Wow. What turf did you plant and how poorly is it doing? What did you use for compost?

It's a typical NE mix - fine fescue/ryegrass/kbg. I used a local, bagged compost - Hamptons Estate Premium Compost. The turf has actually been doing pretty well. It's patchy in the darkest shade but I've been having to cut it once or twice a week thus far. So, I don't know if that jives with what the soil tests are indicating. I was a bit surprised everything came out so low. The other plants here seem to do ok also (mostly hostas, daylilies, azaleas, jap. maples). Given the test results what would you expect the grass to look like? Is it possible the soil tests are off?

Given the test results what would you expect the grass to look like?

A finished compost should bring soil towards neutral. A test of PH 5 made me wonder how much lower the soil PH was pre-amending (see PH of left side and OM for comparison to lawn). Seeing as prep and seeding was done at the same time, I was expecting some Al toxicity issues during establishment

Is it possible the soil tests are off?

Not likely as all are consistent.

Some spot research shows that copper toxicity won't be a problem...but lifting your pH into the 6.5 range (normal, in other words) will be key to making certain that no problems occur. Since we're working on that, no problems there.

We're actually fortunate that you have high P (and high Zn) levels as both reduce copper uptake. As does high levels of organic matter, so that's helping you out here as well, even with lower pH.

Definitely no more compost. It was primarily only applied to the lawn area and not the surrounding beds, though I did use a bit when transplanting individual plants. Buying commercially bagged compost seems to be an exercise in futility. They can put anything in there.

Morpheus, per your recommendations - should both the calcitic and dolomitic limes be applied at the same time? On the same day? Or should they be split up between a day or two.

And for the dolomitic lime, I'm assuming that should be the standard pelletized form.

I was considering using Ringer/Lawn Restore instead of the SBM since that's supposed to be zero-phosphate even though it has SBM in it.

Regarding extraneous phosphates, I also did use some Sluggo iron phosphate last year (not on the lawn), as well as diatomaceous earth (which is high in Aluminum). I imagine that didn't help matters. I'll have to find some other way of dealing with the slugs.

I had planned on doing some planting this spring but it looks like that's not a great idea right now (unless it's something that relishes poor soil). I might have to revisit things in the fall.

Either way, many thanks for your insight.

Those levels puzzle me. Do you know if there are/were glass factories in your immediate vicinity?

The old Tiffany Silver factory was just north of here. I don't think they made glass products, but it was there from 1897-1984, I believe, along with other factories presumably. And the Passaic River is about 1.5 miles east and there are and have been any manner of industrial businesses there. That's part of the reason I mentioned not being that surprised about some of the soil results.

I might get a soil test done sampled from the frontyard since I haven't touched it yet, just as a comparison. I'm curious how much of the levels in the soil results were already here or from my tinkering.

>>Morpheus, per your recommendations - should both the calcitic and dolomitic limes be applied at the same time? On the same day? Or should they be split up between a day or two.

It doesn't matter in the slightest. Calcitic is very fast, dolomitic is very slow. If it's more convenient to split them, go ahead and do so. If you've got both and do them the same day, that's also great.

>>And for the dolomitic lime, I'm assuming that should be the standard pelletized form.

Really, whatever's cheapest is fine. :-) But if you want to get pelletized, it's a lot easier to handle than the powdered stuff.

>>I was considering using Ringer/Lawn Restore instead of the SBM since that's supposed to be zero-phosphate even though it has SBM in it.

Certainly, if you like!

>>Regarding extraneous phosphates, I also did use some Sluggo iron phosphate last year (not on the lawn), as well as diatomaceous earth (which is high in Aluminum). I imagine that didn't help matters. I'll have to find some other way of dealing with the slugs.

Neither was a significant source of phosphorus or aluminum (respectively), so you can continue to use these if you like. At bottle rate, Sluggo simply can't raise P levels that much.

Al is actually natural to soil (and a key part of, among other things, Bentonite clay). Keep your pH over 5.0 and it's utterly harmless, even to aluminum-sensitive plants. Most plants (like that holly, most evergreens, blackberries, and the like) that prefer lower pH levels are also very aluminum tolerant. They have to be.

Al levels in my own soil run around 700...but with a pH of 6.2, I'm not at all worried about it in the lawn or the gardens.

>>I had planned on doing some planting this spring but it looks like that's not a great idea right now (unless it's something that relishes poor soil). I might have to revisit things in the fall.

You might be surprised. The K will hit fast. The Ca won't be all that terribly far behind. Many plants can handle a slightly off environment, they just won't do as well as they might otherwise. Depending on what you're planning on planting, you might do very well indeed.

I raised a ton of annuals the first year or two in my gardens, terrible as they were, that did very well. Granted, they do much better now, but... I'd advise planting more forgiving things now and holding off on sensitive stuff until later. Surprisingly few commonly-used plants are sensitive.

- Good to hear about the copper as well as the Sluggo/DE. They chomped on a number of hostas last year.

- I had planned on planting some things in the bed under/near the holly tree as it's currently pretty bare (it's also the darkest and driest spot). So, I don't want to completely ignore that area.

- Just to be clear, were the first three applications under your recommendations only for the lawn area or everywhere? You only specified everywhere on the Oct 15 one.

- I'll see how these initial applications go then think about planting again. Annuals might be a good idea for now. I'm hoping to get the first liming done this weekend.

Where I didn't mention it, apply it everywhere (except the holly bed, unless you're really far out of the holly's drip zone). You could also apply the potassium and dolomite to the holly bed, they won't hurt anything or kick the pH enough to bother the tree...but it's not necessary.

Got it. The back of the grass reaches the holly dripline so I'll have to be careful with the calcitic. Thanks again for your help!