Post
by MorpheusPA » April 16th, 2021, 9:58 pm
Cool! OM went...down. Well, at the deep layer, as measured, it did. But the lower layers are showing a rise. Overall, if we strike an average, it looks to be rising. I'd stop with the expensive stuff and pour on the cheap stuff if I were you. And let time work where other things do not.
You have a calcium-laden soil, as Andy noted ages ago. That is not going to change and there's no reason to add sulfur. Because that won't change it. We live with it, which is fine. Grass will grow just fine in it. There are limiting factors here that are stopping grass from growing in it.
Phosphorus: My target on this soil would be a pretty high 350. Yours is 70-80. That's far too low for good grass, and phosphorus will be heavily bound at your pH (hence my high target--I really wouldn't mind 450). Normally, I'd say starter fertilizer, but I'd actually prefer a split app just because of the pH and the potassium levels here. Let's go with a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10, 20-20-20, 19-19-19, anything with all three numbers around the same).
Potassium: Target is around 250-275. You're around 100. I'm pulling that back a bit due to the calcium excess in the soil faking the numbers a little. Hence the balanced fertilizer, to add both P and K at the same time.
Yep, I really want this going down synthetically. With your soil, you can do this for 2 years before retesting. We're in absolutely no danger of over-applying.
For the organics, you can dump as much as you like from May 10th through May 30th, and from August 15th until a month before your average first very hard freeze. Cracked corn can, as you noted, also go in summer at rates of up to 20 pounds per thousand with no problems, the nitrogen levels are low enough. If cracked corn is very cheap for you, amounts of up to sixty pounds per thousand square feet can go down in fall.
Boron levels are still deficient. Let's reapply again this season. Copper rose a little, but I'd really like to see a lot more at your pH level--it's critical for disease resistance. Get Twenty Mules Team laundry soap for Boron, and Copper Sulfate from Amazon/eBay - 3 tablespoons/K each as below as outlined in the Micronutrient Application Guide. Note that I have these for this year only; we don't want to repeat without another soil test. The Milo will also help as an organic feeding.
Recommendations (2021):
May 10: Apply 3 Tbsp 20 Mule Team Borax and 3 Tbsp Copper Sulfate per thousand square feet as per the Micronutrient Application Guide.
August 15: Apply 3 Tbsp 20 Mule Team Borax and 3 Tbsp Copper Sulfate per thousand square feet as per the Micronutrient Application Guide.
October 15: Apply 3 Tbsp 20 Mule Team Borax and 3 Tbsp Copper Sulfate per thousand square feet as per the Micronutrient Application Guide.
Recommendations (2021 and 2022):
May 25: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate (to target 1 pound nitrogen per thousand square feet).
September 1: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate (to target 1 pound nitrogen per thousand square feet).
October 1: Feed with balanced fertilizer at bag rate (to target 1 pound nitrogen per thousand square feet).
Mine tend to ignore almost everything, actually.