Soil Test Results

18 years ago

I could use some help with my recent soil test report. I understand the description of the soil: low P, low K, high Mg, extremely high Ca. My confusion lies in reconciling these two statements for improving the soil:

Near the top of the report it says:

Recommendations for Vegetables:

Ground Agricultural Limestone = 0.0 tons/acre

Fertilizer N-P2O5 -K2O = 120-150-160 pounds/acre

Later it says:

Comment No.1: Per 1,000 sq. ft. broadcast 35 pounds 4-12-12 at planting. Per 100 ft. of row sidedress with 0.4 pounds N (1 pint 34-0-0 or equivalent).

Are they telling me I need 120-150-160 lbs/acre and the instructions in Comment 1 will get me there? Or that I need to add the 120-150-160 and then do Comment 1?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments (8)

dchall_san_antonio
18 years ago
Just to the 35 pounds per 1,000 of 4-12-12.
dchall_san_antonio
18 years ago
Wait, wait wait! 35 POUNDS per 1,000 square feet??? That is a huge amount of synthetic fertilizer. Could there be a decimal point between the 3 and the 5?
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cmpbllarg
Original Author
18 years ago
dchall,

Thanks for the help. The report definitely says 35 not 3.5.

Considering the P number (and using my feeble math skills) it looks like 35 lbs. of 4-12-12 would equal 4.2 lbs. of P per 1000 sq. ft. Extrapolated to an acre, that would be 4.2 lbs. x 43.56 (no. of 1000 sq ft in an acre) which would be 183 lbs. of P per acre. That is relatively close to the 150 lbs/acre listed in the other section of the report.
Kimmsr
18 years ago
What does this report say about your soils pH?
What does this report say about the level of P?
What does this report say about the level of K?
What does this report say about the level of Ca?
What does this report say about the level of Mg?
What is the C.E.C?
peter_6
18 years ago
cmp: I'm a bit confused about the K, Mg, and Ca situation. It isn't the quantities of these that matter, rather their relative percentages; do you have those numbers? I would guess that you might need some more K to knock down the high Mg and Ca. Did they tell you the organic matter percent? I don't see a compost recommendation. Regards, Peter.
cmpbllarg
Original Author
18 years ago
Kimmsr and Peter,

After a bit more research, I believe I have figured out what the fertilizer recommendations were. I'll put the other figures here, should you have any advice:

Soil pH - 6.6 (Slightly Acid)
P - 8 lb/acre (Low)
K - 65 lb/acre (Low)
Mg - 115 lb/acre (High)
Ca - 3406 lb/acre (Extremely high)
CEC - 11.15 (Clays and soils high in organic matter)

Any thoughts?
User
18 years ago
The pH is perfect. I didn't think that the calcium was a problem, but I could be wrong. If that were my soil analysis, I'd be adding the fertilizer right away and then I'd be looking for a source of organic amendments; chicken manure, horse manure, commercial compost.

BTW, getting your soil tested was a really smart move.
Kimmsr
18 years ago
The soil pH is good, most plants do quite well with a soil pH in the 6.2 to 6.8 range because that is the range most nutrients are most readily available. P and K (Phosphorus and Potash) are somewhat low and may well be not too readily available depending on the level of organic matter in the soil, a good source of P and K is compost, but then compost is a good source of most everything.
What is the level of organic matter, humus? Something I forgot about earlier for some reason.