GermanShep's Fall 1st Soil Test

[GermanShep]

Hello,

I have attached my first soil test from a new property which I moved into this past June and I now that I am settled in a bit I have time to dedicate to my lawn. I knew that my first test would not be very good considering this is an new construction home property and I know that the development was built on an old limestone rock quarry from decades past. I want to address everything right away and I want to go full blast ahead on my soil amendments and repair, I want to push the soil as hard as possible yet this Fall before the ground freezes up for the coming Winter. I know that the soil will not change over night but I have hopes of getting a much better lawn than what I have now even though right now it is not doing to bad all things considered. My goal is to have a much improved soil a year from now.
Total sq ft is 6500
I have irrigation
Front lawn is full sun
Rear lawn is 1/2 sun and 1/2 shade

Please let me know what to address first and going down the line.

Thank you for the help!

[andy10917]

Make sure to add a link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue thread, so we don't forget that you are waiting.

[GermanShep]

I hope that I added the link to the correct place

[andy10917]

Yup, you did. I don't know if I'll get to it today, as the Ida rainfall swamped my son's home basement with a foot of water (I live 8 miles away and had no damage at all). Gonna be a busy day...

[andy10917]

I want to push the soil as hard as possible yet this Fall before the ground freezes up for the coming Winter.

It doesn't work like that. Just as you don't triple-up on medicine to make the medicine work faster when you're not feeling well, the soil won't go any faster if you "push it", and may fact actually go backward if pushed too fast. The remediation program will take the amount of time it takes - it needs to integrate with the soil chemistry before we add more...

So, what do we have here? The high TEC, Calcium level and pH are all pointing at a somewhat calcareous soil. There is nothing you can do about that - it's a surplus of Calcium beyond the ability of anything you can buy in a bag. This does not prevent you from having a nice lawn, though.

The TEC is on the heavy side, which is pushed by the influence of the surplus Calcium. If you had done a standard test, the Calcium would actually measure off-the-charts - that is why we recommend the Ammonium Acetate test in your area.

The Magnesium number is artificially showing a shortage that isn't really there - again, the distortion from the Calcium. That is somewhat true also for the Potassium, but there the shortage is real. Since both the Potassium and Phosphorus are low, we recommend the use of balanced fertilizers like 10-10-10, 19-19-19, etc. These treat the shortages and get the Nitrogen to this soil too in a single application. Choose a balanced fertilizer and post the NPK value to get rate and frequency amounts.

Your Iron levels are OK, but at pH 8.2 they are not available to the grass plants. If top color is desired, you'll have to look into the foliar Ferrous Ammonium Sulfate ("FAS"") treatments.

There are some shortages in the micronutrients, but we'll wait for the soil to gain some ground before we tackle those...

[GermanShep]

Thank you for the guidance and your time Andy!
I was contemplating a few things and wanted to get your input before I do anything. I know when I dig down into my soil that I hit a lot of wet gray colored clay soil at 6" deep in many areas and as I dig deeper and then it goes into limestone and shale. I feel that I should be applying some type of liquid soil conditioner such as Nitron A35 aerifier to loosen up the soil up on the top half and improve air and nutrients movement into the soil? My neighbors who have a lawn service taking care of their lawn have been applying gypsum this year to loosen the clay based soil? I do not know if the gypsum is a wise idea or not, if it does help loosen the soil it may be a good practice to begin?
Should I look at adding some 11-52-0 phosphorous while adding my balanced fertilizer? I have also been using the Menards brand E-Corganite natural fertilzer and it is very cost effective in my area compared to Milorganite in my area and I beleive they are almost the same thing. Is this fertilizer okay to throw down monthly?
I just want to practice the correct Fall regiment to start heading in the right direction for a nicer lawn next year. I have about 6 weeks until the first frost in my area and in a normal year grass grown stops in late September.
I have attached some labels of fertilzer that is easily available to me and wondering what I should begin with this Fall?

