Soil Test Results

14 years ago

Our lawn company which uses organic methods did a soil test for us.

We applied lime, Pennington Fast Acting Lime, 8#/1000sf, one week prior to the soil being taken and sent in to wherever they send it.

This was our first application for organic weed control with this company. They applied an organic weed control that contains clove oil, thyme oil, and some other oil which "suffocates" the weeds. It was mostly clover at the time.

Our lawn improved 90%, but of course, I do not know if it was b/c of the lime we applied or the weed control.

I am wondering if we should apply more lime though. I found something on the internet called Liquid Lime Plus, which says it will increase almost 1pt in 10 days.

Since the summers end will be nearing next month, wondering how much fertilizer we should apply as well. We usually use soybean meal, but held off this year b/c we had a small patch of fungus which we used corn meal on...worked great!!! And then the weed control they combine with a fertilizer as well.

Today we got the soil results and they are as follows...

Soil Type...Clay

Ph....5.2

Soluable Salts.....10

Nitrates....12

Ammonium....4

Calcium....35

Phosphates....7

Potassium....4

Magnesium.....10

Iron .7

Manganese .25

Sulfates .35

Chlorides.... 22

Organic Matter Content....4.5

Coring Depth....1"....compacted

Thatch Layer....0" are lawn is very thin and dense

Comments (2)

Kimmsr
14 years ago
One week is not enough time for the lime you applied to even start to change the soil pH, provided enough was applied to begin that process. It can take 6 months to see the results of a lime application if the right lime, calcitic or dolomitic, was put into the soil. Any "liquid" lime product is going to be a hydrated lime which is not an acceptable organic product.
I would concentrate on seeing that more organic matter was added to the soil to increase that low 4.5 percent level, getting that up toward 8 percent will do more for the grass than anything else you could add.
dchall_san_antonio
14 years ago
You can fertilize with organic fertilizer any day of the year but if you are trying to maintain a schedule, I use the federal holiday schedule as reminders that it's time to fertilize. Labor Day is coming!!

You said the grass was thin and dense. Those are opposite ends of the scale. What kind of grass do you have?
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