# New bermuda sod soil test results - Low pH, but high Calcium?



## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

Hey everyone,

First time home and lawn owner here. We closed on a new construction home in December which came with freshly laid Bermuda sod (also laid in December) in northern Alabama. I've got a little less than 20k sq ft of lawn. I've done nothing to the lawn so far other than get a soil analysis around a week ago from SoilKit (bought at Lowes). The results can be seen here.

As you can see, my pH is a little low at 5.6. However, my calcium is listed as 'very high'. My understanding is that higher calcium should typically indicate a higher pH, but that doesn't seem to be the case for me. The company recommended Sta-Green Fast-Acting Lime Organic Lime Ph Balancer, which seems to include increased calcium content, at 10 lbs per 1k sq ft. They also recommended Sta-Green 14-lb 5000-sq ft 29-0-5 All-purpose Fertilizer at around 2.6 lbs per 1k sq ft.

My first question is what's up with the low pH, but high calcium? Does it seem appropriate to add the suggested lime at the suggested lb/1k sq ft? Will the additional calcium be an issue? What about the suggested fertilizer? That seem reasonable to add at the suggested amount?

Again, I've done nothing to this new Bermuda sod so far. No watering, no chemicals, fertilizers, no aeration, haven't cut it yet, etc. Nothing. Any suggestions on how to best get this lawn started strong, especially as it relates to new sod? I see there is some good information regarding Bermuda in general so I'll be reading that information.

Thanks!


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

The soil test you got may not be accurate. I suggest you have a test done by a real soil lab, like at Auburn. 
https://aaes.auburn.edu/soil-forage-water-testing-lab/
The Auburn test will give you recommendations for a whole year's worth of amendments. It will give you the total amount of lime you need. The Lowe's test is giving you recommendations for only one application.


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## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

Virginiagal said:


> The soil test you got may not be accurate. I suggest you have a test done by a real soil lab, like at Auburn.
> https://aaes.auburn.edu/soil-forage-water-testing-lab/
> The Auburn test will give you recommendations for a whole year's worth of amendments. It will give you the total amount of lime you need. The Lowe's test is giving you recommendations for only one application.


Is there evidence to suggest that SoilKit is not a "real lab" or that their results are not valid? I understand the preference for university labs such as Auburn, but I don't want to go through the hassle and added cost of getting additional soil tests done without solid reason to do so.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Ok, looking into Soil Kit, it is different from Soil Savvy and My Soil in that it does send the soil to a real lab. I wouldn't trust the results from Soil Savvy or My Soil. Soil Kit results should be more reliable. However, you don't know the total amount of lime you need. You don't know how much potassium or phosphorus you need over the course of a year. You are getting recommendations for only ONE application. If you're happy with that, fine. As for high calcium, it's not a problem unless it is hogging the cation sites so that magnesium, potassium, and other cations are low.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

It would probably be advisable to use dolomitic lime instead of the fast acting calcitic lime Lowes is telling you to buy. Dolomitic lime contains magnesium as well as some calcium. You could put down up to 50 lb per 1000 sq ft of dolomitic lime in a single application. But how much do you need? Lowes is telling you 10 lb per 1000 sq ft of their fast acting lime because it has a much smaller limit of how much you can apply at one time. You don't know your total limit requirement.


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## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

Virginiagal said:


> Ok, looking into Soil Kit, it is different from Soil Savvy and My Soil in that it does send the soil to a real lab. I wouldn't trust the results from Soil Savvy or My Soil. Soil Kit results should be more reliable. However, you don't know the total amount of lime you need. You don't know how much potassium or phosphorus you need over the course of a year. You are getting recommendations for only ONE application. If you're happy with that, fine. As for high calcium, it's not a problem unless it is hogging the cation sites so that magnesium, potassium, and other cations are low.





