# Need Help with SoilKit Results



## jollygreen_WTX (8 mo ago)

Good afternoon everyone. I have a ~1,489 sq ft lawn (Discovery (I Think) Bermuda). Looking at the USDA website I have calcareous loam type soil (West Texas). I know my lawn is not very big, but I really want to take care of it. I do have irrigation, a 50 lb. lab mix and 90 lb. lab so my lawn is very lumpy and will need a level at some point! Is anyone able to evaluate my soil results and make recommendations accordingly? Soil test is from SoilKit.com.

Thank You!

Soil Results:



Lawn:


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## jollygreen_WTX (8 mo ago)

Bump.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Didn't the test results include recommendations?


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## jollygreen_WTX (8 mo ago)

Virginiagal said:


> Didn't the test results include recommendations?


 Good morning ! Thank you for your reply. The recommendation was the following:

7.36 lbs of Fertilome (TM) Classic Lawn Food 16-0-8 (20 lbs bag)
12.63 lbs of Elemental Sulfur (50 lb. bag)

I beleive this would put me at only .5 lbs of nitrogen per application. (Frequency of application was not provided but I am assuming monthly).

My CEC is 33 (really high right?) and my organic matter is only 1.24% with stupid amounts of calcium in my soil.

The recommendations from the analysis appear very generic and basic so I am hoping for more insight and tips.

Thanks!


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

My math: 7.36 divided by 1.489= 4.9 lb per 1000 sq ft. 4.9x 0.16= .79 lb of N per 1000 sq ft. With Bermuda, usually you can do one lb of nitrogen every month during the summer. They're calling for a fertilizer that has mostly nitrogen with about half the amount of potassium and no phosphorus. Is that because that's what they have for sale? Or because you need some potassium and no phosphorus? Why would you need potassium if you're testing so high? (Stay tuned)

The soil remediation guide calls for 5 lb per 1000 sq ft of elemental sulfur per application and Texas people can do two applications a year. However, for calcareous soil, it is about impossible to lower pH, so there's no point in trying.

I think I was told Soil Kit uses Waypoint to do the lab work. We don't know what extractants were used. If you had the actual report from Waypoint, it would say. I expect they did not use the SW1 test which would have used Olsen extractant for phosphorus and ammonium acetate for the cations. In a calcareous soil, the Mehlich extractant is going to give inaccurate numbers for calcium and magnesium and sodium and the CEC is going to be inaccurate. So don't worry that the numbers are crazy high. They're wrong, Even though ammonium acetate is better than Mehlich for your soil, it is not the best extractant for calcareous soil. The elevated pH ammonium acetate is better. Here is an article:
https://gsrpdf.lib.msu.edu/?file=/article/whitlark-soil-3-4-11.pdf
I'm not sure what Texas A &M is using, you could check them out. Maybe next time you can get your soil tested by one of the labs listed in the article that is doing the elevated pH ammonium acetate. Also be sure that the lab uses the Olsen extractant for phosphorus.

As for what to do this year, it would seem you need mainly nitrogen. But I wouldn't really trust the test results. And I wouldn't pay any attention to particular products they're promoting.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

In high pH soil phosphorus tends to get tied up and unavailable. Also iron is less available. Read about high pH soil here:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15165


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## jollygreen_WTX (8 mo ago)

Virginiagal said:


> My math: 7.36 divided by 1.489= 4.9 lb per 1000 sq ft. 4.9x 0.16= .79 lb of N per 1000 sq ft. With Bermuda, usually you can do one lb of nitrogen every month during the summer. They're calling for a fertilizer that has mostly nitrogen with about half the amount of potassium and no phosphorus. Is that because that's what they have for sale? Or because you need some potassium and no phosphorus? Why would you need potassium if you're testing so high? (Stay tuned)
> 
> The soil remediation guide calls for 5 lb per 1000 sq ft of elemental sulfur per application and Texas people can do two applications a year. However, for calcareous soil, it is about impossible to lower pH, so there's no point in trying.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up! I found it odd they listed the actual brand of product I should use. You are correct. Math is .79 lbs. I was losing sleep over these wonky numbers in the results!

My plan is to pump 1.5 lbs. on N/month using 29-0-4 (have it on hand already) reason for so much N is 1. I believe discovery Bermuda is slow growing 2. I have a lot of bare spots I want to fill in. Humic DG @ 2 lbs./Month. and elemental Sulphur 5lbs. twice this growing season (I already bought it a couple weeks ago and have already done the first app).

My HOC 2-1/8" and I am mulching the clippings.

Next season I want to level and play mad scientist once I have a better test reading!


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