GaTiller Soil Test Results - 2017

[GaTiller]

Hey BL/ATY!

Brand new first-time homeowner of a new construction in NE Metro Atlanta. Graduated from Georgia State University in May '16, bought a house in October, got married in November, and now that it's spring I'm ready to make my yard all it can be. From what I've read on here (yepp I've been lurking for a while) a great lawn is a years-long process marked by patience and diligence. I don't have a dog and 2.5 kids yet, but since a great lawn is a marathon, why not start now? A little bit about my yard:

I'm working with about 1,800 sq ft (around 800 in the back, 700 in the front, and another 300 on a strip along the side). Not a lot, but the perfect first lawn size for me to learn and grow as an enthusiast. Also friendly on the wallet. Like I said, new construction; the builder did a pretty poor job of leveling the soil so a lot of the surface is uneven/bumpy (especially the side yard). They laid the Bermuda sod in early October of '16. Whether they took proper care of it before we moved in, I have no clue. My guess is probably not. Here are some photos to give you an idea of what I'm working with:

Back -



Backyard is full sun almost all day, sun starts on the left side and ends on the right. Only a few of the sod pieces didnt take root, and I've had trouble with the left side greening up so far. I think this is due to compacted soil not letting water in. Not too worried about the backyard though.

Front -



Front is shaded in the morning but gets adequate sun throughout the afternoon. Most of the front is greening up well but the bottom right corner has serious draining issues. Any time we have significant rainfall there is a lot of pooling and this area will remain damp for (sometimes) days after a good rain. Most of the sod is dead I think, as it is very loose and very easy to pull up small clumps of dead roots and such. This is my biggest problem area in the whole lawn.

Side strip -



The side was the least successful in getting the sod to establish, probably due to uneven grading and soil compaction, but it looks like it is going to fill in nicely, hopefully... You can see the bottom left corner is having issues. Whether that will "Wake up" or not is TBD. Regardless, a few stolons are trying to make their way in, so that's good.

So there's hopefully a good idea of what I'm working with. Here's my soil test results:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_q96 ... MwZGNXRjBv

Was honestly pleasantly surprised by most of the numbers. OM not great but I was honestly expecting less. Was expecting the soil to be way more acidic. OBVIOUSLY looking at the CEC you can tell I have a classic case of Georgia Red Cl-... Sand? Haha Andy don't worry I've read the lecture too many times to show up here and tell you all about my "clay". I'll save you the spiel.

So far this Spring I've put down two full applications of Milo and one full application of Shampoo. From my limited experience/observation so far, it seems my two biggest challenges this season will be soil permeability and dead sod that never established creating a thatch layer. My main goal for this season is to sink some serious roots down and establish this new lawn as much as possible before dormancy. Long term - an organic approach that will build a nutrient-rich and lively soil that feeds a healthy lawn.

I'm excited to see things progress and I'm thankful for all the insight and knowledge this site has provided so far. Looking forward to learning more. Thank you in advance for your guidance and wisdom!

[andy10917]

Make sure to post a Link in the Soil Test Interpretation Queue, so that you have a place in line

[andy10917]

Oooooooooooh, a puzzle!! This one has a couple of twists and turns. Let's see...

At a TEC of 5.6, with an OM of 2.3%, you have some gorgeous Georgia Red (pause for effect) SAND. Anything that you can supply over time to up that 2.3 OM number is going to go a long way to help you hold the nutrients. Otherwise, you can help your nutrients to speak Mandarin, because I know where they are headed.

The biggest challenge comes in the form of a cation profile that leads to a pH of 6.9. We don't want to go higher, but the Calcium is what's high and Calcium isn't easily moved as the soil's exchange sites prefer it over other cations. I'm a little permissive in letting the Magnesium fall to the low side, but yours is just too low. Mix a couple of lbs/K of Epsom Salts into something else you're applying a couple of times this season, 90 days apart. And let's hope the pH doesn't spike on it.

Locate a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 16-16-16 and post the NPK for app rate and frequency. This will address the Potassium and Phosphorus shortages.

Your Iron levels are deeply Low. You could try to apply Ferrous Sulfate to the soil at 3 lbs/K a few times 60 days apart, and/or you could use a foliar FAS program.

In the micronutrients, the Boron is deficient enough to be undetectable. Do you want to deal with that in 2017?

[GaTiller]

Could something like this be useful across a few of my areas of improvement? Balanced fert, lowers PH, adds iron (I would plan on using this in conjunction with one of your suggestions, right?)

[andy10917]

I don't know that I'd use that every month, but maybe every other month it might be OK. That is not going to lower the pH measurable in your area. You could alternate it with something else. It will take 11 lbs/K of that stuff to meet your nutrient needs.

[GaTiller]

Would you still recommend the ferrous sulfate treatments alongside the 9-9-9 w/11% iron or would that be too much? Also, am I still okay to maintain my current Milorganite schedule (bag rate every two weeks) if I'm putting down a balanced starter fertilizer every month? Overkill?

Thanks for all your help!

