# Waypoint Soil Testing Results - PLEASE ADVISE



## Light of the World (Feb 28, 2020)

Hello to all of you lawn wizards and soil fertility gurus,

I bought my house in August and have been slowly working my way to lawn glory. These results are from my soil before any fertilizer was applied this season, Prodiamine was applied in split apps before samples were collected.

After sampling, I have applied 2.3lbs per thousand of Carbon X, and made 2 applications of Doc's Super Juice at the High rate. Please don't judge me on the Super Juice, I purchased last year when I was just getting into all of this. I will not be purchasing again after this bag is gone.

I have 4 sections of Bermuda (possibly Tif) Totaling ~ 4K sqft. Main Front - 2683, Front East Side - 433, Back Section 846. I also have 1100 sqft of cool season in the back yard that is 90% TTTF and 10% KBG established last fall. I did not sample the cool season because I brought in about 3 Cubic yards of rich mix to level when I established the lawn last fall.

For my sampling, I only sampled the Bermuda sections and took my plugs from section based on there represented total percentage of the whole 4K sqft. I took 40 plugs in total to a 4-6" depth, discarded thatch and OM to best of my ability, Dried and mixed well before mailing off.

I did the SM3 with Nitrogen and Soil texture from the Memphis lab. Here are the results, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am not surprised to see the high PH and Mag as the drainage is terrible.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Other than pH ahd P, your soil is in good shape. Accept the pH and work around it. To counteract the effects of high pH, Apply small amounts of P spread over time (e.g. everytime you fertilize with N, add a .25 lb of P). Follow Wayside's recs for NPK quantities.


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## Light of the World (Feb 28, 2020)

Ridgerunner said:


> Other than pH ahd P, your soil is in good shape. Accept the pH and work around it. To counteract the effects of high pH, Apply small amounts of P spread over time (e.g. everytime you fertilize with N, add a .25 lb of P). Follow Wayside's recs for NPK quantities.


Thank you for the response. You wouldn't try and lower the PH. Use Monoammonium Phosphate, elemental sulfur and citric acid? I am also kind of worried about the iron....


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## Light of the World (Feb 28, 2020)

Maybe @g-man or @Greendoc has some insight for me?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

You can try to lower pH, but that is generally an exercise in futility. Certainly, a few sulfur applications won't hurt. Sulfur will take at least a year to have any effect. Using acidifying fertilizers will help, but don't expect anything dramatic. Citric acid, I don't have experience with but is usually a temporary fix. I would suggest what Ridgerunner says and accept the high pH. The largest issue it tends to create is relatively low Fe availability. That can be worked around with foliar sprays of FAS or chelated iron. Pushing the soil iron levels up a bit may help, but foliar apps will give you more color at the expense of needing to be re-applied regularly.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^+1 Next time you should do an sw1 instead of the s3m since your pH is high. Your P is low (deficient) and you need to address it.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@bernstem has given good advice regarding lowering soil pH. Although changing soil pH is an effort in futility, it may be possible to lower soil solution (water) pH and improve nutrient availability for short periods of time. This requires an investment in effort and money. @Greendoc is a professional who regulary deals with high pH soils. He has found that by using a combination of ammonium fertilizer, elemental sulfur and citric acid, he has been able to keep soil water pH below 7. BUT, besides regular AS fertilization and a low amount of S, this plan requires monthly to biweekly spray applications of 1-2# of citric acid per thousand square feet and immediately watered in. On the other hand people have beautiful lawns growing in hign pH soils. See @g-man for one doing cool season and just about every warm season lawn on this site.


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## Light of the World (Feb 28, 2020)

Thanks for the advise. I just have a hard time not addressing a problem head on. However I am also not one to piss in the wind. I may through down some sulfur's per the waypoint recommendation and see what happens. I have resigned to needing to get FE in via foliage or chelated. Also will be a dress the PHos. Again thank you gents.

Does anyone have a good link on lowering soil ph, or a good thread. I just want to wrap my head around the issue a little more in depth.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

https://www.agvise.com/educational-articles/does-elemental-sulfur-lower-soil-ph/
https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/afs/agronomists_conf/media/LEE_MAC_2017_soil_amendment_poster.pdf
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2403&hilit=sulfur


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## Light of the World (Feb 28, 2020)

Thank you for the links @Ridgerunner


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