# Best fertilizer response to soil test (new construction lawn)



## Jd0606 (May 3, 2020)

Hello,

I am brand new here so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot. I am new to high level lawn care and I am trying to figure my new lawn out.

I have Bermuda grass that was laid out as sod for a newly built home in Austin Texas. The soil is mostly clay.The sod was laid in early March about two weeks before we moved in. The contractor didn't water it in well enough and I have some that never fully rooted (being replaced) and a lot of soil compaction issues. Overall the grass is in good shape. It is green and growing well but it is far from an elite lawn. I have multiple issues right now but I am mostly focused on providing the right nutrients to my yard. I had a soil test submitted at Texas A&M and here are my results.

It is important to note that shortly after this test I had a landscape company perform a liquid aeration and top dressing. I am aware that liquid aeration is not that beneficial but I am not planning on doing a core aeration for at least a year.

The top dressing they applied consisted of. 
20% ground cottonseed
20% turkey compost
20% dairy compost 
30% pine hummus
10% sand

Again this was laid about a week after my soil test. I am not sure what effect that would have on micro and macro nutrients.

Soil test results - 
PH- 8.3 - 
Conductivity- 221
N- 12ppm
P-6ppm
Pot- 83 PPM

They recommended the following fertilizer amounts
n- .4 lbs/ 1000
P- 2.6 lbs/1000
Pot- 1.5 lbs/ 1000

Since there is not a fertilizer with a ratio like that, Texas A&M suggested one of the following fertilizers 3 times a year. They suggested a lawn started formula may help improve the phosphorus levels and encourage longer root growth.

Fertilizer Pounds per 1000 Sqft

5-10-5 14 lbs/1000sqft

10-20-10 7 lbs/1000sqft

12-24-12 6 lbs/1000sqft

18-24-12 4 lbs/1000sqft

I am a novice and will certainly have to buy available fertilizer at lowes. The closest thing I found there was a bag of-

sta-green (lawn starter) 
18-24-6

According to Texas A&M's fertilizer guide I would lay this @ about 5lbs per 1000 sq feet. They will still leave a deficiency of 1.3 phosphate and .7 pot. Would three applications this growing season provide the right amount of nutrition?

My plan was to lay this fertilizer as well as quick acting sulfur (@ about 4 lbs per 1000 sq. feet) to drive the PH level down. I planned to lay the quick acting sulfur again in 3 months and do another soil test next spring.

Is this is good fertilizer to meet the needs laid out in my soil test? Is it ok to lay a quick acting sulfur with or right after that fertilizer? Is it ok to fertilize / lay sulfur so quickly after the top dressing?

Sorry this is so long. I hope I provided all the details needed for a suggestion. Thanks!


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## choate (Sep 27, 2020)

What did you end up doing? I'm in north Fort Worth in new construction and my results I just got back are almost identical to yours.


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

@Jd0606, your thread is now in the soil test forum. Cheers!


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@dfw_pilot You're doing housecleaning after 7 months? :? :lol:


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

@Ridgerunner, indeed, we missed it until it was resurrected the other day. Cheers.


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## daniel3507 (Jul 31, 2018)

For future reference, you can also adjust them independently rather than trying to find the perfect fertilizer.


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

choate said:


> What did you end up doing? I'm in north Fort Worth in new construction and my results I just got back are almost identical to yours.


Strange but when I did a university extension soil test on new Bermuda sod last year, the instructions told me for the first year to put down three pounds of 34-0-0 per 1000 sq ft monthly in the summer. The only time to put down fertilizer with P or K was at the beginning of Fall when a 10-10-10 was appropriate to prepare for winter. I was confused why they called for so much N, so I called the university office directly and spoke to someone. She said the reason was that in the first year, the heavy nitrogen is needed to make sure the grass grows out of its sod layer, and the process of moving nutrients around the grass is done with the help of growth caused by nitrogen feeding. She also mentioned that phosphorus levels might not change, or might do so slowly, and adding it can be a problem if over-applied.


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