Dan's Soil Test (August 2018)

[flyingfish88]

Hi Everyone,

Received my soil sample back from Logan Labs today.

Looking to improve my lawn overall. The soil sample was taken for my front yard ,which is approx 7,000 square feet.

General shape of yard is 'ok' in my opinion. Includes bare spots, along with many different types of weeds (bentgrass/nimblewill, ground ivy) that I have been trying to address.

Not sure if it has any impact, but my my septic drain field is in the front yard as well.

Appreciate the help!

Best Regards,
Dan



soil test results



lawn after cutting this weekend:

[andy10917]

Place a link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue

[flyingfish88]

also, forgot to mention, but my yard is currently serviced by a lawn care company that uses holganix with four applications per year. I have one more application left and also will have them aerate/overseed.

Question I have is if I should not have them aerate? I read a lot on here on how many prefer not to disturb the soil. If it does not make sense I am ok to call them up and cancel the aeration and keep the seeding. Other than that the only other plans I currently have for the lawn are fixing some bare patches right now with PRG and hitting bentgrass with tenacity and ground ivy with Ortho containing triclopyr.

of course open to whatever else makes sense to improve the yard. thanks!

[andy10917]

If you're doing an aeration because of a real issue, go ahead. It is NOT necessary for seeding, and if you're doing it because you think "I always do it" or because "you should do it before seeding", then it's not necessary.

This is a picture of my backyard reno at 60 days - no tilling or aeration. Many others have had great luck without aerating, and weed pressure is significantly lower with no soil disturbance. All you need is some peat moss to cover the seed to keep the seed moist until it germinates (1/8" to 1/4").



BTW, you'll get more responses if you open a different thread in the Renovations Forum for renovation discussions. The Soils Forum isn't for mixed-use stuff and won't get much attention for that.

[flyingfish88]

Hi Andy, thanks, that yard looks great! I only included the mention of the aeration in case anything in the soil test indicated that it would be useful (or not). I'm already feeling I have too many weeds and not really wanting to add any more to the mix. Will ask them to stop the aeration and only overseed.

Best Regards,
Dan

[andy10917]

I took a quick 2-minute look at your test and nothing indicated that aeration would help. As a matter of fact, I'm not expecting major remediation to be needed, and I'm the one doing the write-up.

[flyingfish88]

Hi Andy,
Glad to hear that no major remediation is needed! Would you recommend that I just keep continuing with what I am doing and not altering anything moving forward.

thanks again!
Dan

[andy10917]

Who said you escape? I said it wasn't major. I'll try to get to it tonight.

[andy10917]

Ummm, how do I say this nicely? Many members are asking for your address so they can steal your soil when you go to dinner. Structurally, that's likely a nice Loam a little to the sandy side but fine. It has a TEC of 8.24 and a beautuful 7%+ OM number - that's to die for.

The cations are yielding a pH of 6.6 which is right in the sweet spot, but there is a small complication in how it got there. There is too much Magnesium and too little Calcium. This is tweaking (fine-tuning) but hell - when you get a soil like that, tweak it for all it is worth. Got a Lowe's near you? Get and apply Sta-Green Rapid Gypsum at the heavy rate on the bag now, and again in April, then retest and post. Gypsum adds Calcium like Lime does, but doesn't affect the pH - which we want right where it is. It may displace some Magnesium which is fine for your lawn.

The Potassium is at luxury levels, and that is a thing of beauty.

Phosphorus is right where I want it.

The Iron is low but isn't in an emergency state. Get and apply Ferrous Sulfate and apply at 2-3 lbs/K now and again in May. Use Milorganite as your fertilizer if you can, monthly at bag rate until October 1st and starting again in May. As an alternative, you can read the Fall Nitrogen Regimen for a more aggressive approach, but next Spring apply the Milorganite from May until July 1, and pick up again on August 15th.

In the micronutrients, Boron and Copper are low and could use a tap. Do you want to do that in 2018 or 2019?

