Logan Labs soil test results.

7 years ago

Hello Everyone, thank you for all the help I received from this forum. I just got my test results back and was wondering what to do next. First off, here is a link to my other thread which lead me to get the soil test. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4136787/what-is-going-on-with-my-lawn.

So after I took the soil samples I put down 500lbs of cracked corn while waiting for the results. That worked out to about 20lbs/1000sqft. Also I had already reseeded and fertilized september 1st, 2016. Where do I go from here with these results?

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Comments (7)

User
7 years ago
Yours is easy, you have a very balanced soil already.

Calcium and magnesium are so close to optimal that I made no adjustments (yes, Ca is a touch high, but that doesn't matter). Potassium is close enough that I'm going to tell you to ignore it this year, but test in two years or so. Other than that, I merely noted some interesting data below.

Exchange Capacity 10-ish: A nice place to be, with the soil drifting only fairly slowly. Testing every other year is fine. If you made me guess, some sand, some silt, possibly even some amount of lower-EC clay.

Phosphorus 400-ish: Kind of high, but not a problem. Certainly avoid use of starter fertilizer as you don't want to send this higher, but you also don't have to specifically avoid everything with small amounts of P in it.

Minor Elements: All look pretty good. Boron in area B is a tad below optimal, but not enough to worry about. Copper is a hair high but not a problem. Iron levels look good.
tye22tye
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Thank you Morpheuspa.

I am very glad it sounds like I do not have any major issues.

1) On 9/1/16 I put down 18-24-12 starter fertilizer because I seeded but I will avoid that as you had suggested. I do/did plan however to use 28-8-16 on 10/1/16 and then 46-0-0 on 11/24/16. Is the phosphorus in 28-8-16 considered low enough to be used in my application?

2) I was wondering if you happened to look at the pictures of what happened to my lawn in this link: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4136787/what-is-going-on-with-my-lawn. If you happened to have time to look, what do you think happened if all seems ok with soil? I recently put down 20lbs/1000sqft of cracked corn(no local cornmeal available) right after I grabbed samples of soil, just in case soil results came back negative and it was fungus. I was mowing high so I didn't realize how bad it was until I cut it down to 2" to reseed. It looks as if the lawn disintegrated. I was the grass-whisperer the first year the grass was established until it's first August/2016, and now I am the grass-destroyer. Most of the damage is in the shady areas, but some is in sunny areas as well. If I had to guess, it was either the heat or maybe I watered too much. It seems I ran into problems once I started to water an inch, but then again it could be a coincidence with the summer heat, i don't know.

3) Are there other ways to get dead grass and clippings to decompose without dethatching? I was under the impression that mulching your grass was good, but what for if it does not decompose and keeps building up and you have to remove it anyway? Dethatching just seems like a lot of work in addition to everything else with this lawn. If I have to, I have to though. What do you think?

Thank you for advice.
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User
7 years ago
1) You can use up the bag if you want, but I'd go with a much higher N, much lower P application in the future. You really don't need the P, so there's no reason to pay for it!

2) Leaf spot? I'm bad at diseases, though.

3) Organic matter. I haven't dethatched ever, and I have 100% KBG (the second-thatchiest grass). Given enough water and OM and nitrogen (supplied by organic fertilizer or synthetic), it'll rot.
tye22tye
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Sorry for the miscommunication. I don't have any 18-24-12 left, I was just stating what I put down already on 9/1/16. But what I was curious to know was if 24-8-16 was low enough phosphorus for what I need and high enough nitrogen. This would be for the 10/1/16 feeding.
User
7 years ago
If you have it on-hand, by all means, use it. A 3-1-2 ratio is a tad high in P for your soil, but only a tad, and one use or so certainly isn't going to hurt. Plus you could use the potassium.

If you haven't bought it yet, I'd rather (theoretically) see something like 24-0-16, but that ratio is almost impossible to find. Consequently, anything high in nitrogen and low in both P and K is also good. Again, theoretically, something like 25-5-5 would also be great.

Really, I generally recommend the cheapest thing you can get in the approximate range, so worry more about proportions than actual numbers. You're looking for something where nitrogen is at least four times as great as phosphorus.
tye22tye
Original Author
7 years ago
Ok great, thank you.
tye22tye
Original Author
7 years ago
Hello, I know this is an old post, hopefully you or someone can advise. According to my soil test you had mentioned that P is a little high and I should avoid fertilizers with P or go with a fertilizer that has N atleast 4x greater than P.

My question is:

Does this apply to organic fertilizers? I plan to fertilize with milorganite this season and the one in the store is I think 5-2-0?

Here is my plan:

1) April 1st Cracked corn(20lb/K) for fungus. May or may not use cracked corn because someone had mentioned it may add up to too much N in combination with all other feedings.

2) May 31st Milorganite (20lbs/K, 5-2-0)

3) July 1st Cracked corn(20lbs/K) for fungus. May or may not use cracked corn because someone had mentioned it may add up to too much N in combination with all other feedings.

4) Sept 1st. Milorganite (20lbs/K, 5-2-0)

5) Oct 1st. Milorganite (20lbs/K, 5-2-0)

6)) Nov 24th. (2lb Urea/K)

Logan Labs soil test results.

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Logan Labs soil test results.

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