Dschall- In answer to your questions-- Compost is a free input. We make it by hand cutting the rice grass and mixing it with dried rice straw and vegetable kitchen waste. No manure. I was referring to suggestions that involved spending money when I said we had no money for inputs. I apologize if that was unclear. We have a solar panel, sugar, and an aquarium pump. If we applied the finished compost to our 4 acres it would provide almost zero improvement in pH and be washed out during rainy season. Further, the hottest month of the year here is April and we keep the compost tea in the shade, so I think it is probably aerating sufficiently. We teach Soil Science, English, and Systems of Democracy in the classroom 6 hours a day, five days a week. This week in Soil Science we taught the nitrogen cycle and how to mix inputs into compost tea differently to get a finished product that is bacterial or fungal, and which plants to which to apply which type of tea. Scrap wood is plentiful around here, especially bamboo. We do not have a shredder so it is difficult to compost or otherwise grind wood products, however, burning for ash would make the wood more easily applied. I will answer each of your questions and maybe you can explain their relevance to my initial inquiry. How many acres do you have access to? 4 How many acres are in rice paddies? a little over 3 What crops do you grow in the non-rice season? Chinese cabbage, bitter gourd, chiles, yard long bean, many asian eggplants-- however, if we cannot raise the pH signifigantly we will probably switch to crops that grow better in low pH. Does grass (not just bamboo) grow in the area? rice grass Is there anything green growing in the ditches? No, they are waterways. Are there wild or farm animals in the area? If so, what are they? Ducks Was there ever a forest or grassland in the area? Dunno. Maybe 1000 years ago? How many people are being supported by the land? 20 Do they get food from anywhere else? The goal is to be self sufficient. The low pH of the soil last year provided a smaller than necessary veg harvest and we had to raise $$ to buy food that was our intent to produce. Thus this inquiry for answers. Are they vegetarians? They eat whatever is put in front of them. If veg is all we have that's all they eat. They eat duck and duck eggs fairly regularly, as well as snakehead fish and snails that we net from the ditches. That soil test was not particularly good. Make a note for your journal to get a better test next time. --Soil test was free and is the standard test provided by Chiang Mai University. They won't do another free test for 5 years. We were lucky to get that one, as soil testing paid for by the Thai government provided free to Burmese refugees has a complicated political element to it. When these folks return to Burma, many will not have access to electricity to power a pump, IPM strategies must be developed to address their twin pests of monkeys and parrots, and they will NEVER have access to the results of a soil test. So when I say we are teaching organic farming it is in much the same vein that Hawkeye Pierce would teach surgery to a Korean med student, if you get my drift. Who is Buzz Killington? I've been working in the jungle too long to keep up with pop culture. Lazygardens, Nandina-- azolla?? Cool. we have a small pond with water hyacinth which I chop and use in a basket layered with rice straw to germinate mushroom spores. I'll look into azolla. Will the ducks eat it?

Don't know about more Miracid, but I just did the calcs for langbeinite for you ... Langbeinite can satisfy two things you need - potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg). Langbeinite is 18.8% K and 11.7% Mg. Your soil tests recommends 140 lbs/ acre Mg and 110 lbs/acre of potash (83%K) which translates to 91 lb/acre of K. For the K: 91 lb K/acre @ 0.188 lbs K/lb langbeinite leads to 485 lbs langbeinite/acre, or for your area ~14 lbs langbeinite For the Mg: 140 lbs Mg/acre @ 0.117 lbs Mg/lb langbeinite leads to 1196 lbs langbeinite/acre, or ~ 34 lbs for your area. If you use langbeinite at the amount needed for Mg, you will be adding about 2.5X as much K as called for. If you wanted to go this route, you might check with the soil lab if that amount added would put you into an excessive situation. In my experience those folks are typically very helpful and welcome calls for guidance based upon a test result. I have a quibble with the amount of Epsom salts they advise based upon their Mg recommendation. If you use the 140 lb/acre Mg needed, that would require 1420 lbs of Epsom salts, not 1270. If you use the 1270 lb rate for Epsom salts (9.86% Mg), you would be adding 125 lbs of Mg, not 140. In the above I used the 140 lb/are rate. In the end, I doubt it makes a lot of difference, but their conversion isn't consistent with the need they state. This post was edited by TXEB on Thu, May 23, 13 at 10:40

