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matt_racz

Logan test help

6 years ago

Hello,

I live just north of Detroit, zone 6A. Bought my house 4 years ago with lawn basically non existent. I did killed Some weeds and seeded with scoots mix. Used organics for 3 years. This year I put milogranite +ringer 1lb/k around Memorial day, then week later cracked corn 10lb/k and sulfur 5lb/k. Was hoping for a total renovation next fall , like to seed TTTF . Here is my soil test, can Someone (Morph) help me with fixing my soil. thank you


Comments (4)

  • 6 years ago

    You bellowed, my Prince?

    I'm going to auto-adjust the soil depth to 4. I'll take care of the math here but quote the original numbers.

    ME 23: A pretty heavy soil. I don't think the calcium levels are influencing this too much (I'm mentally turning it down to 18) so let's call it a silt with a little clay. Or a heavy silt. It's a nice soil with lots of potential that holds a lot of resources and water, and won't let you down in a pinch because it never experiences the pinch. It's a nightmare to get it to move in any direction, but once it gets where it's supposed to be, that's a good thing, because it's a nightmare to get it out of that spot. And good news, it's close to that spot, if a bit calcium-laden.

    pH 7.9: pH means little, although this will indicate some mis-balances in the soil. It's not a barrier to a great lawn, it just means the deepest greens will eternally elude you without spraying iron. And even then, they'll be transient.

    OM 6%: Extremely good. I'd still mulch mow and feed organically if you like, but this number is great. It helps that pH above matter a bit less. If you can send it higher, wonderful (and a high ME lets you do that), but it's good as it is.

    Sulfur 13: Normal.

    Phosphorus 166: Within normal range for a lawn of normal pH, but your high pH tends to lock this up pretty strongly. I'm setting a normal P rating for your lawn at 300. We use starter fertilizer to correct this, but...I'm making an exception and a really oddball recommendation here due to your very high pH. I'm...not entirely happy about doing this, but it won't cause damage the way I'm doing it. Let's use any balanced 20-20-20 (or 10-10-10 or 15-15-15 fertilizer) from the big box or other store to correct this. They should all have one or something close. Amounts to put down are based on the first number, but if the second or third is much higher, follow the bag rate.


    Calcium 78%: High, but not a problem. Avoid calcium sources, so no lime, though.

    Magnesium 16%: Normal, but that's a bit deceptive as the calcium is pushing this down a bit. Avoid magnesium--so again, no lime.

    Potassium 1.24%: A bit low. I'd like to add a number of shots of potassium to this soil, hence the balanced fertilizer recommendation.


    Minor Elements

    These...all look great, actually. You can certainly add iron if you like, but don't expect any miracles. Bay State, Milo, whatever...they're all great things to use if you can get them cheap.


    Recommendations:

    September: Apply balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer at 5 pounds per thousand (or 10-10-10 at 10 pounds per thousand, or 15-15-15 at 7 pounds per thousand)

    October: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate.

    Very late October/Early November: Winterize normally with a high-nitrogen fertilizer.


    Memorial Day 2021: Apply balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer at 5 pounds per thousand (or 10-10-10 at 10 pounds per thousand, or 15-15-15 at 7 pounds per thousand)


  • 6 years ago

    Thank you. Will follow your recommendations. Also I have some bags of soybean meal, alfalfa meal and cracked corn So if I just keep dumping them on the lawn every other week that be good right.


  • 6 years ago

    I'd avoid higher-nitrogen additions during the summer. So corn would be OK at amounts of, say, 10-20 pounds per thousand square feet per month.

    I'd avoid too much alfalfa just because of the hormonal interference. In that case, 20 pounds per thousand square feet twice per year is fine, but don't go beyond that.


    Soy is very high in nitrogen, so 15 pounds per thousand square feet delivers a full pound of nitrogen (equivalent). Restrict that to spring and fall and don't do it in summer. The grass won't use it and doesn't want to be fed that during summer anyway.

  • 6 years ago

    Cool, thanks