Need help deciphering my soil test results!

Okay folks, Sent some soil out to get tested by my local Extension and I am a little confused about what the results mean. I've linked them here. Can someone go through each one and tell me if it's bad/good and what I need to do? I have St. Augustine Grass and am located in San Antonio.

Front Yard:

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Yard:
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Reply to
skunker
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It will be interesting to see what others say, but to me it looks good, add a bit of nitrogen fertilizer, ammonium sulfate or urea, whatever is available, and enjoy the good soil you have. Enough of the good stuff you want, not too much of the bad stuff you don't want.

Reply to
Charles

Thanks, but that's what I am talking about, I don't know what to look for! I don't know anything about this. Is there a "one size fits all bag" that has this for me or do I need to like buy a little of this, a little of that, and mix it all up into one pot and then spread it?

Reply to
skunker

No, all you need is some nitrogen. About how large is the area you are talking about, in sq, ft.?

Reply to
Charles

Oh, and what are you growing? Grass, flowers, vegetables?

Reply to
Charles

Thanks for your assistance.

My Font yard is: 1578sqft My Back Yard is: 1450sqft

I am only growing lawn.

I figured all I had to do was boost the nitrogen, but do stores sell only nitrogen? I thought most fertilizers had all kinds of stuff in it like potassium, phosphorus, etc.

Lastly, since my pH is 7.9 and St. Augustine is supposed to be around

7.0, do I need to bring it down to around 6.5? I currently am at 7.9ph and I wonder if this is a big deal or can I ignore this?
Reply to
skunker

Use ammonium sulfate fertilizer. The sulfate will reduce the pH a bit, the ammonium converts to a form of nitrogen that the lawn needs.

Front yard needs :

1578/1000 = 1.578 1.578 * .3 = .4734 pounds of nitrogen

Ammonium sulfate is 21% nitrogen, so:

0 .4734 / 0.21 = 2.25 pounds of fertilizer

Back yard

1450/1000 = 1.450

1.450* 0.4 = 0.58

0.58/.21 = 2.76 pounds of fertilizer.

And if you put on two or three times as much, it won't hurt. Water it in well. Other fertilizers will have other stuff in them but what is needed is just nitrogen, and it is cheap by comparison.

Reply to
Charles

Thanks my friend! That works. I'll report in a few weeks and let you know how it goes:)

Reply to
skunker

- pH is high, not dramatically so but at 7.9 there are quite a number of plants that will not thrive. pH is a measure of acidity going from

0 (toxic acid) to 7 (neutral) to 14 (toxic alkali), many plants like slightly acid (6-6.5) to absorb nutrients well, some like it lower (4.5-5.5). I don't know about the grass you have but you need to check out what it likes. A few plants will like your alkaline conditions. As the bottom line says DO NOT add lime, it will make it worse. I don't know San Antonio, is it a limestone area or an evaporation basin? The high pH and high Calcium suggest that it may be.

- Conductivity This is a measure of the total soluble salts. High levels kill plants (eg by the seaside) but yours is OK if I am reading the units right

- The major nutirents (Nitrogen down to Sulphur) are all above the critical level except N which they recommend you add a Nitrogenous fertiliser to correct. This is a generalisation as different plants like more or less of these nutrients and I cannot tell if they took into account what you are growing to set this level, I suspect not. Grass likes Nitrogen but don't overdo it.

- Minor nutrients, Iron to Boron, tests don't seem to have been done.

- Limestone is not required as I said your soil is already alkaline

- Organic matter 5% Is a bit low. Good rich soil it would be higher.

What to do? To grow grass add a Nitrogenous fertiliser. When you cut it mulch it up and leave it to rot in, thus improving the amount of organic matter. If you want to topdress use a compost that has NOT got lime added, you don't care if it is somewhat acid (which most compost will be naturally) as your soil will improve if it is.

If you have garden beds and not just grass you may need to take further steps to increase acidity to grow acid-loving plants, it may be simpler to just plant lime-loving plants instead.

David

Reply to
hairyarms

Thank you David. Every little feedback helps! Your post was informative and it aligns pretty much with the notes I have been taking from "lawn care" books. I was stupid not to pay extra for the iron tests, and it looks like I should have. I just did not know whether I needed that or if it was already included in the tests--the books I had didn't mention iron as a requirement for testing.

Nonetheless, I purchased ammonium sulphate this morning (21-0-0) and am going to first aerate the lawn before feeding it with this. One quesiton I had was whether to kill the weeds before aerating/ fertilizing or could I do it after I do the former? I hand pulled a lot of the broadweeds, but the real culprit is the crabgrass and they had deep roots and I'm sure that hand pulling wont' do much. However, I dont' mind handpulling--I love the exercise and even it comes back out, I'll just give myself a reason to go back outside:)

I'm new to all this. I am learning as much as I can. I am a first time home owner (26 years old) and am loving landscaping. I got a square garden going in my backyard (it's above ground) so the current soil is not an issue since i am using a special mix for this.

I hope to buy my own piece of land in the country soon, so I am learning as much as possible. Thanks.

Reply to
skunker

You could call the lab that did your testing and ask if they usually find iron deficiency in soil tests from your area, or the county extension agent, they should know.

Real crabgrass comes back from seed, not the roots. You can use a pre-emergence weed killer for that. Make sure it is crabgrass, there are a lot of things people call crabgrass that aren't. Your Saint Augustine is one, it would be a weed at my house.

How are you killing the weeds? If you are using a poison, that usually works better when the plant is actively growing, so if you fertilize and water first then the poison should be more effective.

Reply to
Charles

Do in this order:

Aerate Pull Weeds Fertilize

This way the weeds will be easier to pull since they are in the loosened soil from the aeration but not fertilized.

If you don't have one, there is a weeding tool that is basically handle with a metal rod on the end that you poke into the ground and then pry up. It is U-shaped and sharpened on the end so you can cut tap roots if you have to.

You can get rid of crabgrass next year with preemergence weed killer. If you are into organic materials or have pets, Corn Gluten Meal is a preemergence weed killer that will reduce crabgrass by about 91 percent over a three year period. Not exactly stellar performance.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

basically to kill weeds you just need to mix some gin, apple cider vinegar, dish soap and warm water and put it in a handheld sprayer and drench weeds to the point of run off. I did a search to see what other people are saying about this and it seems to have worked very well. Maybe I'll try this?

Reply to
skunker

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