[andy10917]

Far too much. The Iron form in what you linked was Iron Oxysulfate, so very close to Ferrous Sulfate.

There are multiple answers to your Milorganite question. You could put the Milorganite down two weeks off-cycle with the balanced (NOT balanced starter) fertilizer. Or I could break it down into individual nutrients if you'd rather, but that's more work...

[GaTiller]

Awesome, I think I've got my work cut out for me. I'd love to tackle the micros this year. I'm guessing some 20 Mule Team is in order?

[andy10917]

3 tablespoons/K of Twenty Mules, every 60 days - as defined in the Micronutrient Application Guide.

[GaTiller]

Went to the store today to pick up the 9-9-9 w/11% iron but they said they only carry that product at the west coast locations, so I ended up going with a 13-13-13 at 7.5 lbs/k. I asked if they had any ferrous sulfate - out of stock at their location, so I dropped by HD and picked up some Pennington Ironite. I know that product doesn't have the greatest reputation here, due to it not actually being a great source of Iron, but the bag I picked up said it was 20% Iron. Not sure what the difference is in between Ferric Oxide and Ferrous Sulfate, but I'd be curious to know. If I goofed up, that's fine. I'll just know better for next time. Anyways, dropped 3 lbs/k of Ironite (bag rate) as well as 2 lbs/k of magnesium sulfate. On Wednesday I applied the 3 tablespoons/k of 20 mules. Soil improvement is underway!

[andy10917]

Ferric Oxide has another name that may make it more familiar to you: Rust.

Every had much luck making the grass green by leaving a rusty rake in the lawn?

[GaTiller]

Would thousands and thousands of tiny rusty rakes make the grass green?

[GaTiller]

All kidding aside, after I posted the first time today I read up on all the different forms of Iron and how soil conditions handle different forms of iron. From what I gather (correct me if I'm wrong), it seems like correcting iron deficiency in the plant is fairly simple, especially if using foliar apps. My goal is to correct the iron deficiency in the soil, which seems will mainly come by lowering my PH considerably, right? So if I just want iron rich plants I should probably just stick to foliar apps, but if I really want Iron rich soil, shouldn't the means by which I achieve that be lowering PH? Not sure if I'm missing a bigger picture here, but learning this stuff is exciting. Thanks for the continued guidance!

[andy10917]

but if I really want Iron rich soil, shouldn't the means by which I achieve that be lowering PH?

How do you propose to do that?

[GaTiller]

Andy, I did some more reading prior to your most recent reply and was lucky to be graced with the great "Lipstick on a pig" debate of 2010 between you and Morph in a thread about iron applications. Not sure if you remember that thread or not; I would've been a sophomore in high school at the time! Anyways, It was a very informative read and helped me readjust my perspective on PH. A large part of the discussion was based on the fact that different important nutrients are more readily available at differing PHs. So sure a soil PH of 5.5 would be better for Iron availability, but then P wouldn't be nearly as available in the soil, and thus my wholistic understanding of soil PH grew (if ever so slightly). With a PH of 6.9, I'm not in a bad spot. Could it come down some? Sure. Based on the chart I saw, it seems like 6.5 might be the sweet spot for nutrient uptake availability across the board (could be wrong here). Do I NEED to bring it down? Probably not. My question now is whether or not that is a worthwhile venture. According to further reading, I've concluded that at near neutral PH, It would take 10lbs/k of elemental sulphur to lower the soil's PH to around 6.5. Do I have ANY idea what unintended consequences of an application of elemental sulphur might be? Heck no. That's why I'm not going to jump to conclusions and just assume that's what my lawn needs. This is where I'll patiently wait for the people who actually know what they're talking about to chime in.

BTW - After mowing and 13-13-13/Iron/Epsom/20 Mules apps on Friday, and consistent rain through the weekend, the grass is looking its greenest and healthiest since it was seized from the sod farm! The development's head builder dropped by the other day half-jokingly saying we're due for a "Yard of the Month" sign soon; saying there is a discernible difference in color and vigor compared to others in the development (take that TruGreen). I actually had to mow tonight when I got home from work because the grass had grown so much since I mowed last on Friday. Hard work and great insight from this site is paying off!

[andy10917]

Sulfur is highly unlikely to do anything permanent to lower pH in the Atlanta area, and the much-more-likely case of substantial uncontrolled pH swings (you'd have to understand the chemistry to understand how soil pH and Sulfur interact) is stress and a risk of unwanted fungal/disease issue.

Are you sure that rolling the dice for a small and unlikely win is worth it? Sorry to say, I think you're risking the lawn's health to solve a problem that you don't really have. If you don't have a pig, put the lipstick away.

[GaTiller]

That's pretty much the answer I was expecting, more trouble than it's worth. I'll keep sticking to the prescribed regimen and I have no doubt my positive results will continue. Thanks for all the help Andy.

[g-man]

Gatiller:

Fyi, milorganite is a good source of iron. Keep using it.

[GaTiller]

G-man - thanks for the reply. I plan on going heavy with the Milo all season long.