Stop with the lime already! With a CEC of 4, this should be a rather easy soil to bring into balance but will take monitoring and regular adjustment.

And aeration on that soil isn't going to give you much bang for the buck for anything other than maybe OM incorporation. If you're paying someone to do it, save yourself the expense.

A couple of follow-up questions:

Where abouts in Va?

Is there any significant difference in the texture of the soil between side 1 and side 2?

Have you treated all three areas the same (same amendments and timing) or did you apply more lime or fertilizer to one or two of the areas?

Do you remember what type of lime you used (calcitic or dolomitic)? At what rate did you apply it?

Thanks @yardtractor!

* I aerate myself. $100/day for an aerator from HD. I feel like the new grass I'm overseeding will have a hard time getting established without the aerator breaking up the soil a little. I see all the pro lawn care companies in our neighborhood doing this as well.

* I'm 1/2 between Richmond and Williamsburg just off I-64

* The texture of the soil looked very similar to me. I couldn't tell any difference between the samples.

* Yes, I've applied the same treatments to each zone of my yard as best I could.

* Dolomitic limestone from Lowe's in the 40lb. bag. I've calculated my yard at app. 6,375 sq. ft. (front-2,625, side1-1,550, side2-2,200). I apply app. 75% of the bag. I have an older Scott's spreader that's not calibrated.

Thank you so much, Morpheus! Regarding the CEC of my yard. The soil profile of the front yard and side one are very similar. I believe the original "construction entrance" was located in the front to side one of the yard as I hit many rocks when digging my samples and earlier this when when I was installing some drainage lines.

That said, I don't recall the soil profile of side two appearing that much different. Depending on where I dig on side two, the soil appears to be a little richer, but still fairly sandy. The front portion of side two would most likely mirror the front yard.

Thanks again for your insight! Jayson

Jayson,

I suggest you run a side by side "jar test" for both the side 2 and either the front or side 1 soils. That may help in determining the basis for the CEC discrepancy.

Will do, yardtractor! I've got a full schedule today, but I should be able to get some pictures posted tomorrow.

Here is an explanation I found for the "jar test". There are others:

Remove a piece of sod. Then remove the soil to the 4" depth and place it on a piece of newspaper
and remove the stones and pebbles and roots. Place the soil in a clear mason sized jar so that the jar is about
2/3-3/4 full. Fill the jar with water and cap the jar. Agitate the jar
to suspend all of the soil in the water. Set the jar on a table and after 2 minutes mark the level of the soil that
has settled out. After another 2hrs mark the level that has settled out
and after 24 hours mark the level again. The soil that settles out in
the first hour will be the sand content of your soil. The soil that
settles out during the next 2 hours will be the silt and the soil that
settles out on top of that will be the clay. By
comparing the ratios of the marks to one another, we should be able to
calculate the sand to silt to clay percentages of your soil, the soil profile/texture.

I can't offer the technical help as the others, but my personal experience with Southern States TF seed in central VA (i'm south of Richmond in Chesterfield), is not a good experience. I've had the same lawn care regimine each year and used different seeds each time. Scotts, Southern States, VA Green's own brand, and Rebel Fescue Blend. BY FAR the best has been the Rebels. I used it 2 years ago but Virginia Green (who I can't recommend enough honestly) convinced me to switch to their own seed last fall and I bought in. It was ok but not as good, so i'll be switching back. I do all my own aerating and seeding too. Over the years I can rank from my experiences in this order of fescue: Rebels, VA Green, Scotts, Southern States.

Rebel IV actually ranks fairly high in NTEP tests and it's a major component of most Rebel mixes in the transition zone. It's decent grass, I used it a few years ago, but color is not that great if I remember correctly. That said, if you can get some of the high ranking cultivars like Rhambler, Falcon IV, LS 1200 etc. it's worth the money.

I would not expect a cool season turf (including TTTF) to look much better in the Richmond Williamsburg than what I see in your pictures, without a huge amount of TLC. if not professional (or the enthusiast equivalent) management.. It can be done, but I think TTTF is way oversold in the warm areas of the transition zone. This is a very typical result for a reasonably well-managed homeowner lawn.

