not deficient, it's a bit trim, so of moderate to moderately high importance. I've recommended starter fertilizer below, so just get the cheapest. They're all pretty much the same. Calcium 55.6%: A little low, but not horribly severe. The 200 pound per acre deficit is really only about 135 pounds. This is of high importance, however. We use high calcium limestone, not the cheap stuff which is slow, weak, and contains elements you either don't need or that I add differently. Use Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime for the calcium adjustment. Magnesium 21.1%: Actually, this is perfect. The inflated percentage (I like to see around 11-14 in soils this sandy) is because there's a slight calcium deficit. Raising calcium will lower this saturation naturally and without any further intervention from us--although it does take a while to happen. No magnesium required or desired. Potassium 4.6%: There's a slight deficit in the soil, with this percentage as high as it is due to the lower calcium levels. While I want to adjust this, I'm tabling it for this test--it's not severe, it's not important, and it can wait for other things that are far more critical. This number will drop as the calcium levels come up to optimal. Sodium 3.2%: High, but not a problem yet, and the actual amount in the soil is quite reasonable. The higher percentage is kicking up your pH a bit, but the calcium will help dispel a little bit of this. If it stays high and your pH rides too high after the calcium, we can dispel this if we have to. I doubt we'll have to. Minor Elements: Copper is really low, but repeated mulch mowing and mowing fall leaves will tend to lift this a bit, so I'm riding it until the next test. Using organics will also nudge this up. I'd prefer to see around 1 PPM on this soil. Except for iron and boron, all the others are fine. Boron <0.2: Undetectable, which means very, very deficient. Grasses aren't particularly boron demanding, but we do try to target 0.7 on this test. Importance is very hard to determine; if it were me, I'd call this absolutely critical until it reaches 0.3, important after that to 0.5, nice but not strictly necessary to 0.7. We use Milorganite as a carrier and 20 Mule Team Borax as the boron source (one box should be entirely sufficient for the entire acre, with plenty still left over). 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. On an acre, that's a LOT of Milorganite, and I'm afraid I haven't tested any other carrier. You could go thinner on the Milo if you want, down to the point where you can just barely get that much 20 Mules to stick--but it's then important to irrigate well immediately afterwards! As long as the amount of 20 Mules works out to exactly 5 tablespoons per thousand square feet, it's fine. Iron 103: Rather trim, but certainly not deficient in the slightest. Still, this won't produce the best possible lawn color, particularly as calcium levels rise. Fortunately, fescues aren't particularly demanding of iron. Whenever you like, you can use Milorganite to raise this very, very slowly, but I understand you probably aren't going to do that very often on a full acre! This is entirely optional. Recommendations: September 1 (or with your overseeding): Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 5 tablespoons per thousand square feet of 20 Mule Team Borax. Irrigate very well on the newly-seeded areas at minimum, and the entire lawn if you use a lower level of Milorganite to carry the same amount of borax. October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. October 15: Apply 4 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet. April 15, 2016: Apply 4 pounds of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime per thousand square feet. Memorial Day, 2016: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate.

Overall, this isn't a bad test at all. There are some things that require fixing, some that should be adjusted, and many that are just fine. It's good you used the starter on her lawn; she needed it! I'll account for the usage in my calculations and recommendations, assuming you went at bag rate (1 pound of P2O5 equivalent). Sample Depth 3: Four is the normal sampling depth, but that's no big deal. I'll adjust your answers to match a 4" horizon. Exchange Capacity 7.5: Silty sand, probably. The soil holds a tolerable level of resources and testing every other year will be sufficient to make sure nothing's going awry once it's adjusted. pH 6.4: Right where it should be, which is because most of the resources that generate pH are right where they should be. I'll want to adjust a few of them a little bit, but will do so in a relatively pH neutral manner. Organic Matter 4.8%: Nicely in the Good range. Certainly mulch mow, mow all fall leaves, and feed organically if you want, but this is not an emergency. The EC of the soil is high enough that there's no reason to specifically work on organic matter to raise the EC. Sulfur 11: A nice answer, with plenty of margin for adding sulfate-based chemistry to adjust things. I don't need much margin. Phosphorus 77 (103 adjusted): Low, and definitely impacting lawn quality. Target here will be 200. To adjust this, we use starter fertilizer, and my recommendations are below. Calcium 64.6%: Right in optimal range, although with a lower EC soil I'd like to adjust this a tiny bit (that 50 pound [67 pound adjusted] shortage is minor, but...) For this, we use gypsum, which is available at many big box stores, landscape shops, and garden stores. Get the pelletized, it's much easier to handle, if available (and it usually is). My goal here is to nudge the calcium levels closer to 70%. Magnesium 15.4%: Perfect. No magnesium is required or desired. Potassium 5.0%: Perfect (the previous test was wrong on this, I think). No potassium is required or desired, and this is absolutely optimal. Sodium 1.0%: Perfect. Sodium does nothing for a lawn, so very low levels are desirable. The gypsum might reduce this a tiny bit and, if so, great. If not, no problem. Minor Elements: Boron is deficient. The rest are fine, although if you wish to use Milorganite (high iron), that would probably improve the lawn color a little bit over time. 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: Seeding Time: Starter fertilizer at bag rate (you already did this). October 15: Starter fertilizer at bag rate. November 1: Apply 5 tablespoons (not a misprint) of 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet. April 1, 2016: Apply 5 to 10 pounds of gypsum per thousand square feet (I'd prefer 7, actually, but anything in that range is just fine). Memorial Day 2016: Starter fertilizer at bag rate. Labor Day 2016: Starter fertilizer at 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).