It's very difficult to make meaningful pH changes over a widespread area using sulfur. If you haven't been seeing signs of chlorosis, I would concentrate on increasing the organic matter. Organic matter will help bring the pH closer to neutral, and will also act as a buffering agent so the pH imbalance will matter less. I've never had much luck with surface application of sulfur, and I think the article Deerslayer linked bears this out. It works best if it is incorporated into the soil. Also note that according to the table in that article, you'd need to add about 36 lbs to go from 7.5 to 6.5. Based on my experience in trying to help a single tree, I think that either they're optimistic, or I was trying for a larger pH adjustment. Personally, I would never try to significantly affect the pH of a lawn area using surface applications of sulfur. If I were you, I would add as much organic matter as possible. It'll help move the soil toward neutral pH and will buffer the high pH in the meantime.

Thank you. To begin, the numbers reported for P,K,Mg and Ca are Fertility Index Values (FIV). It's a way to covert measured amounts of a nutrient so that they can be scaled (e.g. graphed). Converting them back into lbs./acre (FYI, I have given the values for FIV of 100 a value selected by U of D): P: FIV 5= 14.6lbs.-7.3ppm, a FIV of 100=205lbs./acre K: FIV 118= 377.4lbs./acre-188.7ppm, a FIV of 100= 320lbs./acre Mg: FIV 82= 214lbs/acre-107ppm, a FIV of 100= 261lbs/acre Ca: FIV 70= 1199.9lbs./acre-600ppm, a FIV of 100= 1717lbs/acre ---- pH: 4.8 pH is the gatekeeper for soils, as it has an effect on nutrient availability and soil life/microbes. Except ofr a few acid loving plants, the vast majority of plants do best in soil with a pH between 6 and 7. The ideal for lawn turf (grass) is 6.8. In a soil with pH below 5, aluminum toxicity becomes an issue and Mg. and P availability starts to become an issue. Calcium carbonate sources/ Ag. lime is used to raise pH. Dolomitic lime should only be used when Mg also needs to be raised. Buffer pH: 7.8. This indicates a rather low amount of reserve soil acidity. This is common with low CEC soils like sandy soils. As this test was for an area where you are growing a lawn, you need to adjust only the root zone (top 4 inches. I would suggest applying 23lbs/thousand sq feet of a Ag lime equivalent lime. To avoid soil balance and turf issues, this can be applied in three 8lb. applications. Applications should be made at least 3mo. a.part and not made within 3 weeks of applying another amendment. Fall, at least 6 weeks before soil freezing and Spring, once the top 2 inches of soil has thowed, are the best times to apply. P; 7.3 ppm. Very low. Most sufficiency levels recommend anywhere from 30 to 100 ppm. with a consensus of 50-100. This should be raised. Triple supper phosphate can be used when increased K levels are not desired. Otherwise, starter fertilizer can be employed. No more than one pound of P should be applied at a time, not any more often than every 3 mo. and not withing 3 weeks of the app. of another amendment. I recommend that for turf, you only adjust the top 4" of soil To reach a ppm of 50, you will only need to apply approximately 1lbs/k of P. K: 188.7ppm. A bit high, but not so excessive that it should cause any other nutrient deficiencies and your Mg levels are low enough that K is not an issue with soil structure. Recommended sufficiency level is 110ppm. or slightly greater. No K additions are needed. Mg and Ca. Mg: 107ppm, Ca: 600ppm. Mg:Ca ratio= 1:6. Minimum sufficiency levels are 50ppm for Mg and 350ppm for Ca. Other than when Mg:Ca ratios hit 1:1 or greater, there is no likelihood of Mg toxicity. Other than that, once you exceed the minimum levels, the biggest influence that Mg and Ca levels have is on soil structure. An Mg to Ca ration of 1:5 to 1:7 is considered ideal and tight soils are not an issue when Mg levels are less than 300ppm and or greate than 15% of total base saturation. Your Mg and Ca levels are sufficient andratios are fine and the increase in Ca (or Mg if you use Dolomitic lime) to adjust pH is not an issue (it almost never ever is). All reported micro nutrients are sufficient, at least for turf. Besides adjusting them can be a bit of a pain, but can be done. CEC: 7.8. A value commonly indicative of sandy silt with lower OM and very little, if any clay. The buffer pH supports this. Most likely reason that you perceive clay is poor soil tilth and compaction. OM: 3.8% mediumish. Ideal should be 6-8 with an absolute max of 10. OM has an influence on CEC and soil tilth. You can add OM once or twice a year. Applying alfalfa will help raise OM and help raise Boron and it won't hurt to raise your B to .5-1ppm from its current .45ppm. Mulch mow and mulch Fall leaves. Best strategy for improved soil OM and soil tilth is to promote a robost root mass.

A 6.1 pH in a soil that fizzes (free calcium/Magnesium carbonate). No anomaly that would produce that comes to mind. Don't bother with a AA test. It's not going to be beneficial this year. We'll assume that all the soil is 8.4 pH and you can retest next year with AA. I don't like making recommendations at the 3-6" level for turf but here goes: Everything in your soil is not only above minimum levels, but decently into sufficient and some even at optimal levels EXCEPT Phosphorous which is detrimentally deficient ( your turf probably did well the first couple of years because sod farms pound their turf with P and you used up the residual that was present). In fact. P is well below critical. Potassium (K) and Boron are also a bit low. but we only need to keep an eye on B and kick K up. It's Phosphorous though, big time. The clay is going to be a real PITA. Edited: Before we go forward: Are you willing/can you afford to aerate twice this year? Can you find/want to pay for Triple fertilizer (10-10-10, 12-12-12, etc) ? Can you find/want to pay for Triplesuper Phosphate ? Can you find/want to pay for Sulfate of Potash/Potassium Sulfate/Sop? Can you find/want to pay for Milorganite (5-4-0) ?

Whatever you do, you do not need Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) on your lawn. Excess magnesium ions, which you have in spades, causes the soil to become gummy as if it were clay. That might have been the reason you got the soil test to begin with. The cation exchange value of 12.4 says the soil is not clay but has a healthy amount of particles which do not hold onto cations. In other words, sand. That means your soil has some ability to hold ionic nutrients, but nothing like clay does. It is entirely possible to have gummy, sandy, soil. Your organic matter looks good. Still I would use organic fertilizer rather than chemical fertilizer. That's just me. Soil pH is below 7 making it slightly acidic. The ion that often makes a soil acidic is sulfate, so stay away from fertilizers heavy in sulfate, for example ammonium sulfate. It would appear the soil has plenty of calcium, which is normally how people raise the pH of their soil, but you're already up there with both Ca and Mg. It could be that previous owners simply did what their neighbors did and dumped lime every year just because. I am not a soil test guy. The real soil test folks recognize the interactions between the current chemistry and the consequences of adding additional chemistry. I cannot tell you what to use, when, how often, or where to find products. What morpheuspa did not mention was that you could get the $25 soil test from Logan Labs in Ohio and get it read on the other website. They will do the Logan Labs reading for free, and do a much better and more authoritative job than I'll ever be able to do.