dk_ICT's Soil Test 2017

[dk_ICT]

Hello,

I've been reading this forum for awhile now and I am intrigued by all of the sharing of great information. I am in search of a healthier/greener lawn (aren't we all?). Currently, my lawn looks pretty good overall. If I had one complaint, it isn't as dark of a green as I would like.

Some information about my lawn:
South Central Kansas
~12,000 sqft
Tall Fescue - sod was installed in early 2013
Overall, the yard sees full sun throughout the day.
Lawn is mowed 1x per week
In the spring and fall I water once maybe twice a week long and deep depending on temperature and recent rainfall. During the hot/windy (100*F+ and 20mph) summer months I water up to 4x per week and sometimes add a short watering in the early afternoon.

Attached is my soil report from Logan Labs. Samples were taken the third week of September. I wish to thank you in advance!

[andy10917]

Make sure to add a link to your thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue thread, to have a place in the waiting list.

PS: I already see why the lawn isn't as dark as it could be...

[dk_ICT]

I would like to add the following:

Prior to finding this great forum I performed a home lawn test and saw that my PH was ~7.5-8.0. Started researching and thought that maybe my lawn wasn't as green as others in the neighborhood was due to chlorosis or lack of iron due to the high pH. I treated my lawn with pure sulfur (small pellets) in an attempt to lower the pH in small increments over time. This was performed in early August or thereabout.

[andy10917]

The surface-applied Sulfur will not work in Kansas. Typical Sulfur numbers I see are between 7-50 ppm -- your's are 362 ppm and the pH isn't changing. Kansas just lacks the kind of sustained heat required and even that doesn't work reliably with heat on surface-applied Sulfur. The pH may bounce around some (not good), but will return to its natural pH.

I don't believe the TEC - that looks like an inflated number due to the very heavy Calcium and (especially!) Magnesium. You should do your next soil test by specifying "Ammonium Acetate extraction of cations". Then we'll get better numbers. This is yet another reason why pH will not fall - the sheer amount of material to be counterbalanced is overwhelming.

The Potassium is NOT actually low - that's the distorted/inflated TEC talking.

The Phosphorus is low, and this may mean that the Nitrogen applied should be from Starter fertilizer or Milorganite. Milorganite is preferred as it will lift the available Iron (low in your soil) too. It's good in amounts/applications as frequent as your budget can handle (within reason).

I have no idea why the Sodium number is so high in your soil. That's not good, most of the time. You may want to discuss that with a Co-op Extension office to see if that is common in your area.

In your micro's, the Boron is high (pretty unusual!!) and the only one that is low is Zinc. Get Zinc Sulfate (Amazon/Ebay) and apply each at three tablespoons/K every 60 days. Read the Micronutrient Application Guide for application specifics.

[dk_ICT]

Hi Andy,

Thank you for taking the time to interpret these test results.

What type of sustained heat is needed for the Sulfur to work? Kansas has some brutally hot summers - it isn't uncommon to stay above 100* for multiple weeks in the summer (had 50+ 100* days a few years ago).

Prior to laying the sod, the soil definitely had a lot of limestone in it. It was like tombstone when they were trying to trench sprinkler lines.

We utilize a well for our irrigation purposes and I plan to have that water tested.

When do you recommend the next soil test being taken, late spring? Do you have any other suggestions to get this soil in check over the next few years?

Thank you,
dk_ICT

[dk_ICT]

Here's what I found when researching Zinc Sulfate:
Zinc Sulfate monohydrate 35.5% Zn

[dk_ICT]

Last week I applied the Zinc Sulfate monohydrate at the recommended 3T/k following the micronutrient application guide. For the carrier, I used 3 bags of the Milorganite or 108lbs to cover my ~12,000 sqft yard or 9 lbs/k. That required 12T of zinc sulfate per bag of Milo.

dk_ICT

[ken-n-nancy]

Last week I applied the Zinc Sulfate monohydrate at the recommended 3T/k following the micronutrient application guide. For the carrier, I used 3 bags of the Milorganite or 108lbs to cover my ~12,000 sqft yard or 9 lbs/k. That required 12T of zinc sulfate per bag of Milo.

Well done!

By the way, the product you used is the same one I was using for my Zinc micronutrient apps.

[andy10917]

Zinc Sulfate Monohydrate basically translates to "a Zinc Sulfate compound/crystal with one water molecule attached"