# First soil sample ever - backbrief on results and next steps guidance



## Pascal-lawn (Mar 15, 2021)

Morning buds,

I finally managed to find time to take my soil samples and send them to waypoint analytical IL from Montreal.

Here is the result for my front yard


http://imgur.com/TKTSmNE











*Results backbrief* : My understanding from the report is that my K is pretty low and that my soil is a bit too alcaline for cool season grass. Any else i'm missing ? It seems there is no nitrogen read but i beleive i needed a seperate test if i wanted to know the N level of my yard.

*Next steps *: So this is gonna be my first time dealing with fertilizer by my own. 

I'm seeking advice on how to tackle the recommend application from WP. I dont know if i should go with granular products (i have a pretty crappy small push spreader from scotts) or with concentrated liquid product ( i have a 4GL battery powered backpack sprayer and i've gotten a fair amount of practice with it doing turf marker & calibration runs).

If i go with granular, my understanding is that i would need to apply to "N-P-K" ratio to the weight added in my spreader to meet WP guidance : assuming a 30-0-30 i would need ~13lbs of fertilizer per 1ksqt (4lbs / 30% = 13.333) ?

If i go with a liquid concentrated to dilute in my backpack, how would i "translate" the lbs/1ksqt readings from WP ?

Lastly, focusing on the N & K, is it better for me to aim to 2 seperate products or try to find one that combined both rate i need ? I might have some follow up questions but once i get a hang of this i'll be set for the future.

P.s : Waypoint Labs are just amazing. The customer service was super helpfull and they are working on facilitating the cad to us sampling/shipping process.


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## Kdog060 (May 19, 2021)

Pascal-lawn said:


> If i go with granular, my understanding is that i would need to apply to "N-P-K" ratio to the weight added in my spreader to meet WP guidance : assuming a 30-0-30 i would need ~13lbs of fertilizer per 1ksqt (4lbs / 30% = 13.333) ?


That would be your total pounds needed for the year. Since you should only apply around 1 lb per 1000 sq feet that equates to 3.33 lbs of nitrogen. If you multiply that by your total sq footage it should give you how many total pounds of Nitrogen needed for each application. Assuming say 10K then you would need 33.3 pounds of fertilizer and you would be putting down 10 total pounds of Nitrogen and 10 total pounds of Potassium.


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

For smaller precise apps like less than 0.25 lbs of AI per 1000 sq. ft., liquid foliar spray is preferred. For large amounts, like 1#AI/1k sq. ft., then granular would work better.

For fertilizer, if you can find a 1-0-1 ratio, like 30-0-30 then you can apply it when you need the nitrogen. If you go with a separate N and K source, you can apply them independently. For example: you can apply 2lbs of SOP (0-0-50) monthly for 4 months, but only apply nitrogen at different rates throughout the growing season.


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## Pascal-lawn (Mar 15, 2021)

thanks for the replies guys. I've did a bit of homework and i'm starting to get a better understanding of how to tackle this.

One thing im working on to help me out is prepping a "plan" via the subvert app planner . 
In his how to video Matt Martin talks about "Mehlich-3" ppm (m3-ppm) results but i'm not sure what techniques WP are using since its not written on my report. *edited:* i should use my brain more often,  S3M test is classified under M3 extraction methods

Lastly, in regards to converting lbs / Ksqft from granular product into liquid product application I beleive I simply need to divide 1 gallon's weight (in pounds) by 128 and multiply it by the ratio of the nutriment to get the equivalent "pounds of nutriment per once". Since my sprayer is calibrated to do 1 gal/1Ksqft this should bring me ballpark where i need to be. Assuming 10 pounds for a 1 gallon of nitrogen concentrate (at 30-0-0 ratio), I would need 43 once per gallon to hit a target of 1 pound per 1Ksqft per application ? Although i would assume liquid product do provide some short of chart / application guidance to avoid "burning" your lawn with too much product at once.

The reason why i'm trying to go with a liquid form is because a) my lawn is pretty small (1K in the front yard) b) i dont have a quality rotary spreader c) i dont mind spraying every month d) i like the precision of a liquid application over the "spread" of granular products

Let me know if you think i'm completly off on my approach :bd:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Your pH is high and I think this is normal for your area. You can have a good lawn with that pH. Just learn how to adjust to those fertilizer.

While the P is not low, I suggest adding more to compensate for the high pH.

K is low. For this SOP is the ideal, but MOP works. I understand you have a small yard, but spraying K is not that simple. For nitrogen you can spray if you want, but do granulars for the P and K.


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## Pascal-lawn (Mar 15, 2021)

@g-man ok understood for the P/K. Thanks for your time sir.

I'll have to check what type of spreader to get then. One that looked appealing for my lawn size was the  scott wizz as i do want a deflector but i'm not looking into spending 300$+ for a quality one since I only have 1Ksqft to do.

The hardest part for me will be to find a supplier for the ferts. Most company around here (quebec province) who sale these type of product do so to golf courses / landscaping company only. I've reached out to a few of them so hopefully one will accept selling lower volumes to a non licensed professionnal. Maybe agricultural coops would be another option to find these type of products.


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## Pascal-lawn (Mar 15, 2021)

Finally got my hands on some SoP from an agricultural center. The prill size look like im gonna be spreading rice krispies on the lawn. Do you guys use smaller prill size SOP or is it fine to use that on my lawn ?


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