# Soil Test Results - WI



## tploszaj (Aug 28, 2020)

Hi Everyone,

I just received my soil test results from MySoil on a relatively new yard that was installed with "bluegrass blend" sod in 2019. The lawn has been decent, but thin spots here and there, spring green up takes a while and there are areas that could be better in thickness and color. These problems are what led me to purchase a soil test; along with the fact that we have clay soil that is likely compacted. Our landscape firm did install top soil and grade properly before putting down the sod, but I know what's underneath isn't amazing. Anyways, on to the results:



NPK values are all low, despite me putting down four applications of fertilizer annually since installation. In fact, there isn't much that appears to be going well beyond pH. So, in the interest of making things better, I went to SiteOne today and bought 25 pounds of Lesco MacroN 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer, eager to get things mixed up in my backpack sprayer or borrow my neighbor's John Deere tractor mounted sprayer. The soil test recommended a 12-12-12 granular starter fertilizer, but I would prefer liquid based instead.

My questions are these:
1) Am I doing the right thing by attempting to amend with a 20-20-20 (likely stepped down)?
2) I'm not entirely certain how much fertilizer to mix with water. Honestly, the label is somewhat confusing:

TURF APPLICATION RATES FOR LESCO MACRON FERTILIZERS
Ounces of Fertilizer per 1,000 Square Feet
MacroN
Formula 1/16# N 1/8# N 1/4# N 1/2# N 3/4# N 1# N
20-20-20 5 10 20 40 60 80

3) By this table, if I wanted to obtain the 12-12-12 recommended by the MySoil people, I should be using .6 * 80 ounces or ~48 ounces of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet. The directions also say to mix with water between 2-6 gallons per 1,000 square feet. Well, that is quite a range of water. I have a 4 gallon backpack sprayer or my neighbor's sprayer looks like a 40 gallon. So either way, I'm covered, just need to know if what I'm doing is correct. Thoughts?

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-Tim

Mequon, WI


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