Soil test results...help with establishing lawn
I'm in Central Indiana (USDA zone 5b). New construction home 2 years ago and much of my 5,000 sf lawn looks bad despite my best efforts at fertilizing, mowing, and watering. Heavily compacted, very rocky soil. A few very healthy spots here and there, but mostly thin, yellow, drought intolerant.
Here's the results of a soil analysis from the very worst part of my lawn, where I've been unable to grow much of anything:
Organic Matter, % 1.3
Phosphorus, ppm P (Bray-1 Equiv.) 10
Potassium, ppm K 110
Magnesium, ppm Mg 1145
Calcium, ppm Ca 4050
Cation Exchange Capacity, meq/100g 30.1
pH 8.4
Major concerns are obviously the pH level, phosphorus, and organic matter.
Lab recommended annual applications of 40 lbs/1,000 sf of 5-10-10 and 4 lbs/1,000 of 0-0-60. Also recommended frequent iron.
My question is WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW? Here's my preliminary plan:
1) Aerate
2) Apply any soil amendments and fertilizers you recommend (Sulphur? 5-10-10? What else?)
3) Topdress with 50/50 soil/compost mix
4) Seed (What type of grass? KBG? Perennial Ryegrass?)
Any and all advice is appreciated!
Comments (13)
Nick Abel
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Fescue Lawn Soil Test Results, help needed
Comments (12)You can do either. If you have a good amount of rain coming this week, I would lime first. Most soil lab fertilizer recommendations aren't very good. They are very general, the computer just spits them out. When you fertilize use enough to apply 1 lb of nitrogen per 1000 square feet. For most of your apps half quick release, half slow release is recommended (you can use Milorganite as a slow release if you want). If you are overseeding I would apply half an app of starter at seeding, the other half after you mow the new grass 2 or 3 times. So let's say you overseed on Sept. 1. Apply half an app of starter at seeding time and the other half will be in about a month or so. Then in late October a full app, you can use the starter if you want or regular 50:50 fertilizer. Then in late November/early December when topgrowth has stopped, but the ground isn't frozen a full app of all quick release nitrogen (urea, ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate). Make sure to always water in synthetic fertilizers to avoid burn....See Moresoil test results....help a 'newb'??
Comments (19)Perfect. That's what we were looking for. The CEC tells you what your soil is capable of hanging on to in regards to nutrients (and trace amounts of other stuff)..... The capacity. The numbers above your CEC tell you the relative amounts of that capacity taken up by individual cations (positively charged ions). Belgianpup, what you have is a list of the relative amounts of those cations. If we were to do the same thing for Grace, it would say: K = 1.3% Mg = 5.1% Ca= 37.5% H = 55.8% Na = 0.3% (or something pretty close to that) I think the set of numbers in your second post, Grace, are the soluble amounts of those nutrients in a saturation extract. If you poked around on that sheet, I bet the units you find would be (meq/l) AKA 'milliequivalents per liter'. That is the amount of each of those nutrients floating around in your soil solution and immediately availble for plant uptake and reactions. To go back a step, the meq/100g AKA 'milliequivalents per 100 grams', is the amount of each of those nutrients bound to the exchange sites in your soil. That's why the first set of numbers are different from these most recent. Generally, when accessing nutrient ratios, you use the exchangeable amounts rather than the soluble amounts because the exchangeable amounts gives you a better idea of what is available over-all. When looking at exchangeable amounts, you can see favorable relationships with calcium and magnesium. Anyway, is it right to assume that you will be treating this location as an existing turf area, or are you planning on tearing it out and starting over. Or, will you plant something else all together. If you are sticking with the existing turf or re-planting, what type of grass will you be working with?...See MoreSoil test result help?
