# K-Mag Fertilizer 0-0-22 11% Mg



## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

Good morning all!

Could use a little help on clarifying what all of this means and what I need to do to balance everything out from this point on! Also my pH seems high out front at 7.8! Test 01 is front and 02 is back!

Thanks all!


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Yes, pH is high. Correct with elemental sulfur at 20 lbs/1000 ft and retest in 6 months.

You have very high calcium saturation, which is excluding other cations. You will have to add some of these other cations nutrients to replace Ca. Try to avoid lime and gypsum if you can.

High pH and calcium could be caused by using large amounts of hard irrigation water. If you water regularly you should have your irrigation water tested to see what it's contributing.

Next one is magnesium (Mg), you can apply epsom salt to increase.

Phosphorous (P) is also low, use a starter fertilizer once or twice and retest in the future.

Potassium (K) is just a touch low, but the starter fertilizer should take care of it, otherwise you don't need to worry about it.

I notice you didn't get the micronutrients tested, with a high pH and Ca saturation you may also have issues with those being depleted and I'd advise you to get them tested.


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

LeeB said:


> Yes, pH is high. Correct with elemental sulfur at 20 lbs/1000 ft and retest in 6 months.
> 
> You have very high calcium saturation, which is excluding other cations. You will have to add some of these other cations nutrients to replace Ca. Try to avoid lime and gypsum if you can.
> 
> ...


Thanks Lee,
I did some read up earlier at work and saw that about Epsom salts too but I wasn't sure if I can just use any regular epsom salt or is their a specific type and how much would you put down per 1000 and by spreader or foiler?

As for the hard water that would make sense we do have hard water in my town and some people even have water softeners not sure if I would need to goto that extent if I don't need to for my lawn? Lol but my wife had that tested for our washing machine since our kid has reusable diapers so she said they told her the test results were a little bit hard water! Nothing crazy though!

I found a fertilizer at my local farm co-op that's a 5-20-20 an fairly cheap for a 25kg bag wasn't sure if that may be a way to go instead of a starter fertilizer with less nitrogen in this being middle of summer now?

And I will try to find some elemental sulfur to correct the pH in the mean time!

Thanks for the very informative response!


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Jonslawn said:


> I did some read up earlier at work and saw that about Epsom salts too but I wasn't sure if I can just use any regular epsom salt or is their a specific type and how much would you put down per 1000 and by spreader or foiler?
> 
> I found a fertilizer at my local farm co-op that's a 5-20-20 an fairly cheap for a 25kg bag wasn't sure if that may be a way to go instead of a starter fertilizer with less nitrogen in this being middle of summer now?


So they gave you a Mg recommendation of 68 lb/acre, which is 1.56 lb/1000ft. Epsom is about 10% Mg so that means you would need 15.6 lb salt per 1000. However I think the max recommended at one time is 5 lb/1000. So you would want to buy about 30 lbs (14 kg) of epsom and put it out over 3-6 applications probably a month apart. It would needed to be watered in after, so don't do it during heat or drought conditions.

If we do the same with the recommended phosphorus of 155 lb/acre (3.56lb/1000) with your 5-20-20, that would mean you need about 18 pounds of fertilizer/1000 total, max per applications is 5 lb, so you would also need to do about 3 applications to get it all out. One 25 kg bag should take care of all your needs. P is a little lower in the front so you should do one extra application.

If it were me, I'd alternate between an Epsom and a 5-20-20 application every two weeks (so same thing is a month apart) provided there is enough water and the grass is still growing vigorously. If the grass slows down from heat or drought then stop applications until it's growing well again.


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

LeeB said:


> Jonslawn said:
> 
> 
> > I did some read up earlier at work and saw that about Epsom salts too but I wasn't sure if I can just use any regular epsom salt or is their a specific type and how much would you put down per 1000 and by spreader or foiler?
> ...


That's awesome Lee thanks a ton for your help definitely puts my mind at ease! I will grab some of the fertilizer tomorrow and try to find some cheap Epsom salts to get me going!

Have you ever used and humid acids? I read it can balance your pH just unsure if it would actually lower it though!


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Jonslawn said:


> Have you ever used and humid acids? I read it can balance your pH just unsure if it would actually lower it though!


I don't have a lot of experience with those apps since they would be very costly for my size, but I think the idea is soils with good levels of organic matter and humic acids would have a better buffering capacity against pH change. It's more a long term maintenance goal rather than a fix for pH. You are in the initial stages where you have to make some large adjustments with bulk chemicals but once things are in range you can worry about those things more, but you can try some if you're curious.


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

LeeB said:


> Jonslawn said:
> 
> 
> > Have you ever used and humid acids? I read it can balance your pH just unsure if it would actually lower it though!
> ...


Yes probably getting ahead of myself this has been my first passionate year of taking care of the lawn! My biggest concern at this point is POA! Been able to take care of all the other weeds just not that dreadful POA!