I sincerely appreciate all of the advice! I'm still planning to do the jar test as soon as I have time, but that may not be until this weekend. I hope I didn't come across as having unrealistic expectations for TTTF in my area. I know it's limitations, but I'd like to give it my best effort. Some of my neighbors have nicer looking lawns so I know there is room for some improvement. Their lawns have been showing signs of stress now that it's been in the 100* range for a few weeks.

lol most of the regular posters here have unrealistic expectations - well HAD. I'm fairly certain that most of us who learned and but in the work/effort not only had our expectations met, but exceeded.

Be ready with preventive fungicide next summer. Start in May and keep it going through summer. Unfortunately the weather conditions here in the transition zone are very favorable to fungal disease development. Don't fertilize after very early May, and even then apply only 0.5 lbs of nitrogen.

Apply pre-emergent next spring early March. It should help with annual weeds. Sulfentrazone helps with nutsedge.

If you're willing to put in the money, a PGR like T-Nex 1AQ can direct growth downward and help you build strong deep roots. It also helps with heat stress resistance in the summer.

Bring this thread back... I've seen a nice improvement in the quality of my lawn over the past year following Morpheus' advice, but there's always room for improvement, right? I switched to Logan Labs this year and readjusted my sampling zones. Zone 1 is generally the better grass (closer to the house where the contractor didn't strip as much topsoil) and zone 2 that's next to the road where most of the topsoil was stripped and not replaced.

I don't believe Morpheus is around anymore, but his advice seemed to be spot on and I'm planning to feed and overseed tomorrow. If anyone has a chance, I'd appreciate any advice you have to offer on the new soil tests. Thanks in advance!!

You're still low in phosphorus. Your copper numbers this year are way high. Did you use anything copper to take your samples? The copper numbers were normal last year. Avoid lime. The CEC numbers this year are both low, whereas last year two were low and one was good. So maybe the 11 number last year was a fluke? A low CEC means your soil does not hold nutrients well. They tend to leach away. One way to cope with the problem is to do lighter applications more often. Another way is to use organic feedings so that more nutrients are held by the soil organisms instead of the soil itself. Milorganite is an organic fertilizer that has a relatively high P number. I would suggest 20 lb/k now and again in early October. Then in late fall, after the grass has stopped growing and before the ground freezes, use a fast release nitrogen fertilizer (like urea). Are you sure you used a fine fescue seed from Southern States? That seems strange. I've only seen tttf there. Fine fescue would not do well in our heat. A neighbor has fine fescue and it goes dormant in April and doesn't green up until October. What seed are you using this year?

Thank you, Becky! Yes, I used a copper pipe to collect my samples... didn't even think about it skewing my copper numbers.

Yes, I'd also consider the 11 a fluke. I had a really tough time collecting samples last year and didn't sample as many spots as I should have across the lawn. I feel like my sample was much more uniform this year, aside from the copper pipe... maybe it's time to invest in a sampling tool?

I did apply 1 bag of Milorganite this spring to the entire lawn and a second bag to zone 2. I've also been collecting my dogs droppings and scattering them around zone 2 as well. Dedication right there :)

I seeded with the Hogan Blend last fall and will do the same again this year . I did seed with SSFF in the fall of 2015, but I was not happy with the results.

Thank you again for your thoughts!

I just did a quick response yesterday. Looking again at your tests, another number that stands out is sodium. It's too high, particularly in zone 2. It usually indicates that salts are built up and need to be leached away or replaced with other nutrients. I wonder if gypsum might be something to consider. That would give you calcium, which you are short on, without raising pH even further and would displace some of that sodium. You are also short on magnesium and potassium. A good way to get that would be to use KMag or Sul-Po-Mag. Southern States or the hardware store in West Point might have it. Use light applications. If they don't have it, call Crop Production Services near Aylett. Your soil tests are unusual enough that it would be good to take them to the New Kent Extension Office and discuss them with their soil test person. VA Tech's tests last year did not test sodium. Take all of the tests with you. Keep in mind that when you add nutrients in a low CEC soil, they may displace nutrients already there, creating shortages. So do small amounts at a time.