# Sky High Manganese



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

I received my Soil Savvy test results and was fairly pleased. I'm very low on phosphorus, zinc, and boron. However I have about 3.5 times the optimal level of Manganese. Could this be a testing error or is it possible to have that high of a level when everything else was optimal or low? I have incredibly dense orange clay soil. Anyone have any experience with high manganese levels?


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Soil Savvy is an unproven commodity. Unibest provides no documentation supporting the accuracy or calibration of the test. 
It is not only possible, but rather common for some nutrients to test "low" and others to test "high."
In regards to Mn, specifically, high levels of Mn: see @Turfguy93 post below. Other than that, Mn and Mg have an antagonistic relationship where when Mn levels are very high, Mn can reduce plant uptake of Mg and the turf may substitute Mn for Mg. This can result in plant process inefficiencies = weaker turf.
If you have confidence in Soil Savvy, just follow their recommendations.


----------



## Turfguy93 (Aug 30, 2017)

Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Turfguy93 said:


> Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant


Doh, I read Magnesium, not Manganese!
Will edit above post.


----------



## Turfguy93 (Aug 30, 2017)

Ridgerunner said:


> Turfguy93 said:
> 
> 
> > Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant
> ...


I figured you did! All is good :thumbup:


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Turfguy93 said:


> Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant


My soil ph was 6.7. Would the lime be necessary at that level or am I high enough?


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Here is my soil report. My Magnesium level was a little high too.


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

At 6.7ph I would not do anything without a better soil test. You could do more harm than good.

S3M -$16.50 at waypoint is an option.


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

g-man said:


> At 6.7ph I would not do anything without a better soil test. You could do more harm than good.
> 
> S3M -$16.50 at waypoint is an option.


 :thumbup: 
If @g-man doesn't mind my taking liberties in editing:
" I would not do anything based on a Soil Savvy test. You could do more harm than good."


----------



## Turfguy93 (Aug 30, 2017)

TN Hawkeye said:


> Turfguy93 said:
> 
> 
> > Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant
> ...


Unless you're seeing adverse effects from the high manganese I would stay where you're at, but yes a higher ph would make the high manganese unavailable. Do another soil test from a more reputable source and compare results


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

g-man said:


> At 6.7ph I would not do anything without a better soil test. You could do more harm than good.
> 
> S3M -$16.50 at waypoint is an option.


Is Waypoint the name of the company?


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Ridgerunner said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> > At 6.7ph I would not do anything without a better soil test. You could do more harm than good.
> ...


The way everyone on YouTube talks about the soil savvy test I thought it was the way to go. Just another reason to check here first. I will look into Waypoint and get another test done. I didn't do anything yet based off the results of the soil savvy. I put down some Milo and some Ironite as we are supposed to get some rain between now and the 4th. I suppose I will need to wait before I do another test.


----------



## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

Turfguy93 said:


> Manganese can be toxic at low PH, you could add lime to raise your ph so that it's not as available to the plant


Op should be aware than when you mention "low ph", you're talking about numbers that are in the 4's (maybe low 5's). At 6.7, op is very, very far away from that number, so lime apps, in his/her case is really pointless.


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@TN Hawkeye 
I've broken my vow  , but I saw your original post sit without comment and I wanted to let you know why, at least I, hadn't responded. Soil Savvy may or may not be an accurate test, they haven't revealed any documentation of any studies showing correlation or calibration of their process and results done in house or preferably independently. Therefor, I do not make suggestions based on their reports. I have no desire to do someone's lawn harm.
For instance, Soil Savvy states it is a paste test. A saturated paste test is considered a "snap shot" of the nutrients at the particular time that the sample was taken. It is suggested that it be employed to determine timing of applications and not be used to determine nutrient amendment quantities. In addition Soil Savvy reports your pH as 6.79. Soil Savvy used to caution that reported pH was about 0.5 points below actual. Is the pH of your soil actually 7.3 or did they already adjust it from 6.29? Not that I think it's a good practice to make lime recommendations based on soil solution pH anyway.
If I were you,, I think I would just continue with maintenance fertilizing this year. Apply N at 1#/M using your regular schedule and apply some type of K source (something in the range of 2#/M of K total this year). I might make two applications of a triple NPK (like 10-10-10) for two of my applications and Milo the rest of the time and do another test next Spring before you apply anything and use a lab that uses established testing methods.


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Ridgerunner said:


> @TN Hawkeye
> I've broken my vow  , but I saw your original post sit without comment and I wanted to let you know why, at least I, hadn't responded. Soil Savvy may or may not be an accurate test, they haven't revealed any documentation of any studies showing correlation or calibration of their process and results done in house or preferably independently. Therefor, I do not make suggestions based on their reports. I have no desire to do someone's lawn harm.
> For instance, Soil Savvy states it is a paste test. A saturated paste test is considered a "snap shot" of the nutrients at the particular time that the sample was taken. It is suggested that it be employed to determine timing of applications and not be used to determine nutrient amendment quantities. In addition Soil Savvy reports your pH as 6.79. Soil Savvy used to caution that reported pH was about 0.5 points below actual. Is the pH of your soil actually 7.3 or did they already adjust it from 6.29? Not that I think it's a good practice to make lime recommendations based on soil solution pH anyway.
> If I were you,, I think I would just continue with maintenance fertilizing this year. Apply N at 1#/M using your regular schedule and apply some type of K source (something in the range of 2#/M of K total this year). I might make two applications of a triple NPK (like 10-10-10) for two of my applications and Milo the rest of the time and do another test next Spring before you apply anything and use a lab that uses established testing methods.


Thanks for the advice everyone. I guess I didn't do my research on Soil Savvy. I was swayed by all the YouTube hype. Lesson learned. I'm going to continue working on getting the Bermuda to take over and do a test in the spring.


----------