Virginiagal said:


> It would probably be advisable to use dolomitic lime instead of the fast acting calcitic lime Lowes is telling you to buy. Dolomitic lime contains magnesium as well as some calcium. You could put down up to 50 lb per 1000 sq ft of dolomitic lime in a single application. But how much do you need? Lowes is telling you 10 lb per 1000 sq ft of their fast acting lime because it has a much smaller limit of how much you can apply at one time. You don't know your total limit requirement.


I don't think I follow you. Why don't I know the total amount of lime I need? They tell me I need 175 lbs total. My potassium is listed as 'adequate' and my phosphorus is just a little low, listed as 'medium'. I assume that's why they recommended the 29-0-5 fertilizer (although I find it odd they are recommending adding potassium and no phosphorus. I feel like those should be swapped). I guess they don't explicitly tell me how much I need over the year, that's fair. Is that typical or expected from other soil analysis labs? A whole years worth of information would be helpful, but if this can get me started strong then I am happy with that.

To be clear, this is not Lowe's making this recommendation, this is the SoilKit lab doing so. They just linked to products sold by Lowes. I don't understand what you mean by having a smaller limit that can be applied at a time. That product covers 5k sq ft in a 25lb bag so 5lbs/1ksqft. Looks like they are just recommending a double dose essentially.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

They report a buffer pH, so I assume it is a decent lab. They dont list the test methods, (M3?) and they use lb/1000sqft instead of ppm; so it is harder to compare against MSLN recommendations. If you can call them and ask, it could help you. It looks like all you need is nitrogen.

They seem to recommend 10lb/ksqft of lime, but hard to tell if this is just once or there will need more in the future. I would just do 10lb this year and re-test with a different lab in the next year or give them a call.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

They gave you the total to do 10 lb/1000 sq ft over 17500 sq ft. That's 175 lb. But you could actually need much more lime. I found this publication and on p 81, assuming Soil Kit is using the same methods and extractants (they might since it looks like they may use Auburn), it looks like a 5.6 pH with a buffer pH of 7.5 and a target pH of 6.5 would require 4200 lb of lime per acre. That's 96.5 lb per 1000 sq ft. Sure, doing the 10 lb/1000 sq ft would give you a start, but wouldn't it be better to get 50 lb/1000 sq ft down now and the rest in the fall? 
https://aaes.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/sites/2/2020/07/ay-324B.pdf

You could call Soil Kit customer service and talk to them about it. Ask them for your total lime requirement.


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## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

g-man said:
 

> They report a buffer pH, so I assume it is a decent lab. They dont list the test methods, (M3?) and they use lb/1000sqft instead of ppm; so it is harder to compare against MSLN recommendations. If you can call them and ask, it could help you. It looks like all you need is nitrogen.
> 
> They seem to recommend 10lb/ksqft of lime, but hard to tell if this is just once or there will need more in the future. I would just do 10lb this year and re-test with a different lab in the next year or give them a call.


Understood. So you don't personally think I even need lime, just nitrogen? What led you to that conclusion. I'll definitely plan to get a test from a different lab next year.



Virginiagal said:


> They gave you the total to do 10 lb/1000 sq ft over 17500 sq ft. That's 175 lb. But you could actually need much more lime. I found this publication and on p 81, assuming Soil Kit is using the same methods and extractants (they might since it looks like they may use Auburn), it looks like a 5.6 pH with a buffer pH of 7.5 and a target pH of 6.5 would require 4200 lb of lime per acre. That's 96.5 lb per 1000 sq ft. Sure, doing the 10 lb/1000 sq ft would give you a start, but wouldn't it be better to get 50 lb/1000 sq ft down now and the rest in the fall?
> https://aaes.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/sites/2/2020/07/ay-324B.pdf
> 
> You could call Soil Kit customer service and talk to them about it. Ask them for your total lime requirement.


I shipped the samples to somewhere in Georgia, so it wasn't Auburn, but the same methods could apply. I definitely have no desire to deal with over two tons of lime for my lawn. That sounds quite the job, lol.

