lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

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lawnlawn
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lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 12th, 2019, 2:33 pm

Hello,
Today I received results for the soil samples that I collected on Sept. 5th. As recommended I used Logan labs LLC, there were three samples namely 'Pool', 'Fred', 'Jay' that are representative of soil from three sides of my house, please see attached images for the report. Each sample had soil mixed from at least 4 individual areas like from close to the corner and from the center. Visually I couldn't identify much of difference among samples from the same side of the house, though the sample collected from 'Jay' side was very sandy that looked very different from the other two.

Please help interpret this soil test results and recommend amendments to improve the soil quality as needed to support healthy grass.


I am hoping to establish a new lawn and I have an active forum thread where I am getting all the valuable advice from all of you.

In terms of lawn seed selection, I would like to place order either today or tomorrow for KBG blend with Award, Prosperity, and Bewitched or Bedazzled (Thanks to Juan). Considering the soil quality and/with any recommended amendments that are needed, do you all consider this as a good selection for my soil? My plan is to put seed down on Sept. 21st. and perform any recommended soil amendments in the meantime.
Thanks so much to all of you for volunteering your time and sharing experience to help newbies.

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andy10917
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 12th, 2019, 3:36 pm

Make sure to put a Link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue, so that you are not forgotten. The waiting line is currently zero, so you should be processed this evening if you're in the queue...

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 12th, 2019, 3:43 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 12th, 2019, 3:36 pm
Make sure to put a Link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue, so that you are not forgotten. The waiting line is currently zero, so you should be processed this evening if you're in the queue...
Done! Thanks so much!

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 16th, 2019, 10:20 am

andy10917 wrote:
September 12th, 2019, 3:36 pm
Make sure to put a Link to this thread into the Soil Test Interpretation Queue, so that you are not forgotten. The waiting line is currently zero, so you should be processed this evening if you're in the queue...
Hello Andy and other experts,
Please let me know if I miss any instructions in terms of highlighting my soil analysis results for your evaluation.
Thanks so much!

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andy10917
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 16th, 2019, 8:35 pm

You need to post a link in the Soil Test Interpretattion Queue that points to this thread ASAP.


lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
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Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 16th, 2019, 8:51 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 16th, 2019, 8:35 pm
You need to post a link in the Soil Test Interpretattion Queue that points to this thread ASAP.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the response. I did once on Sept. 13th (see attached screenshot) and post seems to be online under "2019 Soil Test Interpretation Queue". Is there any other thread where I should post the link? Please let me know.
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andy10917
Posts: 29739
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 16th, 2019, 8:58 pm

Oh OK. I'm a bit behind -- I have been focused on starting up a new gig with a pharmaceutical company and am running out of waking hours. My apologies.

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
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Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 16th, 2019, 9:12 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 16th, 2019, 8:58 pm
Oh OK. I'm a bit behind -- I have been focused on starting up a new gig with a pharmaceutical company and am running out of waking hours. My apologies.
Andy, No apology needed. I am sure each and everyone here on the forum appreciates your time and knowledge that you disseminate unconditionally. We all have a day job which of course is / should be a priority. See when/if you get a chance to go over soil results, there are three of them...more than I usually see on the forum.
Good luck with the new gig.

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andy10917
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 16th, 2019, 9:25 pm

By all means, get that seed and get it down!! You are deep in the hole - we are now in the second part of September. The optimal time was a month ago.

Remediating a soil is not something that happens 20 minutes after you put down the necessary ingredients - it is a multi-YEAR thing.

Put the seed down ASAP, and use a good starter fertilizer. I'm not a big fan of starting a soil remediation right at the start of putting seed down.

I'll try very hard to analyze your three soil tests tomorrow evening, but they will be best served by getting the seed down and waiting until the grass is about 60 days old to start messing with the soil...

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 17th, 2019, 12:54 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 16th, 2019, 9:25 pm
By all means, get that seed and get it down!! You are deep in the hole - we are now in the second part of September. The optimal time was a month ago.

Remediating a soil is not something that happens 20 minutes after you put down the necessary ingredients - it is a multi-YEAR thing.

Put the seed down ASAP, and use a good starter fertilizer. I'm not a big fan of starting a soil remediation right at the start of putting seed down.

I'll try very hard to analyze your three soil tests tomorrow evening, but they will be best served by getting the seed down and waiting until the grass is about 60 days old to start messing with the soil...
I ordered today morning 50lbs better blue KBG elite blend with Award, Bewitched, and Rhapsody. This is what Preferred seeds had in stock in terms of KBG blend. The seeds will definitely go down this weekend if not earlier. Hope my soil as in its current condition will be able to support this blend, otherwise, I'll be out of lots of $$$'s and start again in Spring :(

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andy10917
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Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 17th, 2019, 7:03 pm

Better to use a Starter fertilizer (you're short on Phosphorus), then let the clock keep going round and round day after day. I'll be doing the rest of your test interpretation tonight, but I recommend you don't execute the new plan until the lawn is close to Day 60. Pray that Winter doesn't set in early this year.

