# Soil Test Results - Feel Free to Discuss



## Ahab1997 (Jun 30, 2018)

Just got my soil test results back from Spectrum Analytics.

Honestly no big surprises. The high pH and high calcium are expected, given that Austin sits on top of a huge slab of limestone. That coupled with shallow soil depth leads to basic soil conditions, and there isn't much to do about it. Sulfur and ammonium sulfate are my two likely candidates for lowering the pH, but even moving a tenth of a point will take a big effort.

I'm just happy the two yards are close, so I don't have to create a separate lawn care program for the front and back yards.

Already sent to John Perry (and received feedback).

Any thoughts/advice are appreciated.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

If constant application of sulfur is cost prohibitive or there is just too much lime to make a dent, then stick with AMS as your main fert. Apply some P if you want to bring that up a little. Consider a fully chelated micro package and consider spraying your micros to aid in foliar uptake as the soil PH will hinder availability. Spray foliar iron and maybe use PGR. Many on TLF have great lawns in the 8.5+ range. You can have wonderful turf with a suitable program.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Although M3 extraction produces pretty reliable/useful results for the micro-nutrients and P and K, it will produce inflated/skewed levels for Ca and possibly Mg in high pH soils as the test extract interacts with the limestone in the sample and releases Ca and Mg that would not otherwise be present/available in the soil. Overall, your P.K and micros are pretty decent for a high pH soil. As mentioned, applying chelated micro-nutrients to the soil or foliar apps of micros and spoon feeding P is often recommended to counter the effects of high pH. I've never seen, or at least never noticed, a lab adjust Ca, Mg and K levels to calculate CEC and base saturation levels before. I'm not sure what formula they would use or how accurate such an adjustment would be (although any CEC and BS calculated using the inflated Ca levels would be useless anyway). Use at your own risk. You already seem to appreciate the unlikely prospect of lowering pH permanently, so I'll save you the song and dance.
Any specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best.


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## Ahab1997 (Jun 30, 2018)

Well I think we're all on the same page.

Faced with the impossible task of pH correction, I will do my best to move the pH down some with sulfur and AMS, but I'm unwilling to do what may be required to get pH into the normal range. You CAN grow bermuda on this limestone, otherwise there'd be no golf courses in Austin.

Micronutrients will come from CarbonX and 0-0-2 MicroGreene (so one granular and one foliar).

Overall I don't see any glaring errors that would not be solved by a reasonable (well... reasonable for TLF, ha ha) lawn care program.

If I'm missing something, please let me know!


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