# Help! Soil test reveals very high sulfur levels but high pH



## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

My soil test reveled that I have "very high" levels of sulfur in my soil but my pH is alkaline at 7.6. 
Waypoint's recommendations are to apply more sulfur in the spring and fall to lower my pH BUT won't that keep raising my sulfur concentration? I would assume that if my sulfur is very high my pH would be much lower and I wouldn't need to add more.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Would it be bad to keep adding sulfur to my lawn to lower the pH to a proper level?

Thanks in advance


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## krusej23 (May 8, 2018)

Somebody can correct me on this but I think those are two different sulfurs. The sulfur in your soil test is different from the elemental sulfur that you would put down to lower your soil ph. Someone smarter than me may know better though.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ yes they are different

The elemental sulfur is used to make sulfuric acid, so the soil gets hydrogen to lower the pH. The other one, measured in this analysis is sulfate-sulfur. A nutrient the lawn needs.

Zoysialover, can you describe sample depth and what have you apply to your soil?


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@g-man - thanks for the clarification on the elemental sulfur vs. sulfate. 
-Per your question of what I am applying to my lawn- I had a company that created an "organic" program to
treat my soil. They applied a number of treatments that consisted of liquid compost, humic acid, molasses, seaweed, fulvic acid, micronutrients, and some pre and post emergents for weed control. I was pretty pleased with their program as my zoysia looked pretty good by the second summer. After that, the lawn went downhill. Chlorotic color and large patches that turned brown and started to go into dormancy during the growing season. I figured I could do better than them and now I am on a quest to get my zeon zoysia looking good again without their help- looking back on it, I don't believe they ever even tested my soil.... 
-Hopefully I can get a little help with my soil analysis from some of you guys here on the forum to get me going in the right direction.
-So far, I've gotten the HOC down to about 0.75" but my pH is so high that all of my nutrients seem to be locked up and unavailable to the grass and the lawn lacks color and needs better density. Hopefully if I can get the pH down it will unlock those nutrients. Any suggestions?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Greendoc Zoysia is outside issues are outside my comfort zone. I think a foliar approach will be the best. Thoughts?


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I suspect those "organic" treatments depleted Nitrogen. That is what Molasses will do. It adds high amounts of non decomposed, non humic Carbon that then needs N to break down. High amounts of non decomposed organic matter also encourage Large Patch, something I doubt was treated for in the late summer and fall. 
Nutrient wise, Zoysia can be green on high pH soil. Keys to that are adequate N P K and micronutrients all applied as a soluble material readily picked up. No slow release anything. Your lawn, you live in that house, so apply what is needed when needed. As for the pH, that can be reduced with Citric acid applied at 1 lb per 1000 sq ft per month. High Sulfur levels indicate previous attempts to lower pH with elemental Sulfur and/or usage of Ammonium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, or Potassium Sulfate. Not alarming to me.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@g-man and @Greendoc - g-man- Thank you so much for responding to my post and for for putting me in touch with "The Master" aka Greendoc. Greendoc- I really appreciate you taking the time to review my soil test results and for the advice on how to proceed! This is why I love The Lawn Forum!


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## TXRunnergirl (May 20, 2020)

Hi-
I'm also in the DFW area. I have an emerald zoysia lawn and I need to lower my ph (currently at 8.0 per A&M soils test). I'm curious what citric acid you used and if your retests have shown a decrease? 
Thanks!


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