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andy10917
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 17th, 2019, 8:13 pm

The lawn varies in sandiness from "very sandy" to "somewhat sandy". The OM% varies from "poor" to "pretty good". Add organic matter in the areas that are below 4%, and do it regularly. I suspect some of the variability is more due to a low number of samples as much as any actual difference - a single "crazy" reading has more effect when there are a low number of samples than in a larger sample set.

Likewise, there is a big variation in the cations and ratios, and that causes pH values to be all over the board. Since you can't know exactly where the soil from one set borders on another set, it is impractical to know when/where to switch from one regimen to another.

The "Pool" area is your best soil, and it lacks some Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium. I'd apply good calcitic lime once this Fall and a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 19-19-19 (or any where the nutrient amounts of NPK are very close). Select one and post the NPK for application rates. 9 lbs/K once this Fall. The balanced fertilizer will be skipped until Spring, but a all-N winterizer may still be in the cards for you - let it play out once the seed matures and the weather plays out.

That's what I'd do in the Fall. I'd like to see how the lawn responds and then continue with a full plan for 2020 in April. Does that work for you? I think we should be able to do the plan with the exiting soil tests.

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
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Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 18th, 2019, 8:14 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 17th, 2019, 8:13 pm
The lawn varies in sandiness from "very sandy" to "somewhat sandy". The OM% varies from "poor" to "pretty good". Add organic matter in the areas that are below 4%, and do it regularly. I suspect some of the variability is more due to a low number of samples as much as any actual difference - a single "crazy" reading has more effect when there are a low number of samples than in a larger sample set.

Likewise, there is a big variation in the cations and ratios, and that causes pH values to be all over the board. Since you can't know exactly where the soil from one set borders on another set, it is impractical to know when/where to switch from one regimen to another.

The "Pool" area is your best soil, and it lacks some Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium. I'd apply good calcitic lime once this Fall and a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 19-19-19 (or any where the nutrient amounts of NPK are very close). Select one and post the NPK for application rates. 9 lbs/K once this Fall. The balanced fertilizer will be skipped until Spring, but a all-N winterizer may still be in the cards for you - let it play out once the seed matures and the weather plays out.

That's what I'd do in the Fall. I'd like to see how the lawn responds and then continue with a full plan for 2020 in April. Does that work for you? I think we should be able to do the plan with the exiting soil tests.
Hi Andy,

Thanks so much.

So little background on soil samples, the soil from the back area that is around the pool is after clearing up many many trees and bushes from what was untouched forest. Other 2 tests are from sides of the house, which I inherited as a ground almost covered with moss because of shade from the trees that I end up cutting down. The soil from sides was visibly very sandy compared to the pool area, in essence, I could visibly see the difference in soil when I was collecting samples and that was the reason I went for three separate soil sample test to get a better picture by area.

At any rate, I'll be following your suggested plan and post updates with time.

For this weekend I am planning to -

Spreader - Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard Mini Broadcast Spreader

1) Apply lime (bag rate)
2) Apply Milorganite (bag rate)
3) Apply Scotts Starter lawn fertilizer + weed preventer (bag rate) (alternatively starter fertilizer + spray Primesource Meso 4 SC Select)
4) Spread seeds
5) Run Home depot rented lawn roller
6) Spread SunShine Sphagnum Peat Moss
7) 5 min. water cycle each sprinkler zone

I will be receiving seeds tomorrow and I do have a spreader. On Thursday evening I plan to purchase lime, Milorganite, starter lawn fertilizer, maybe Primesource Meso 4 SC select (from Amazon.com ???) and Peat moss. All from Home depot or lowes or??? Is this a reasonable plan for seeding??? Please approve or suggest revisions. Thanks again so much.

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andy10917
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Level: Advanced

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 18th, 2019, 8:56 pm

I don't know what you're saying in the last paragraph - if you're looking for my buy-in on applying lime at seed-down, it ain't happening. I don't believe in applying lime to soil at the same time as seed - it is an alkaline bath at the most critical time.

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 18th, 2019, 9:05 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 18th, 2019, 8:56 pm
I don't know what you're saying in the last paragraph - if you're looking for my buy-in on applying lime at seed-down, it ain't happening. I don't believe in applying lime to soil at the same time as seed - it is an alkaline bath at the most critical time.
Okay, so lime is out, does rest of the steps make sense? Any more additions or deletions/unnecessary step?

Step 1) Apply Milorganite (bag rate)
Step 2) Apply Scotts Starter lawn fertilizer + weed preventer (bag rate)
Step 3) Spread seeds
Step 4) Run Home depot rented lawn roller (one pass) over seeds
Step 5) Spread SunShine Sphagnum Peat Moss
Step 6) 5 min. water cycle each sprinkler zone

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andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » September 18th, 2019, 9:17 pm

The "5 min cycle" stuff is not optimal. Use your eyes instead of the timer and find the spot where the soil remains moist but not wet. It will change as the days shorten. There are no shortcuts.

