GreenGrow Soil Test - 2019

[GreenGro]

Yard is 30k sq. ft, with irrigation which I try to get 1" down per week (natural or irrigation). I often visit BayState and get down about 1.5lbs per k every other month during the summer. I mow around 3" to 4" over the summer with my NoMix. I'd like to get your thoughts on how to get my grass to the next level. I know I'm late but have been real busy and wasn't able to get the sample in the mail.

https://postimg.cc/XGMRsVFF/1113e42b

[andy10917]

Put a link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue, or you don't have a place in line - and the posting will get buried.

[andy10917]

That's a very sandy soil that is probably even sandier than the TEC indicates, given that the OM (which lifts the TEC) is almost at great levels.

The low TEC sets the bar for recommended nutrient levels too low to move to the next level, so recommendations may differ from what is listed in the printed soil test results.

In the cations, all three (Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium) are short. Apply good calcitic lime (Encap/Solu-Cal/Mag-I-Cal/Sta-Green) at 9 lbs/K, mixed with Epsom Salts at 2 lbs/K. Apply the mix at 11 lbs/K, every 90 days.

Potassium numbers are low, but Phosphorus levels are OK. This means that Sulfate of Potash ("SOP", 0-0-50) is needed (and not the easiest thing to find). Apply at 2 lbs/K monthly until September.

Your Iron levels are somewhat low - apply 2-3 lbs/K of Ferrous Sulfate (also called Iron Sulfate) every 60 days.

In the micro's, Boron, Manganese and Zinc could use attention - interested in 2019?

For Nitrogen, BSF is fine. Be aware that while 1.5 lbs/K is OK for Summer touch-ups, the bag rate is closer to 14 lbs/K and 1.5 lbs/K every other month isn't going to get you to the next level - it's more like 14 lbs/K monthly (April - June and late August to first frost) that will be needed, assuming the budget can handle that. With 30K, you may want to divide the "show areas" from "standard areas" to keep the costs acceptable.

[GreenGro]

Thanks Andy! I can find the SOP and will start everything you suggest right away. To offset the costs for BSF, I’ve been using Urea 46-0-0. How many lbs per month can I apply this? I just dropped 2# /k last week before this weekend’s cookout

[ken-n-nancy]

I often visit BayState and get down about 1.5lbs per k every other month during the summer.

GreenGro, when you say that you put down about "1.5 lbs per k every other month" -- do you mean that you are applying 1.5 pounds / ksqft of Bay State Fertilizer? (i.e., you take one 40-pound bag of fertilizer and spread it over about 26,000 square feet)?

Or do you mean that you are applying 1.5 pounds of nitrogen / ksqft, using Bay State Fertilizer? (i.e. you take one 40 pound bag of 4-3-0 Bay State Fertilizer, and apply it over about 1000 square feet?)

The reason that I ask is that Andy's comment in a post further above presumes that you are doing the first, which is actually very little nitrogen to be applying every month. That level of fertilization -- 1.5 pounds of Bay State Fertilizer per 1000 square feet every other month -- hardly even counts as fertilization at all! That would only be applying 0.06 pounds of nitrogen every other month, where the "typical rate" is about 1.0 pounds of nitrogen each month during actively growing seasons (spring and fall).

[GreenGro]

It was the latter. I usually pick up 25 bags and drop that in one application. It gets hard to find the time to drive down to pick up 1 app at a time but I don’t want to overload the truck. I called a few weeks back and they hadn’t bagged so I picked up the Urea and used that. I was happy with the results but was always nervous about burning the grass with fast release. I think I may start to alternate BSF and Urea but I’m not too sure about it