2021 Soil Test

[71GTO]

I'm starting up year five, I can't believe its been that long... I have about 13k of Nomix lawn. Last year, I didn't get to follow all the recommendations as well as I would have liked with the lockdowns and and uncertainty surrounding everything it was hard to find some supplies, but I got going by the summer. Two things I wanted to note. I see the PH went up this year. I did not add any lime last season. Also in regard to my soil tests. I did an additional test. There is a corner of the back yard that has sort of been a dead zone ( Maybe 100 sq ft). Not even many weeds would grow there the first few years. I seeded a large area including that corner three years ago and the grass in that corner has slowly faded away. I did a soil test on that area this year. I did not include any soil from that area into the general backyard sample as I had done in previous years.
These may or may not be important factors, but the corner is close to two white pine trees in neighbors yards, also the previous owners had a tree multiple trees cut down in that area and left the giant pile of ground up wood to rot there. It was pretty much gone by the time we moved in 6 years ago.

Prior years posts
2020
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25591&p=338493&hilit=71gto#p338493

[71GTO]

[MorpheusPA]

You've really come a long way, as Andy noted last year (I do a cold read on your test before looking back, but he's right). I do notice some back-sliding on a few things, but it's no huge damage, and with the pandemic, we're all having some issues with finding stuff and getting things done. In your case, that's not a problem. If you ignore every single thing on this list, you're still in a very good place.

You're an experienced soil tester at this point, so I won't give you the blow-by-blow. But of course, if you have anything you want expanded, please ask. I'll be happy to clarify.

That pH rise is normal. Lime can take a looooong time to work, even the fast stuff, and longer to work into full depth. So that extra year for the 0.1 rise is completely expected. I'm much happier with that than I would be with a sharp drop from it not buffering your soil and giving out suddenly.

Front: Your soil couldn't be nicer. You might want to just kick the potassium a bit, as I recommended for the back, and I did include instructions below. But it's optional and if you don't get there, that's fine.

Back: Potassium is a little short. We'd normally use potassium sulfate, but many seem to have trouble sourcing it cheaply this year, so I'll be OK with potassium chloride too. I've included instructions below for front and back, but if you just do the back, that's fine. Magnesium, on paper, looks a tad short, but I'm not worried about it and as the pH backs off naturally a little, I expect the saturation to rise.

The boron level is just a tad low but I'm not inclined to tap it this year. If you feed organically, that will contain more than enough boron inherently to make up any difference. If not, grass is not particularly boron-sensitive and 0.6 is more than high enough.

Other than that, feed normally (Memorial Day, Labor Day, October 1, and when it stops growing), and fight weeds. Apply a pre-emergent if you want when the forsythia bloom, and have a great year!

Recommendations:

May 1: Front and Back: Apply 2 pounds of potassium (sulfate or chloride) per thousand square feet.

September 1: Front and Back: Apply 2 pounds of potassium (sulfate or chloride) per thousand square feet.

October 1: Back ONLY: Apply 2 pounds of potassium (sulfate or chloride) per thousand square feet.

[71GTO]

Thank you so much! Makes sense to me. I'll go back on the hunt for potassium sulfate. Just to confirm Potash is potassium sulfate? I use Ocean gro and I can can back away from monthly? Do you have any suggestions for the dead zone corner test?

[andy10917]

Just to confirm Potash is potassium sulfate?

No. "Potash" indicates Potassium. "Sulfate of Potash" is Potassium Sulfate, and "Muriate of Potash" is Potassium Chloride.

[MorpheusPA]

I apologize for missing The Dead Zone test; I didn't see it when I skated through. The PNG file is awfully small, but if I download it to my PC and zoom, I can read it.

If you want to use OceanGro on a more normal feeding schedule at this point, go right ahead. That will be fine. If you'd rather use it monthly....well, that's overkill, but I'm OK with that, too.

(Oh, and you can now combine front and back tests together in the future, they're close enough, but keep The Dead Zone separate).

That's a weird little area there. Sandier soil than elsewhere, whacked pH (acidic), and so on... Phosphorus is fine, calcium is low, magnesium is a little low, potassium needs a touch...

You'll need the same calcitic lime you used to adjust your property, a very small bag of Epsom salt (check the grocery store), and the potassium sulfate or potassium chloride from the rest of the lawn (but very little of it).

OK....

Recommendations:

April 1: Apply 5 pounds of any fast calcitic lime per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only (you probably have this on-hand from your liming)

April 15: Apply 1 pound of Epsom salt per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only.

May 1: Apply 2 pounds per thousand of potassium sulfate or potassium chloride in The Dead Zone.

September 15: Apply 5 pounds of calcitic lime per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only.

[71GTO]

Just to confirm Potash is potassium sulfate?

No. "Potash" indicates Potassium. "Sulfate of Potash" is Potassium Sulfate, and "Muriate of Potash" is Potassium Chloride.

Thank You Andy!

[71GTO]

I apologize for missing The Dead Zone test; I didn't see it when I skated through. The PNG file is awfully small, but if I download it to my PC and zoom, I can read it.

If you want to use OceanGro on a more normal feeding schedule at this point, go right ahead. That will be fine. If you'd rather use it monthly....well, that's overkill, but I'm OK with that, too.

(Oh, and you can now combine front and back tests together in the future, they're close enough, but keep The Dead Zone separate).

That's a weird little area there. Sandier soil than elsewhere, whacked pH (acidic), and so on... Phosphorus is fine, calcium is low, magnesium is a little low, potassium needs a touch...

You'll need the same calcitic lime you used to adjust your property, a very small bag of Epsom salt (check the grocery store), and the potassium sulfate or potassium chloride from the rest of the lawn (but very little of it).

OK....

Recommendations:

April 1: Apply 5 pounds of any fast calcitic lime per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only (you probably have this on-hand from your liming)

April 15: Apply 1 pound of Epsom salt per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only.

May 1: Apply 2 pounds per thousand of potassium sulfate or potassium chloride in The Dead Zone.

September 15: Apply 5 pounds of calcitic lime per thousand square feet in The Dead Zone only.

Thank you Morpheus! Sorry it was formatted small. I tried to keep the file size down... I will make those editions to the dead zone area. The soil there is definitely a lot different then the rest of the yard. Its very light and fluffy like the soil you see in the in the pine barren area of NJ. I think possibly since nothing was growing there for a long time and it is a small hill area any time we had heavy rain you could see anything organic washed out