[GermanShep]

I have access to a 10-10-10 balanced fertilizer Groundworks brand from TCS and I also found Milorganite at Lowes. Both products are 8.99 per bag so they are relatively inexpensive for me right now. My lawn is a total size of 6,200 sq ft. so I don't require large quantities of anything. I realize the Ma shows a shortage now because of the high Ca number and I am wondering if this also holds true for my Potassium and Phosphorous? Does the high Calcium make all the other numbers show artificially low and that is the reason to use a balanced fertilizer, to try and even things out a bit? I don't want to try and raise what doesn't need to be. I also was considering applying some elemental sulfur to try and bring down the PH over time, and I will be spraying FAS in the future to try an optimize the best color.
This plan also leads to my next questions:
Should I apply any 11-52-0 MAP this Fall along with my 10-10-10? Will it be okay to use Milorganite in addition to the balanced fertilizer during Sept and Oct? What should I plan on doing for my late Fall winterizer, should I use some Urea after growth stops so my grass gets a ood start next Spring.
Lots of questions but I am a planner for the longer haul.

[andy10917]

Excess Calcium can distort Potassium and Magnesium numbers, which are cations. Phosphorus is an Anion, and is not affected.

As to the use of other nutrients, I wouldn't do it. The regimen is designed to supply the full amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium per month, and additional applications could be harmful. I think you're still in the "push the soil" mentality, and I think that you need to consider this effort a marathon and not a sprint.

The use of Elemental Sulfur will not work in Minnesota. It may actually weaken the grass and make it diease-prone, as the pH (very) temporarlily fluctuates (the Yo-Yo Effect) And on a calcareous soil would require massive amounts of Sulfur, even if it did work.

[MorpheusPA]

You're going to find proponents of elemental sulfur or (heaven forfend) aluminum sulfate to lower soil pH and claim that it actually works in all cases. It doesn't. Or, more accurately, it might, but you'd have to use so much you'd end up with a sulfur or aluminum pit that wouldn't grow much, if anything (but trying to convince said people of this is difficult, if not impossible, because they love their magic wands).

I don't even think of this as a marathon, which is still massive effort over a shorter period. It's more a committed effort over a period of years. You're establishing a healthier relationship with your lawn and soil, and that takes time and energy. It starts now. But it's still going to be developing a few years from now. And you'll be finding new facets of it in 2030. It's like establishing a healthy diet and exercise regimen designed to carry you through adulthood as a healthy and balanced individual. Or, why I still get carded for booze in my mid-fifties (wear a hat, use sunblock, and take your vitamins, kids).

Elemental sulfur is one of those things that also works better when dug in (much gets lost to the air as sulfur dioxide [smog] when surface-applied, which nobody is going to thank you for), so there's another reason not to bother.

[GermanShep]

Thank you for the information, it makes sense and I know things don't happen overnight and soil improvement takes time. Just to summarize for my Fall applications to make sure that I understand and use the correct regiment.
Apply 10-10-10 balanced fertilizer at bag rate now in early Sept and again in October?
What should I apply for my last application before Winter in late October? Urea 46-0-0 after growth stops?

[MorpheusPA]

As a general rule, yes, although in Minnesota, winter might BE October.

If you can't source urea, any other synthetic, high-nitrogen, low everything else feeding will do just fine. So numbers that look like 35-0-5, 28-2-6, or anything like that. Those aren't exact numbers, just guides on what they might look like--the first number is far larger than the other two.

[bolson32]

Where in Minnesota are you? Fleugel's farm supply in Rosemount has the best prices I've found in the metro.

$17.99 for Urea, 19.99 for 19-19-19

[GermanShep]

Where in Minnesota are you? Fleugel's farm supply in Rosemount has the best prices I've found in the metro.

$17.99 for Urea, 19.99 for 19-19-19

Good to know. I live in Rochester, MN and we get up to the Twin Cities metro about every other month. I may need to make a run up there for
my Fall urea.

[GermanShep]

I applied my 10-10-10 fertilizer today at 10 lbs/K

[bolson32]

I would assume there's actually more feed mills down your way, that's where I'd check. They usually have both urea and many types of fertilizer.