When you say organic matter what's your thoughts on compost? I purchased a compost/peat moss spreader for my overseed in the fall for peat moss but my local landfill / dump offers free compost pickup every Wednesday just not sure if that's a good idea to spread it out or am I inviting more weed problems! It looks pretty broken down an filtered out but unsure if it would be a good idea to top my lawn every so often with it!


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Jonslawn said:


> When you say organic matter what's your thoughts on compost? I purchased a compost/peat moss spreader for my overseed in the fall for peat moss but my local landfill / dump offers free compost pickup every Wednesday just not sure if that's a good idea to spread it out or am I inviting more weed problems! It looks pretty broken down an filtered out but unsure if it would be a good idea to top my lawn every so often with it!


I would avoid community-sourced compost because who knows what's in it. That's inviting fungus and weed issues unless the compost has been cooked to sterilize it. Residual herbicides are also a concern in compost. Your OM levels are good so I don't think you need to add anything. OM levels will increase with time due to root growth and plant matter decay in a healthy lawn.


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

LeeB said:


> Jonslawn said:
> 
> 
> > When you say organic matter what's your thoughts on compost? I purchased a compost/peat moss spreader for my overseed in the fall for peat moss but my local landfill / dump offers free compost pickup every Wednesday just not sure if that's a good idea to spread it out or am I inviting more weed problems! It looks pretty broken down an filtered out but unsure if it would be a good idea to top my lawn every so often with it!
> ...


Thanks again Lee for all the useful info and pointing me in the right direction! Will get started on this tomorrow! 
Cheers!


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

Good Evening Everyone!
So just recently had my soil test completed and have talked about it on here already and my Magnesium is very low and calcium is very high, as well my potassium is very low. I spoke with a lady at the soil lab and went over my test results and what I should be doing next and she said that their secret weapon is K-Mag and to apply it as often as I can they recommend it to everyone. She said to apply 3-4lbs per 1000sq', and I cannot find any info really on K-Mag online other than one brand that says to apply 4.55lbs per 1000sq'. 
Today I went to my local farm supply store www.allianceagri-turf.com to pick up a 55lb bag which was $25, seems cheap. I asked them what the going rate was per application and they only told me to apply 1/3rd the bag in spring, 1/3rd in summer and a 1/3rd in fall for my 2700sq' lawn.

Now I am curious if anyone has any experience with this product and or what they would suggest. My gut is roughly 5lbs per sq' as that would give me a lb of potassium each application monthly maybe starting now. Their is heat in the forecast but the fella at Alliance said it would not burn and in fact would be even less stressful on the lawn than potash.

Attached is her recommendations but I feel like the 29lbs of K-Mag seems very high and confusing because even if that's broken down over 6 applications her 3-4lbs per app does not add up. Maybe I am just thinking to much into this but I would like to give the K-Mag a shot and see if it is all its hyped up to be by this one company.

I also have epsom salts to deal with the magnesium issue but was going to try this fertilizer first since it will help with my potassium issue as well.

Thanks all!!


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## LeeB (Jul 1, 2019)

Depends on how heavy you want to apply. 4.55 lbs/1000 of 0-0-22 will deliver 1 lb of K and S per 1000, and should be considered the maximum rate. The rate the lady gave you (3-4 lbs) is more of a medium rate that will deliver about 0.75 lb of K and S per 1000. You need to make sure it rains at least a half inch in between applications otherwise it will pile up and could burn.

You should understand that you have enough potassium for the grass to grow right now, and the main reason you are doing K-mag is for the magnesium not the potassium (the potassium is more of a bonus).

K-mag is 10-11% Mg I believe. If you take your magnesium need number of ~68lb/ac from the test and divide it by the size of an acre, you get 1.6 lbs Mg/1000 ft. At the high rate that would take 3-4 applications to achieve that magnesium rate, or 4-5 applications at the medium rate. Understand that this is a goal you are going to try to reach over the next year or so of applications, not by the end of the season.

The K-mag does not help your phosphorus at all, so you could also get a bag of that 16-30-10 and apply at a rate of 3 lbs/1000 to deliver 0.9 lb P, with a max of two applications.


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## Jonslawn (Apr 30, 2021)

LeeB said:


> Depends on how heavy you want to apply. 4.55 lbs/1000 of 0-0-22 will deliver 1 lb of K and S per 1000, and should be considered the maximum rate. The rate the lady gave you (3-4 lbs) is more of a medium rate that will deliver about 0.75 lb of K and S per 1000. You need to make sure it rains at least a half inch in between applications otherwise it will pile up and could burn.
> 
> You should understand that you have enough potassium for the grass to grow right now, and the main reason you are doing K-mag is for the magnesium not the potassium (the potassium is more of a bonus).
> 
> ...


Awesome thanks!! Not sure why but the photo I uploaded was suppose to be 3 pages but got cut off for some reason!

I have a 5-20-20 fertilizer as well which I put down 5lbs in the backyard already which is 1000sq' so was thinking a couple apps of that on entire lawn and a couple kMag before season end to get some levels back to normal before winter sets in and then next year really follow the recommendations! Also ordered some FAS From a local business that has 55lb bags! Probably will need to find someone to split it with, should last me a couple years haha


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