Infield Fly Soil Test 2021

[Infield fly]

Hello everyone. This is my first soil test and I am excited to get things started. First things first, I am located in Austin, TX (new construction 3 years ago). We live on top of a rock - literally... there's only a few inches of soil before hitting it, so planting new shrubs/trees is a nightmare. I have Bermuda grass and am looking for the best possible result. I don't mind putting in the work but am stumped because I am not sure what to do with this soil. My grass has been mediocre at best the last few years despite my efforts. I leveled with sand last year and have been mowing as short as I can. Watering is deep and infrequent per the watering guidelines in the articles section.

Any guidance I can get is greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, I asked for an ammonium acetate extraction of cations per the instructions.

Thank you for your help.

[MorpheusPA]

Sometimes I need AA after these soil tests.

ME 18.2: Quite nice. While almost certainly still overinflated, I'll run with it after turning it down just a little bit.

pH 8.6: Quite high, but it'll grow a lawn. The lawn just won't have optimal color because it can't get much iron. That's no problem, ignore it or spray iron if you really want to. I'd ignore it, personally.

OM 1.2%: In the Poor range. Always mulch mow, mow your leaves in, organically feed if you can and want to, and let's get this up any way we can. Discard dead weeds in the lawn if they're not flowering, and so on. You can still use organic fertilizer with the recommendations below, at least in July, and slip some in around the edges of the other feedings if you want. Bermuda tends not to object to extra food!

Sulfur 20: Normal for a lower-OM lawn and just fine, really.

Phosphorus 32: Extremely low. My target would be 300 for your pH as phosphorus is fairly tied up at this pH. While I'd like to see you feed organically, we tend to shift this using starter fertilizer, but because of your potassium, I'm recommending a balanced fertilizer, or a fertilizer where all the numbers are about the same (like 20-20-20, 14-14-14, or something like that). Just get the cheapest. Recommendations below. It's going to take more than a year, but it should improve this year.

Calcium 87%: Large and in charge, but it's fine. You sure don't need or want any.

Magnesium 8.1%: On paper, it looks low. It really isn't, and I'm fine with this.

Potassium 2%: It looks low, and it is a little low. That's why I recommended the balanced fertilizer above.

Microelements: These actually look pretty good. Boron is a tad low, but nothing to worry much about and I'm not inclined to tap it this year. Iron is low, which is to be expected in a soil like this. As you have time, and wish to, you can feed with Milorganite to raise the soil organic matter and raise the soil iron. It won't have much impact on color at your pH, but at least the grass has a minor shot at it before it binds up, and over time the OM and iron do help a little.

Recommendations:

May 15: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate.

June 15: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate.

July--Feed however you normally would, I'm giving it a rest. Milorganite would be nice for iron and organic matter, but whatever you want is perfectly OK.

August 15: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate.

September 15: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate.

[Infield fly]

Thank you sir!

I sincerely appreciate it.