Post
by MorpheusPA » August 10th, 2017, 12:22 pm
Hey, PSU. I got your e-mail, so here's your answer!
You know most of the answers here, so I'll give you the Patented Short Read.
pH 5.4-ish. It did need the lime, and the Pennington is tolerably good stuff (slower than Encap or Mag-I-Cal, but we can work with it). For now, I'd wait and test next year.
ME 1.3, 2.4: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I'm going to presume that you can verify his soil is rough sand. This is a soil I'd advise spoon feeding with needed resources every time you feed, so a more balanced ratio would be best. Organics would be optimal.
OM 4-ish: In the Good range, but with an ME that low, I'd push this as hard as I could (knowing that it's mostly not going to do anything in terms of ME, but that the constant decay will release resources to the plants as they need them, well enough, and help hold water in a soil that simply won't). Leaves, homemade compost, imported leaves, spent brewer's grains, untreated wood sawdust, I don't care. Dump it on.
Sulfur and Phosphorus: Perfect. None required, but there's tons of margin for normal additions via organics or other chemistry as an incidental.
Calcium, magnesium, potassium: 40%, 10%, 5%: All short, but the calcium's been helped along as much as possible (although I did make a recommendation below that's optional). I'd love to ignore magnesium, but really can't. Use Epsom salt for that. Potassium, recommendation below using potassium sulfate.
Minor/Trace Elements: I defer to Andy, but Boron should come up, and it gives me an excuse to slip in an application of Bay State or Milorganite (use whichever you like).
All other minor elements can be ignored this year and they aren't off anyway.
Boron 0.3-ish: While not the most important element, I'll always work to move your lawn into the most optimal range on everything. Me? I'd fix this. We use Milorganite as a carrier and 20 Mule Team Borax as the boron source. You can purchase 20 Mules at the grocery store in the laundry section. In a wheelbarrow or the like, dump the Milo. Spraying very, very lightly with water (I use a spray bottle like the kind people use to damp their clothes when they iron) will help the boron stick. Add the recommended amount of 20 Mule Team Borax and stir, spraying occasionally to get the stuff to stick to the Milo. Then apply over the recommended area. So if going for bag rate Milorganite (1 bag per 2,500 square feet), you'd add 10 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax.
Recommendations:
September 1: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt). Apply 4 tablespoons 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet. This counts as his September feeding, but if he wishes to also feed synthetically, that's fine--I'd cut the rate back to 3/4 due to the fast release N in the Milo.
September 15: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate.
October 1: Feed organically and heavily; start mulching leaves. Feed synthetically as well if desired at one quarter to one half normal rate.
November 1: (optional) 3 pounds of fast lime per thousand square feet.
When Growth Stops: Feed synthetically with fast release N at normal rate.
Recommendations, 2018:
April 1: Apply 2 pounds per thousand potassium sulfate. Apply 2 pounds per thousand magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt).
May 1: Feed organically and heavily. Don't feed synthetically at this time.
Labor Day: Feed synthetically, lightly, if desired, but this is now unnecessary.
June 1: Re-test soil.
