Hi all,

I'm back again with some results of the soil test.

I am using an 80% horse manure mix with 20% other compost from the county compost facility. The manure is well aged and is at least two years old.

I sent a soil test in for a professional result since the home testing kits from Lowes showed a pH of 8.0 and regular levels of NPK.

Welp, I got the results back and am more pleased with theirs than the home kit!

pH of 7.2

Phophorous lbs/acre - 310

Potassium lbs/acre - 800

Organic Matter - 3.6%

They did not do a nitrogen test and said that this isn't a requirement (not sure why).

They did note that the phosphorous and potassium is "sky high" and said that optimal levels is 50 lbs/acre for phosphorous and 300 lbs/acre for potassium. So phosphorous is six times the optimal and potassium at almost three times.

I asked if there would be any side effects with such high numbers, but they said there should not be any and will ensure that the plants have ample supply.

Since the pH was still a bit high at 7.2, they said that I could add about 5 pounds of sulfur per 1000 square feet to get down to a pH of 6.5.

I'll get that mixed in when I get home so that it has at least a month to help get the pH down a little bit.