Soil Interpretation help

[gardenpants]

Hello,

Thanks for helping me out during this winter season. I'm from the Dallas area, and things are still blooming in my garden, so it doesn't feel like "winter" here yet.

My house sits on Blackland Prairie gumbo clay. When we moved in just over a year ago, the side yard was about 70% weeds. This past year, I've gone around and hand dug most of the weeds. I'd start by picking a species of weed, digging it all out, then selecting another species for eradication: dandelions first, then dallisgrass, then crabgrass, etc. In the bare spots, I'd plant whatever lawn grass struck my fancy, plugging as I went. I know for a fact I annoyed the people at the sod store since I only bought a yard or two of sod at a time. My lawn is now a patchwork quilt of three types of zoysia (Zeon, Cutlas, Palisades), buffalograss (B. dactyloides), and what I believe is the original bermuda. It is all in sun, about 3,400 sf.

The end goal is to have a lawn where mowing is optional. That is why I selected the zoysia and buffalograss. This year, those grasses never grew above 4", so I'm thinking that is doable. I'd prefer to have the lawn on an organic regimen, but I don't have a problem with chemicals, if the lawn needs the extra help.


https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... Ge2iKYVeHJ

[LoneRanger]

Interesting.

[BoatDrinksQ5]

With your super calcium soil in the Dallas area did you contact Andy and/or submit your test as a AA w/cations test ?? (see note midway down below 'Form' link)- viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9339.
"Note: if you are in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, the Austin, TX or the Twin Cities (MN) area, contact ANDY10917 by PM for possible changes in your submission."

My first test (Twin Cities, MN area) I had to contact Logan and have them re-run the test... guessing you might also need to.

Wait for word from someone in the soil test group(ST6) for confirmation...

[gardenpants]

BoatDrinks--I didn't know I needed to contact anyone before submitting the sample. I just went to the Logan Labs site and followed the instructions there for a standard test. Thanks for letting me know.

[gardenpants]

Bumping...What is it about soil in DFW that I might need a special test for it?

[andy10917]

Soils in the DFW area tend to be calcareous, and the numbers can be very distorted by that. We recommend that you use the form on the Soil Forum sticky, and check and circle the item for "use Ammonium Acetate for extraction of cations".

[andy10917]

OK, the current test shows the gumbo, astronomical Calcium numbers and an elevated (but not crazy) pH. It's your call on this one - do you want me to try to correct for the distorted numbers (no promises), or would you rather retest with the Ammonium Acetate, and I'll wait for it?

[gardenpants]

Andy,

Thanks for your insight. Could you please do what you can with my current test? My goal is just to hold on to the zoysia I planted last season, and perhaps encourage it a bit over the bermuda.

I'll test again at the end of the year and be sure to request Ammonium Acetate.

[andy10917]

OK, then. The gumbo has extreme levels of some cations, but they're really not in the soil solution. That's why we need an Ammonium Acetate test to see what really is, and isn't, part of it. The pH (a result of the cations) is high at 7.4 and Zoysia prefers pH between 6 and 7. We could try Elemental Sulfur but DFW is kind of borderline for the required soil temperatures for Sulfur to affect pH.

I'd suggest a Starter fertilizer for Nitrogen and Phosphorus (which is short). Pick one and post the NPK on this thread. I'll provide frequency and application rates for you.

The Iron levels are very poor - consider Milorganite, FAS treatments or applications of chelated Iron. Regular Iron additives will not work at your pH and will waste your money.

Everything else that it's "safe" to estimate given the soil test method is fine - we'll check more things when we have the Ammonium Acetate test results...

[gardenpants]

Sorry for taking a while to reply. FInding organic lawn starter fertilizer is harder than it sounds. The organic stuff was either a 40 lb bag of high N fertilizer, or 5 lb bag of high P fertilizer.

I finally found Sustane at my local SiteOne. It has a 4-6-4 NPK. Will that ratio work? Or should I be looking at synthetics instead, with their even higher P?

I do plan on using Milorganite for any additional N.

Thanks so much.

[andy10917]

I'm a big believer in organic sources, but I'm also a believer that most people are not willing to wait a decade for the results of remineralization to arrive, nor are they willing to pay for 16 lbs/K applications for an extended period. That's why I see the use of synthetic starter and balanced fertilizers as a "jump start" to making the visible turn in a more reasonable period of time. I get the soil moving strongly in the right direction (as much as I feel the microherd can tolerate in an application or a season), and then smooth it down into gentler organics and Milorganite as a mainstay.

[gardenpants]

In that case, I'll be using an 18-24-6 NPK lawn starter.

[andy10917]

Then apply it at 4 lbs/K, monthly. That will also deliver 0.72 lbs/K Nitrogen per month, which leaves some room for a little Vitamin M if you'd like.

[gardenpants]

Andy, I appreciate your time and help. Thanks so much!

[gardenpants]

I'm re-opening this thread. Logan Labs just sent back a report for my backyard. I requested the Ammonium Acetate test. Here are the results:



My question is about the difference in phosphorus between these two areas. The earlier test (side yard) showed 41 lbs/acre vs 319 lbs/acre here. That seems like a big difference to me, but is it within normal variation?

My backyard had about 4" of soil removed in December when it was regraded. That was why I tested the backyard separately since I expected nutrient values to be lower. But could that have caused the increase?

[andy10917]

Please add a link to the test to the Soil Test Interpretation Queue.