VEG GARDEN: Started with recently disturbed heavy clay in 1991, adding mostly compost with small amounts of fertilizers over the years. It has been at least 10 or maybe 15 yrs. since it was tested. At that time we had fruit trees not blooming and found that P was very low. I've used 12-12-12 on the lawn and garden to boost it although not real heavily.

All results in lb/acre. Note, lab asks for specific use and entered 'veg garden'. They had no recommendations for amendments.

pH 6.8 hi
P 208 v hi
K 795 excess
Ca 5380 hi
Mg 727 hi
Ca:Mg 7.4
OM 9.6%
CEC 17.5 meq

Overall I'm pretty proud of this stuff considering what we started with. Definitely time to quit the P and K though! If I use any fertilizer I will limit it to high N if the plants look anemic, such as 29-3-4 lawn fert. Any other suggestions? Is my Ca:Mg OK? I thought so since it is supposed to be around 7.

LAWN Second test is at our rural property, an unamended clay with a thin lawn we're trying to improve. I specified 'establishing new lawn' on the test form.

pH 6.0 med
P 25 v low
K 192 low
Ca 3076 med
Mg 426 hi
Ca:Mg 7.2
OM 2.5%
CEC 11.7

They recommended addition of gypsum to boost Ca, plus NPK in varying ratios depending on the type of grass. Probably use some 12-12-12 here and even spray on some of my big bag of soluble 20-30-10 stuff to boost the P and K.

I don't want to till, clay is heavy, probably full of roots, and although lawn is sparse I've reseeded and have grass coming up. So I plan to top dress with sifted city compost (did that once last year) to improve the organic matter. City compost has drywall scrap in it, so it's got gypsum built in.

Anything I'm missing?

Lloyd

Mackel

I wouldn't do a thing about the pH in the Lawn area. I don't start liming turf until around 5.5 or 5.6. As far as low P and K go, yes, they're a little on the low side. But remember, it's turf that we're talking about here. Grass doesn't need those nutrients as much as a lot of other plants. If I were using just a fertilizer, I think the 12-12-12 at about 8 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. would be good sufficient without adding any other P or K sources. But wait...there's more on that later.

The organic content is what I would consider optimum for turf in sand or maybe a sandy loam but in a clay soil, you may benefit from some more organic. If you want to be super proactive, you can core aerate prior to topdressing with an amendment and rake it in. Otherwise, you can just top dress and let it work itself in. Like Kimm said, I would try to get a relatively fine material, although, I'm a bit of a snob and would shoot for something screened to 1/8 inch or less. 1/4 minus would be okay too, just not quite as awesome. A good rate for the top dressing would be 12 cu ft. per 1000 sq. ft.

The city compost will likely get sufficient K and a little P. Then you can use either a little bone meal or triple superphosphate (0-45-0) to bump up the P just a tad. Or, if you want to do N and P together, ammonium phosphate (16-20-0) would do the trick.

I wouldn't worry about calcium at that level but an addition of that nutrient at this point would fall into the "it couldn't hurt category".

Although I wouldn't try to adjust the soil pH upward right now, I would make an effort not to push it down further. For that reason, I would avoid acidifying fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate and urea. Since most turf fertilizer applications should be nitrogen only (contradictory to what the fertilizer companies may want to sell you) you'll need non-acidifying nitrogen sources that are low in P and K or just plain don't have it. A good synthetic source is calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0-15) The first three numbers are the normal N-P-K. The 15 at the end is calcium. That's a very soluble material so you need to apply small amounts and relatively frequently. A nice organic source would be blood meal with a typical analysis of 12-0-0. It's quick release relative to other organic fertilizers but slow compared to calcium nitrate.

After you do whatever it is you decide about organic and nutrients right now, I would apply blood meal at a rate of about 15 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. every 60-90 days over the coarse of the summer (depending on how the grass looks) and then come in at the end of spring with a complete fertilizer like the 16-6-8. If you use calcium nitrate to supply nitrogen through the summer, go with about 5 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. and you'll probably need to do it a bit more often.

In the fall, make an application of a complete fertilizer and you should be good to go.

Sorry for any typos you may find up there in my post and for that fact that I won't read or respond to any questions for a few days. I'm am quite literally on my way out the door to spend a long weekend in that woods.

Thx

Lloyd

pnbrown: No experience with clay and P outside of my two properties in this county but that's 2 for 2 so far. The house/garden is on a former farm field, topsoil stripped, graded several feet into clay and some topsoil replaced. Low P from day 1. The 'lawn' test is a tiny spot virtually right in the woods, cleared in 1989, probably little ever done to it. May be just the type of clay we have here...

kimmsr and garg, thanks very much for that detailed analysis, I'll be digesting it. I like the blood meal idea, did not realize it had no P and K at all. Perfect.

Garden pH was 7.5 years ago so I'm thrilled with 6.8.

I put the city compost on the lawn area last spring and what lawn there was went nuts. Very inexpensive, screened but not 1/4", but this ain't Better Homes here anyway, it's a redneck cabin in the woods. kimmsr, I've studied the drywall thing and we're just of different minds on that one. Probably wouldn't use it in the garden but this is a good application for it. JMO. Over time I'm concerned about boron buildup from the borax binder though. Probably won't use it forever.

This exercise was very enlightening. My garden generally sucks but apparently it's not from lack of nutrients, except maybe N. Beginning to suspect sun/shade, water and nitrogen. I have never used that much fertilizer, so looking at mostly the effects of compost here. Blows me away, although I suppose it shouldn't. ;-]

Some municipalities have kept Chinese drywall out of their sanitary landfills apparently due to odor problems from the unusually high sulfide content. My city owns its own landfill and composting facilities, and I'm quite familiar with their operation. Their use of clean unpainted drywall scrap in compost is entirely acceptable to the state permitting authorities who are delegated by EPA to regulate landfills. Any drywall that is not composted there goes right into the sanitary landfill as far as I know.

If the industry is recommending it not be used in garden, fine, but I didn't see that anywhere. In fact the Gypsum Association recommends that new drywall scrap can be disposed of at construction sites by pulverizing and spreading at a rate of 22 tons per acre. :-o

I'm not advocating for the drywall association, just reporting what I see. If you have something different please share, I'd like to see it.

This is similar to the idea that medications will get from urine into the ground, then plants, and then back into a human through the digestive tract. It doesn't hold up to rational examination.

Lloyd

Heya Lloyd. You just might be able to make a couple of extra bucks per yard by screening some of your product to 1/8 inc minus and labeling it is "Turf Extra" or "Sports Black Gold" or something snappy like that. The 1/8 spreads a little easier and it works itself down through the turf a little quicker with an irrigation or two. But Kimm's right. For all practical purposes, 1/4 works just fine. I just like to see it disappear fast. To me, it's worth a couple more bucks. For landscapes, gardens, etc. it doesn't really matter.

By the way, boron isn't an issue in most drywall but some of the stuff that comes in from China is, indeed, a significant boron source. I've seen it result in some pretty nasty container mixes because of it.

pnrown. I don't personally see much of a pattern regarding clay and low P.