You ask wouldn't it be better to add 50 lb/1000 sq ft. Well I don't know, that's why I am asking here lol. I'm not opposed to more lime if that's what is needed, but I'm not going to add more if there is no benefit, or worse, is detrimental to the health of my lawn. The difference between 10 and 50 lbs per 1k sq ft seems pretty large. I'd like to know specifics of why that's necessary before I commit to that.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

From NPK, all you need is N. P and K looks ok. I do think you need lime since your pH is 5.6 and 6.5 would be the ideal.


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## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

g-man said:


> From NPK, all you need is N. P and K looks ok. I do think you need lime since your pH is 5.6 and 6.5 would be the ideal.


Gotcha, thanks. Any reason to not use their suggested fertilizer and amount. Looks to be about 2.6 lbs/1k sq ft of 29-0-5 which is right around what the product claims to cover (2.8 lbs/1k sq ft), assuming I am understanding that correctly. I suppose since I don't need any K I could try and find something with zero or nearly zero K, but I'm not sure how much that matters.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=34787

Soikit is a third party vendor. they use Waters Ag Labs to process the soil tests that they sell. They have an agreement (to provide a marketing tool) with Lowes to arrange soil testing for Lowes customers and then recommend Lowes products. Nothing wrong with that, but that's a lot of middlemen. If you are happy with the test, I'd suggest you deal directly with Waters, avoid the middlemen and marketing and get the unfilted data directly from the lab.

Commonly recommended Ca sufficiency levels are >750 ppm. Your calcium levels are only in the 1300 ppm range. That's not a problem level and Ca levels are not necessarily controlling or indicative of pH.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

DMB41 said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> > From NPK, all you need is N. P and K looks ok. I do think you need lime since your pH is 5.6 and 6.5 would be the ideal.
> ...


 Yes, that product is mostly N and the extra K is fine.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

96.5 x 17.5 = 1689, so under a ton. You can knock it out in one year using 50 lb/1000 sq ft of dolomitic lime now and the rest later. Or you can apply 10 lb/1000 sq ft now, 10 lb in the fall of the fast acting lime. At that rate you will be doing lime spring and fall for 5 years. That's assuming you need 96.5 lb/1000 sq ft. Maybe Soil Kit can tell you. Or you can do another soil test and send it to Auburn. Soil tests from labs give you your total lime requirement and total of nutrients for the whole year. The cost is $7 at Auburn.

Compare the cost of Lowes' fast acting lime to dolomitic lime. Dolomitic is more economical. You need the same amount, whether it is fast acting or not. The fast acting will raise the pH quicker but it doesn't keep it there. The slow acting (dolomitic is slow) acts of a period of years. Ideally you would have made the first application last fall. Think of the turtle and the hare story. But the other consideration in your case is you apparently have high calcium. So it would make sense to use a lime that has magnesium and is not all calcium.


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## DMB41 (10 mo ago)

Virginiagal said:


> 96.5 x 17.5 = 1689, so under a ton. You can knock it out in one year using 50 lb/1000 sq ft of dolomitic lime now and the rest later. Or you can apply 10 lb/1000 sq ft now, 10 lb in the fall of the fast acting lime. At that rate you will be doing lime spring and fall for 5 years. That's assuming you need 96.5 lb/1000 sq ft. Maybe Soil Kit can tell you. Or you can do another soil test and send it to Auburn. Soil tests from labs give you your total lime requirement and total of nutrients for the whole year. The cost is $7 at Auburn.
> 
> Compare the cost of Lowes' fast acting lime to dolomitic lime. Dolomitic is more economical. You need the same amount, whether it is fast acting or not. The fast acting will raise the pH quicker but it doesn't keep it there. The slow acting (dolomitic is slow) acts of a period of years. Ideally you would have made the first application last fall. Think of the turtle and the hare story. But the other consideration in your case is you apparently have high calcium. So it would make sense to use a lime that has magnesium and is not all calcium.


Gotcha, I read the 4200 lbs, but forgot that was per acre. I'll see if I can't get some more information from SoilKit to help steer me in the right direction.


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