Comments (4)Are we talking about regular old Black-eyed Susans? Rudbeckia hirta (guessing on the spelling). Good spelling. :) Pretty much...I have regular ones, Irish Eyes, and children of Tiger Eyes...but all are hirtas. Do the plants look healthy? lots of dark green leaves? The pH on these samples are on the acid side but I didn't think that would bother Rudbeckias - you see them blooming in the wild in some pretty acidic areas . Definitely...some are VERY large. A few have brown leaves right now, but that has pretty much only been in the last week or two. For the most part, they are VERY green. Interestingly enough, some that are also in their second year and planted at my daughter's school (so different soil conditions) are also not blooming this year. Do they sometimes just wait until third year? Many people have given me weird looks/comments when they find out they are not blooming. Phosphorus above 100 is okay, so only the front yard box is low. Whew....that makes me feel better. How about the potassium? I don't know how to feel about the 510 in the hydrangea box. Do they bloom? Pretty good...maybe less this year. They do not bloom as nice as I would like since only the new wood buds, but it was a pretty good bloom this year, considering. They certainly look VERY healthy. They grew a lot this year, too (I think this is their 4th year here). That crazy high phosphorus is really weird. That is the one box I leave willow oak leaf mulch in....would that contribute? I hope not, b/c I love having that on top of all of the boxes for the winter. Just know that mineral problems happen with very high or very low pH but those problems are about absorption and these test are on the soil. I would think you don't need to fertilize with anything that includes phosphorus for a while on that box. I am thinking no phosphorous and no potassium (or very little) on any for a few years, but I will do another test in the spring (and maybe next fall, too). I do have fish fertilizer that is 5-1-1...hopefully, that will not raise the Ph or K much. It is pretty nice stuff. :) My guess would be that the soil in the boxes is too rich, I grow mine in wimpy sandy soil. I think they bloom better in improved soil but I think those beds are only slightly improved. Some of the other types of Rudbeckias do better in improved soil. With it being Miracle Gro soil (though all but the front boxes are 3-4 years old), that could very well be it. That has been the most logical explanation I have heard so far. Maybe it is way too nice. I think that is why I cannot get irises to bloom, too. Are they getting a lot of light? I've seen them bloom in half day light but it was blazing hot half day light. Some of the other types bloom in the shade. Yep...plenty of light...most get 6-8 or more hours a day. :) Is there any chance that something like a rabbit is eating the flower buds? I doubt it...we do not have much of a rabbit or squirrel population in my yard. They are afraid of my dog. lol Good thing to check, though. So, it basically sounds like other than the 510 phosphorus, nothing there is super alarming? I do have various things that just do not bloom until their 3rd or 4th year. I also sometimes buy things that bloom the first year...but not after that (such as Kniphofia, a Rudbeckia Irish Eye—one rebloomed, and one did not-- and Salvia May Knight). I do have some seedlings (like Salvia nemorosa) that have barely grown more than an inch or two this spring/summer, but I figure they may be making good roots right now. I am hoping the fish fertilizer (I will apply next week and then start again in spring) will help. Thank you for your thorough analysis and comments...I was especially hoping you would respond. I REALLY appreciate it, as this has been driving me nuts....See MoreIowa Soil Test Results Help - Year 2
Comments (14)In addition to adding all the things becky mentioned in order to reduce pH and/or improve the soil tilth, you could add sawdust. Sounds odd, but it is supposed to be great for soil structure when it breaks down. Morpheus used to recommend this. You don't want sawdust with anything like glues in it. The best thing is a product like Equine Pine, which is compressed sawdust pellets for horse stables. I got some at Tractor Supply one time for $5 per 50 lb bag. I put down a full 50 lb per ksf with my spreader opened wide up. It will quickly dissolve into the soil and a week later you won't even know it was there. It does take a long time to break down and you don't want to till it in as it will rob nitrogen from your grass. On the surface it will get the nitrogen it needs to break down from the air ... Just a thought. It's something you might add once or twice a year....See MoreNick Abel
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoUpdating with early results of vinegar jar test. There are three pictures below:
- Immediately after adding vinegar and stirring a bit. Lots of fizzing. Not Mt. St. Helens, but plenty of activity.
- Two minutes after filling the jar more fully with vinegar and shaking a bit.
- Two hours...
I'll update again after 48 hours. I've never done this before, but I'm having trouble finding 3 defined layers at the moment...it's looking heavily clay to my untrained eye.
