Josh's 2019 soil test

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 1:53 pm

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get SOP locally? I've now tried 6 local stores (including Agway, Site One, Valley Green and a few local lawn supply/nursery stores) and nobody has it.

I can order it online by it's $70/50 LB bag.

OR, is there a (more common) alternative which maybe isn't as good as SOP, but will at least be better than nothing?

Thank you.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 2:02 pm

This is a little different than the 0-0-50 I usually see: https://standishmilling.com/catalog/fer ... 60-potash/

Would this work?

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by andy10917 » April 26th, 2019, 4:09 pm

That's Muriate of Potash (MOP, Potassium Chloride). Much harsher to the grass and microherd and has a Salt Index (burn potential) of 116+ where Sulfate of Potash (SOP, Potassium Sulfate) is 42.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 4:12 pm

Ah, ok. So if a local vendor said "We have 0-0-60. Potash.", that's muriate as well (based on the 60)? And I only want 0-0-50 (which is sulfate)?

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 4:14 pm

This is what I'm looking for, yes?


Image

Image


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andy10917
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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by andy10917 » April 26th, 2019, 4:24 pm

Your call. When someone has a larger lawn and so many shortages that I need to boost them up across the board, I hold my nose when I say "use garden fertilizer" (like 10-10-10) and say to myself that I can't tell someone that's just getting going to be buy 50-lb bags of everything. As they progress and there are fewer things to buy, I tune it in by switching to SOP instead of MOP (which is in many/most big-box garden fertilizer. Only you can make the decision to be gentler or give the lawn Potassium with a punch in the teeth. I don't use MOP, but I have enough 50-lb bags of stuff to mix my own fertilizer blend with SOP.

What town do you live in?

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 5:41 pm

I'm in Trumbull

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by andy10917 » April 26th, 2019, 6:22 pm

You checked Valley Green in Norwalk?

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 26th, 2019, 7:58 pm

Actually I have a contact at the Hamden location (only a few minutes farther from me than Norwalk location, and I didn't even realize there was a Norwalk location!).

In any case, my Hamden contact said they don't carry it at all, not that they didn't have it in stock, but maybe another location would.

But, good idea to check with Norwalk and see what they say.

Thanks again.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by Lawnct » April 28th, 2019, 10:02 am

On April 6th I drove over to the Valley Green in Plainville, CT to pick up (2) 50lb bags of 0-0-50. I have always been able to get some there. $45/50lb bag. On my invoice it is labled as "0-0-50 SOP MINI 145SGN 50LB"

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 28th, 2019, 11:07 am

Thanks for the tip! That's about an hour away from me but if I have no further luck, I'll give them a try.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » April 30th, 2019, 8:16 am

Thanks again for reminding me to check other Valley Green locations. Here's what I was told:

"our Plainville store and our Norwalk store carry 0-0-50 SOP in 50lb bags.

Plainville = 0-0-50 Mini grade (145 SGN) = $36.50 / bag
Norwalk = 0-0-50 Micro grade (100 SGN) = $51.50 / bag

The SGN is the size of the particle of fertilizer. The smaller the number the smaller the particle. If it’s for your lawn it’s better to just use the cheaper and larger particle. If your using it for a putting green then use finer grade."

Norwalk is much closer to me than Plainville, but of course I'd rather save the money and use the cheaper (and it sounds like easier to use) product.

Any thoughts/suggestions on mini vs. micro?

Thanks!

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » May 7th, 2019, 11:54 am

I was able to get the SOP from Valley Green, thanks again for the advice.

Separately, I wanted to thank everyone for all your help with everything over the past year or so. Aside from Triv, my lawn is looking great, neighbors always mention how nice it is, and my wife agrees that it's the nicest it's ever been (and much more so than when we had a company doing).

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by andy10917 » May 7th, 2019, 8:17 pm

All of the best lawns that I've ever seen were cared for directly by their owners.

Congrats on your success!

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » May 8th, 2019, 6:45 pm

Quick question, was thinking of starting my first apps in the coming days, including Milo with boron. Was going to put it down tomorrow (Thursday) as we're expecting rain Friday, but it's now looking like 1/4" vs. nearly 1". I know you recommend at least 1/2", but we are going to get another inch on Sunday/Monday.

Is it therefore ok to put it down Thursday, with 1/4" the next day and another inch a day or so later? Or is it vastly better to wait until Saturday right before the big rain on Sunday?

Tomorrow is much better for me logistically, but I don't want to waste the boron by having it stuck in the top of the soil if it's only watered in right away by 1/4".

Thank you.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by Green » May 8th, 2019, 9:13 pm

Yup, I got my SOP last year through the Plainville location as well.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » May 31st, 2019, 11:34 am

andy10917 wrote:
April 14th, 2019, 8:18 am
For Nitrogen, you can apply Urea (cheap!) at 2 lbs/K monthly, or Milorganite/Bay State at bag rate monthly. You can alternate them if you choose to.
Hi Andy. Quick question; just to confirm, for my 20k sf lawn, if I'm using Urea, I would really just 40 lbs/month (i.e. just about one 50 LB bag vs. 8 bags of Milo)?

Also, do I want slow release urea?

Thanks!

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by andy10917 » May 31st, 2019, 7:16 pm

Slow-release Urea is much more expensive than fast-release Urea -- as much as 3X the cost. And it isn't any better, just fewer apps.

If you're new (and nervous) about Urea, the easy solution is to apply Urea at 1 lb/K every two weeks - that delivers just short of 0.5 lbs/K of Nitrogen. That roughly delivers 1 lb/K of Nitrogen per month, but you'd have to make a goof to applications in a row in the same exact location -- that's unlikely. Over time, you'll get comfortable with it and you can switch to 2 lbs/K of Urea at once. Truth be told, the 1 lb/K every other week is actually better if you don't mind the extra work.

I never use slow-release - ever. There are better ways to use the money.

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » May 31st, 2019, 8:05 pm

Thanks Andy. I’ll try 20 lbs every 2 weeks. I could use the exercise... though I don’t have irrigation so if the weather doesn’t cooperate I’ll stick with Milo...

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Re: Josh's 2019 soil test

Post by southern-ct-4 » June 25th, 2019, 8:40 am

So I opted against urea every 2 weeks due to irrigation concerns and lack of time...

In any case, I'm coming due for the following, all within a few days of each other, and I just wanted to confirm that these are all ok to put down at the same time, or within a few days (I know to wait 2 weeks between ferrous sulfate and lime, but wasn't sure about any other such restrictions):

SOP
Milo with borax
Mag-i-Cal
Epsom salt

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