# Potassium Deficiency



## jocoxVT (Apr 25, 2018)

Not sure this is the exact right place for this question. I recently renovated my whole yard seeding tall fescue in late September. Problem is I did things out of order and did my soil sample after it had already been seeded. Once getting my results it identified a deficiency in Potassium, my soil was tested at 21 PPM with the suggested range of 41-74PPM. Where I am getting confused is two fold. One, I see contradicting suggestions on either treating in the fall to not as it may lead to snow mold. Two, Soil Savvy recommended 3.5lbs/M of 10-0-6 (assuming Ringer), given this late I didnt think that would be a wise option from the Nitrogen perspective (I have been spoon feeding Urea for the past two weeks at 0.25#/M). If I did decide to put something down this fall I would most likely go with 0-0-50 but am stumped on how much I should be putting down. I am sure I am overlooking something obvious here but would appreciate any guidance you all could provide.


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## pintail45 (Apr 26, 2018)

I rarely see snow and don't know anything about fescue, but a good rule of thumb for potassium is 1 pound per thousand sqft of turf. Since 0-0-50 is 50% potassium, 2 lbs per thousand will put 1lb of active ingredient on the ground.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

1. I wouldn't make soil nutrient adjustments based on Soil Savvy results.
2. The snow mold issue is based on testing on Poa annua and Bentgrass stands. No direct relationship of K and other turf types and snow mold have been reported to my knowledge.
3. Depending on what your current turf growth rate is like (low ET @ cooler temps)), you may be getting a bit late in the season for the turf to reap the benefits of a K app this year.
If the snow mold issue concerns you, just apply K at 1# elemental/M early next Spring, but I doubt you'd have any issues applying this Fall yet.


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## jocoxVT (Apr 25, 2018)

Ridgerunner said:


> 1. I wouldn't make soil nutrient adjustments based on Soil Savvy results.


Based off this alone I think my game plan is to wait until spring, retest my soil and go from there. Thanks!


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

jocoxVT said:


> Ridgerunner said:
> 
> 
> > 1. I wouldn't make soil nutrient adjustments based on Soil Savvy results.
> ...


Unfortunately they don't give the CEC and the type of test so you're just guessing at that point. You could put some out and retest and see how much of a change it made. Then keep repeating it until the test comes back in spec. That'll really add up or just use waypoint or another lab in the link below.


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