Located a 50 pound bag of starter fertilizer (18-24-6) for $34.99, which seems to be the cheapest around. Nitrogen from: 9.5% Ammoniacal Nitrogen, 8.5% Urea Nitrogen.
Any recommendations on seed? To be honest, I have no idea what type of grass I'm currently growing. About half the lawn was sodded (on two different days with two different batches -- they've looked totally different to me from the start). The backyard was seeded when I moved in (2 years ago) and then overseeded by me last fall.
Thanks again, Morpheus!
- Immediately after adding vinegar and stirring a bit. Lots of fizzing. Not Mt. St. Helens, but plenty of activity.
Nick Abel
7 years agoNick Abel
7 years ago@dchall_san_antonio: Thanks! I've never done this test, so I have no idea what I'm looking for. I'll post the 48 hour picture tomorrow night...
@yardtractor1: Thanks again. I wouldn't say it's representative of my whole yard -- just the very worst area. I took about 10 samples from that ~400 sf area, each to a depth of about 3". Some pics of my lawn might help folks. Sorry if this is overkill. I'm now enjoying the conversation, though!
Here's a shot of my front yard. This was SODDED by the builder when I moved in just over 2 years ago. You can see the many bare spots, dormant spots, and overall pitiful shape it's in despite 2 weeks of torrential rains and decent temps. Oh, it's North-facing, by the way. The back of my house faces almost due South.
Here's a close-up of a spot in that front yard:
Here's a shot down one side of my house. Like the front, it was sodded. Like the front, it's very patchy -- some areas grow fine, while others are thin, never grow above about 2" even in ideal conditions, and go dormant at the first sign of trouble:
OK, this is interesting to me. Here's a shot of the very back corner of the side. It's in the way back of the picture above. This was also sodded by the builder, but the interesting thing is they ran out of sod on the first day and left this part bare. A few days later, they came back with sod that looked VERY different to me from the rest of the front/sides. This part of my lawn has really thrived. It's not a beautiful carpet like some of you have, but it's thick, grows high, stays green longer, and it spread like crazy across my barren backyard last year (you'll see that in a minute):
Here's a close-up of the grass in that section:
Here's a shot of my backyard. This was SEEDED by the builder. You can see how the "bottom" half looks OK -- not great, but decent. I've basically observed that healthy section of the side yard spread last fall and spring until it got to sections that it didn't "like." I know I'm personifying grass. Forgive me. But you can basically see an imaginary line where the backyard goes from "decent" to "awful". This top part is where I took all the soil samples, since I've struggled the most with it. I've spent many hours out there the past two years raking out rocks, watering, dethatching, spreading bags of soil/manure/compost, overseeding, and of course, following a "novice" fertilizing program (sporadic Milorganite and Scott's products). Much to my chagrin, it's basically been weed and clover territory, with very patchy areas of grass that never grows much higher than 1".
Here's a closeup of an area from the "awful" zone -- the top half of my backyard:
So there you go. Thanks again to anyone who posts with ideas or info -- much appreciated!
Nick Abel
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago@YardTractor: Good advice. I don't mind spending some $, but I plan to be in this house for many years, so I'll probably wait until next year for the 3 separate tests (front, back, side). Good to know the starter fertilizer routine won't hurt anything. In that case, I'll stick with my plan: core aerate in 2 weeks, topdress with soil/compost mix a few days later, apply starter fertilizer, seed, follow morpheus' starter fertilizer routine. Oh, I got lucky and found starter fertilizer for 50% off at Tractor Supply today. $17.99/50 lb bag...so I bought 3!
Oh, I meant to ask about FAS. Does anyone have an issue with a couple applications of this during growing seasons next year? The ammonium sulfate is supposedly good for alkaline soils (although mine is so skyhigh that it'll admittedly make little difference), and the iron will help with chlorosis (?)...right?
By the way, in case anyone wants to offer an opinion, here's 2 pictures of my vinegar jar soil test after 48 hours (first with flash, second without):
dchall_san_antonio
7 years ago
User
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
User