Wasn't sure what "HM" is, but Google found a NC soil test fact sheet that indicates it's "Humic matter", i.e. soil organic matter. Here's the link in case you need that sheet.

https://durham.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/32/UNH%206.PDF

Anyway that looks very low, less than 1%, so the #1 thing I would recommend is adding some screened compost to the lawn. The pH and nutrients look OK, they are recommending a fertilizer and that's probably fine. But I would get that organic matter level up. I assume you'll be mulch-mowing? That will help too, over time.

This might help. Not sure of it's accuracy.

The amount of organic matter, HM on the test report, is very low. It should be in the range of 6 to 8 percent. You can add compost, not all the sure you need "screened" except it may look better. several times over this summer to get that organic matter level up.

What kind of soil do you have? Clay? Sand? Both are common in "North Carolina.

The soil pH is in range for most grasses, 6.0 to 6.8. Perhaps these simple soil tests may be of some help as well.

1) Soil test for organic
material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in
a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above
that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole
1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains
away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain
away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs
more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the
soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

kimmq is kimmsr

This style of soil report is near impossible to use for any detailed analysis or recommendations by anyone other than the lab without knowing and employing the labs conversion factors and testing methods.

It would help to know which lab conducted the test. (a little)

A couple of general observations:

1. The HM% is almost assuredly NOT OM% and they may or may not have any relation to one another. When a lab measures OM%, it is usually done with an ignition method (burning off the carbon in the soil) and then calculating the estimated % of OM. This is results in a number we are most commonly familiar. e.g. 2-10% OM) HM% measurement is done chemically. the .15 in this case (most likely, IMO) is the amount of humic and fulvic acid present in the soil sample (I've had a pretty extensive discussion about humic and fulvic acids previously on this forum) Results for HM% is usually quite low and again does not necessarily reflect soil OM%. For example, If you were to send in a sample from a "green" (like fresh lawn clippings) compost pile for testing, the results would come back at nearly 100% OM, but as it has not had the ages needed to become stable humate matter, a test for HM% should be zero. Anyway, the most common use for measuring HM% is as an indicator of whether a soil is an "organic soil" or not for liming purposes.

2. The values for the nutrients are FIV (fertility index values) They don't reflect actually amounts of nutrient, just their position on a scale from 0-100+. The closer to 0 that the number is, the more deficient the soil is in that nutrient. The closer the number is to 100, the more likely more nutrient is not needed. Any number over 100 is considered excessive.

EDIT:

3. A W/V ratio of near 1.0 indicates a soil with high clay content (1.6+ would be pure sand). A CEC of 14+ is likely a high silt and/or clay content soil.

I agree with Ridgerunner about the report and test lab.

Note that the lab recommended 5-10-5 and 5-10-10 chemical fertilizers. That's because soil tests test the soil chemistry, not soil biology. If you want to correct the soil chemistry, you will have to apply chemicals. Generally getting the chemistry corrected is beneficial to the biology - sometimes you have to do something counter-intuitive. If you really want to tune up your soil chemistry, then you need to get the salt balance right. For that you need a test that measures sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium (not manganese). The $25 test from Logan Labs does that, and Ridgerunner can help you understand what the results mean. (I'm putting you on the spot, RR). The importance of getting the salts right is rarely discussed. The impact can be important, though. For example if you already have high magnesium and you add the wrong form of lime to your soil for pH, you can bind up the soil and make it act like clay. In your case you already have clay, but even if you had sand, it would act like clay. So salts are important.

Deleted - posted in wrong thread.

???

Thanks, all.

The test was done by the NCDA&CS Agronomic Division. They reference a pdf for reading the results, found here. The section for HM% states:

Humic matter percent is a measurement of humic and fulvic acid components of soil organic matter, expressed on a volume basis. It represents the percentage of soil organic matter that is soluble in a dilute alkaline solution (NaOH). This portion represents the chemically active organic fraction used in determining lime rates.

Humic matter percent may or may not correlate with percent organic matter. For example, sandy soils have very low organic matter content and a correspondingly low HM%. In contrast, an organic soil could have in excess of 50% organic matter with a HM% of less than 0.10. In this case, such readings would imply that most of the organic matter has not yet decomposed to the humic and fulvic acid fractions. In general, as W/V increases, HM% usually decreases.

To the novice (like me), it is difficult to understand what needs to be done to amend the soil.

I appreciate all the replies. You guys are great.

Thanks,

Jamie

Thanks for the link. It took a bit of searching, but here are the conversion factors:

http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/obt14.htm

Be advised that in order to put them to use you will need to use/locate the recommended sufficiency value ranges for Mehlich I extraction. (meh, or use the FIV as a guide :/)

...it is difficult to understand what needs to be done to amend the soil.

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to do my best to answer them or maybe just help you convert their recommendations into straight up lbs. for each nutrient so you can try to mix and match to an organic source that you could use to satisfy deficiencies.

There's two discussions happening here.

First, so you had a soil test. Great. Label it, file it, don't lose it...you'll want it for reference later. But what do you do with it? That's the question, and the answer depends on who you ask. There is no agreement.

Then we have an explanation of what the different values mean, as seen through one set of eyes. Which is good, you need to understand what the thinking behind a set of numbers means, or you're walking into a fire carrying gasoline and have no clue. ok, maybe not quite that bad, but knowing what and why helps you know where to go.

But what to do? Based on the question asked and the information provided, I could say hope and pray? water and mow? provide more something, please?

Simple answer is, it appears you have a decent place to start. What to do? Start reading, and get your information from more than one source. this isn't as simple as asking what to do and get an answer...it's a process. different people have different approaches, and sometimes they are quite similar and sometimes not.

A basic place to start is, how do you mow? Bag the clippings? mulch mow? what do you do with leaves? do you have issues with thatch? compaction?

I didn't know there were soil labs that would routinely do a HM test rather than %OM. So your HM is .13% which is not considered 'deficient'. But, we have no idea how much organic matter (which is on its way to becoming HM, slowly) is in the soil so we can't even recommend whether to add compost. One thing about compost though, is that it rarely hurts anything. I've also never met a lawn that I thought had too much. Usually lawns are very low in OM because they don't get compost added like garden beds do. I'd still err on the side of spreading compost on it. It has other benefits besides just boosting OM.