1) If you are using synthetic, you can be pretty sure that your grass is getting enough N,P,K. I think thatÂs a true statement. The P and the K requirements are dictated by accurate soil analysis. And you control the amounts of NPK applied. 2) If you are going organic, I am wondering if I will need tests to make sure that I get the right amount of the three. And if I were only putting something like soy bean meal down, won't I run into a major P and K deficit at some point? I have heard and believe that soil testing is far less important with an organic lawn care program. I like to diversify the organics by using corn meal, soybean meal and alfalfa pellets. All the autumn leaves get mulched into the lawn and piled onto the beds. Homemade compost gets spread across most of the lawn throughout the summer and fall as it becomes available. I donÂt worry about NPK at all. My KBG lawn is very dark and thick. Now the fine fescue in the shady areas is a still a challenge but is much better than when chemical fertilizers were used exclusively and the leaves went to the landfill (or to my horror, burned). Bill Hill

I'll let you research our opinion of core aeration. Hint: I'm not a fan. And skip the compost, it's expensive, difficult to apply, a lousy feeding, and unnecessary to add bacteria, which float around on the wind for free. You can technically apply pre-emergent at any point as weeds will sprout continuously on well-irrigated lawns. However, it's best to get the shield up early to catch that first huge flush of spring-sprouting weeds. Overall, quality of even this well-cared-for lawn is fair at best. Fortunately, the soil test tells us exactly why this is and how to fix it, so let's explore further... EC 4.1: A very sandy soil. Your soil's going to shift quickly due to the low carrying capacity for resources, so plan on testing it yearly. OM 3.7%: Actually, this is well into the Fair range, but I'd like to get this up a lot higher due to your low EC as organic matter raises EC. Organic feedings, mulch mowing, mowing in all fall leaves, and so on will help here. It's not an emergency, just something to work on. Sulfur 77: Rather high, with little margin to play with. Fortunately, I don't need to do much playing and your sulfur levels are certainly not a problem. Phosphorus 9: So low it practically doesn't exist in your soil, which is seriously killing your lawn quality (and explains your neighbors' problems quite nicely). I've made recommendations below, but we're not going to finish this year. Target will be 200. Purchase the cheapest starter fertilizer as they'll all target about 1 pound per thousand square feet of phosphorus. Nitrogen levels are high enough to maintain your lawn beautifully. Calcium 46.0%: Very low, and a serious limiter of your lawn quality (again, this explains the neighbors'). Recommendations below. Purchase Encap or Mag-I-Cal lime as other limes aren't as strong, won't work as fast, and contain other elements that I don't want to be adding to your soil. Magnesium 9.1%: A little low, but nothing severe. Buy a nice large bag of Epsom salt at your local drugstore, in the bath or first aid section. Recommendations below. Potassium 6.5%: Exactly where it should be by the numbers, the percentage is a little over-inflated due to the lack of sufficient calcium in your soil. This will settle down after the calcium application. Minor Elements: Although I'd like to shift boron, copper, and zinc, there's so much going on this year that I'm going to skip it as I risk not having it stick very well. I mentioned iron below. Iron 49: Not deficient in the slightest, but not high enough to produce great color on the lawn. Any time you like, you can apply Milorganite to raise your iron levels (slowly) and add a little organic material to the soil. Recommendations: June 1: Feed at bag rate with starter fertilizer. June 15: Apply 4 pounds per thousand square feet Encap or Mag-I-Cal calcitic lime. July 1: Feed at bag rate with starter fertilizer. July 15: Apply 1 pound per thousand square feet Epsom salt. August 1: Feed at bag rate with starter fertilizer. September 1: Feed at bag rate with starter fertilizer. September 15: Apply 3 pounds per thousand square feet Encap or Mag-I-Cal calcitic lime. October 1: Feed at bag rate with starter fertilizer. October 15: Apply 1 pound per thousand square feet Epsom salt.