What does a soil test indicate?

kimmq is kimmsr

Is the grass just yellowish or is there something like rust on it?

DandyLioness, it's just yellowish. However, my back lawn does have a spot or two where it looks like actual rust on the blades, so if you've got any suggestions for that...

Kimmq, I haven't done a soil test. I"m a bit burned on soil tests lately. Our local UC exchange won't do it so I sent a soil sample to UC Connecticut for my blueberry plants grown in whisky half barrels. They came back saying the soil's PH was way out of whack and to replant them immediately. I didn't get around to it and then wound up having the best blueberry season ever. I also sent in soil samples for my vegetable beds. They said it was too much organic matter in the soil and not to add any amendments at all, and the results so far have been the most anemic vegetable growth of any year I can remember. So I'm not finding soil testing to be all that productive. :/

It looks very much like an uneven fert application :-) If you were using synthetics, it would be even more noticeable. Here, I would suggest you wait until fall before applying any additional ferts and just focus on watering deeply but infrequently. But Sacramento is a different enough climate zone that cool season grasses (like we have up here) may not be as common in your area and an early summer fert application may be helpful. Do you have any water restrictions? That would probably alter my response :-) And how do you water and how frequently?

FWIW, soil tests on established lawns are not particularly helpful anyway. They are always going to need nitrogen in some form...........

About the rust, it usually clears up on its own as the weather heats up. Just wait till it grows enough to mow it and bag the clippings and toss. The new growth should be clean.

My 2 cents on adding alfalfa would be go ahead. When I was renewing a bad lawn last year I added organic fert in the summer as well and it really seemed to give the grass a good feeding.

Thanks for the replies here. Yes, gardengal, we have water restrictions as to which days we can water, but none so far in the amount of water we can apply. So I continue to deliver about an inch a week, divided by two watering sessions.

DandyLioness, I appreciate the rust advice, especially for being specific about the bagging. I typically mulch-mow my lawn, so I'll be careful when next I mow to dispose of the clippings.

And thanks to you too, kimmq. I think it's still possible to have a lush green lawn in California, but as the neighborhood goes completely brown, I'm likely to start getting some dirty looks if I'm the only emerald green lawn in town. :/

I'm in sacramento as well and was the only one with a green lawn all last summer. And I only watered once a week. I think twice a week 3 or 4 times. And yeah, people actually asked me things like "do I water every day?" and "don't I know there is a water restriction". I took it as an opportunity to educate them on the benefits of watering deeply and infrequently, and on using organic fertilizers. It was kind of awesome. :)

Thanks for the feedback, neighbor. :D