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » September 18th, 2019, 9:25 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 18th, 2019, 9:17 pm
The "5 min cycle" stuff is not optimal. Use your eyes instead of the timer and find the spot where the soil remains moist but not wet. It will change as the days shorten. There are no shortcuts.
Sounds good, thanks. I am excited for this weekend.

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » November 12th, 2019, 6:56 pm

andy10917 wrote:
September 17th, 2019, 8:13 pm
The lawn varies in sandiness from "very sandy" to "somewhat sandy". The OM% varies from "poor" to "pretty good". Add organic matter in the areas that are below 4%, and do it regularly. I suspect some of the variability is more due to a low number of samples as much as any actual difference - a single "crazy" reading has more effect when there are a low number of samples than in a larger sample set.

Likewise, there is a big variation in the cations and ratios, and that causes pH values to be all over the board. Since you can't know exactly where the soil from one set borders on another set, it is impractical to know when/where to switch from one regimen to another.

The "Pool" area is your best soil, and it lacks some Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium. I'd apply good calcitic lime once this Fall and a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 19-19-19 (or any where the nutrient amounts of NPK are very close). Select one and post the NPK for application rates. 9 lbs/K once this Fall. The balanced fertilizer will be skipped until Spring, but a all-N winterizer may still be in the cards for you - let it play out once the seed matures and the weather plays out.

That's what I'd do in the Fall. I'd like to see how the lawn responds and then continue with a full plan for 2020 in April. Does that work for you? I think we should be able to do the plan with the exiting soil tests.
Hi Andy,
Last Tuesday I spread 120 lbs of all-purpose fertilizer 10-10-10 over 18k sq.ft. in addition to 20lbs of Yard Gard Organic Mole Repellent. It rained a little bit the next morning but I could still see undissolved fertilizer granules till Sunday. On Sunday I noticed that the tip of my grass seems to be drying out and few spots (less than a percent of total lawn area) are totally dried out where the grass was very short and blades were very thin, attached is the picture from the dense area. Do you think it's due to fertilizer or lack of water? I stopped running sprinkler (winterized) sometime in mid-Oct as the weather was getting colder and there were few nights with freezing temperatures.
Also, my yard is being destroyed by some underground rodents that are creating tunnels. It's getting really bad, the ground is fluffy and soft almost everywhere. At this point, the whole yard is visibly uneven.
There are spots where grass barely grew, sparse and maybe just an inch or so tall. And there are a lot of areas which are dense with 3 to 4 inch tall grass. I never mowed this new lawn, it's been ~43 days since I first saw germination. It seems that grass stopped growing for the last 2 weeks, is it okay to not mow till Spring since grass stopped growing? Besides this ongoing cold week, next week's temperature will be back in 50's so I can mow the lawn if it's recommended. Also, what are your thoughts on spreading all N-winterizer around Thanksgiving?
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andy10917
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Level: Advanced

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by andy10917 » November 12th, 2019, 9:10 pm

There is no "seems like" in determining growth stoppage - it's binary. You mow for a few minutes with a bagger on and see if you get grass clippings. It's not an art - it's growing or it's not. Period. Not "slow", not "hardly any" - stopped or not.

I'd like you to ponder this: why do you think that potential fertilizer burn would show up in grass blade tips? It doesn't make sense. What *might* make sense is either mowing grass that was frozen/frosted, a dull blade.

Please explain the 1-inch grass vs 4-inch grass better -- what is the cutting height on the mower, and at what rate are you lowering the height to winter height? I don't think 4" grass in November is optimal.

Are the "tunnels" in the ground, or flattened paths of grass above the ground?

lawnlawn
Posts: 61
Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
Location: South Jersey
Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Novice

Re: lawnlawn 2019_09_05 soil test

Post by lawnlawn » November 12th, 2019, 10:07 pm

andy10917 wrote:
November 12th, 2019, 9:10 pm
There is no "seems like" in determining growth stoppage - it's binary. You mow for a few minutes with a bagger on and see if you get grass clippings. It's not an art - it's growing or it's not. Period. Not "slow", not "hardly any" - stopped or not.

I'd like you to ponder this: why do you think that potential fertilizer burn would show up in grass blade tips? It doesn't make sense. What *might* make sense is either mowing grass that was frozen/frosted, a dull blade.

Please explain the 1-inch grass vs 4-inch grass better -- what is the cutting height on the mower, and at what rate are you lowering the height to winter height? I don't think 4" grass in November is optimal.

Are the "tunnels" in the ground, or flattened paths of grass above the ground?
So I conclude that the tip of the grass blade is dry either due to frostbite or worse due to lack of water.

The tunnels are in the ground with bulging easily visible from outside. The attached picture is from a google image search for 'mole tunnel' that represents my lawn situation very well.

The lawn has never been mowed, I'll give the grass its first cut this weekend.


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