You've got soil to die for - don't screw it up!

[flyingfish88]

Andy,

Thank you for the analysis! I’m pleasantly suprised at the results.

Actually put a bag rate down of milorganite today and will plan for another near Oct 1.

Do have a Lowe’s close by and can get and apply gypsum tomorrow.

Question on the ferrous sulfate...is that something I can get at Lowe’s or HD or sold under brand name or product?

If not urgent, will look to address micros in 2019.

Thanks again!

Dan

[andy10917]

Question on the ferrous sulfate...is that something I can get at Lowe’s or HD or sold under brand name or product?

Tougher question than you'd think!! Many Moss Killers are Ferrous Sulfate (sometimes call Iron Sulfate). You can get those at HD/Lowe's, but you'll overpay. Read the labels! You can also get Ferrous sulfate from SiteOne, Crop Production Services (now Nutrien Ag), etc. at better prices. If you're in this for the long-haul, then find one of those.

They're also online, but shipping will kill you...

[flyingfish88]

Thanks Andy.

Found the gypsum easily, but seems Siteone is closed today.

I did see a product at Lowe’s , Scotts Moss control, that contains 17.5 % ferrous sulphate monohydrate. Application instructions on this bag to cover 5,000 square feet is 3.7lb / 1k , but that only gets me .629 pounds at 17% ferrous sulphate.

You would be looking for me to add actual 2.5 pounds of ferrous (and not the overall product) and therefore would need to up that rate by a factor of 4? (Hence the cost going up significantly)

Also, saw ironite, but it lists “iron” as an ingredient, not sure if that would work in this case either.

Just wanted to check! Thanks! If assumptions correct will try siteone tomorrow.

Dan

[andy10917]

I don't like Ironite - I haven't checked recently, but too much of the Iron was from in the (nearly useless) Iron Oxide form.

The Ferrous Sulfate in the Moss Killer works, but as I mentioned, you overpay. Some people want the convenience and will pay to not have to search for it.

[zachhorn]

You can find a 30 lb bag of Iron Sulfate on eBay for $40 eith free shipping. Not bad if you don’t have a local hook up.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 1766228147

[andy10917]

Yes and No. The soluble Ferrous Sulfate is a powder, and doesn't work that well in a spreader. GRANULAR Ferrous Sulfate does. Look for a landscape supply place, agricultural supply, golf supply, etc. Your location (SE PA) isn't specific enough to provide assistance (provide your Zip Code?) for me to help.

The powder mentioned above is great for making FAS foliar applications, but that commits you to making and applying about every three weeks.

[zachhorn]

Apologies for the confusion - thanks for clarifying Andy. Looking again, the granular Fe I have seen on eBay appears to be cost prohibitive ($15 for a 5 lb bag @ 30% Fe). It would take ~ 11-12 bags to treat 7K, so even with free shipping it's crazy expensive. Sorry!

[zachhorn]

That said, I did find this just now... Haven't used it, so I can't speak to the quality. However, the price is a bit better (~$70 to treat 7K - inc free shipping)...

I guess the point is, there are a lot of options online (too many actually) - but the gurus on this site (like Andy) can tell you if it's any good or not before you buy - which is a hell of a lot more than you'll get walking into a store in many cases

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrous-Sulfat ... 0005.m1851

[andy10917]

Granular Ferrous Sulfate can be purchased locally for as little as $22 -$27 dollars for 50 lbs, but trying to purchase it online leads to killer shipping charges. We'll have to wait and see where FLYINGFISH lives (zip code?) to see if we can help him locate it.

[flyingfish88]

Hi Andy and Zachhorn,

I am in 19382 (West Chester, PA). Just took a trip to a local Site one (Aston), but no luck there.

Put a call in to the next closest site one (King of prussia) and they checked and no luck either. Both could only recommend a fertilizer with 10% iron or Lesco Iron Plus

appreciate the help!

[andy10917]

Fish - do you ever get out to the Lancaster area (Ronks, PA specifically)?