Those who do UOA, do you also do soil testing

[Donald]

So for those of us with lawns to deal with (and do UOA on the weekends) do you also send out soil for testing? Maybe we have the "analysis gene" and need to have things we work with analyzed or tested.

At least on the east coast/northeast, I think a lot of soil is below 6.5 pH and when soil is acidic the grass cannot pick up all the nutrients in the soil like it can if the soil is between 6.5 and 7.0. Most soil on the east coast/northeast needs some lime added.

Now lime is a little over $3.50 for 40 lbs and I think most stores don't want to bother with it and would rather sell you a $45 bag of Scotts Weed & Feed.

Given the amount of lime Lowes has and the number of lawns that need it, I am guessing that about 1/10 of 1% of the lawns that need lime get it. Unsure why.

Now farmers would rather spend some money on lime and then be able to use less fertilizer so they will have large trucks come in and spread lime over tens or hundreds of acres. They realize they can save money and use less fertilizer if the soil has the proper pH.

Since lime is not part of the Scotts 4 step plan, no one bothers?

 

[CT8]

I had my soil tested March 4 and had a custom blend delivered . The farmers don't spend any money they don't have to. Lab tests save money and gives the best crop results as far as the soil fertility.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

I was in H.D. the other day and the Spring fertilizer was $65 a bag.
I could not get myself to buy it.

Last Fall, I collected bags of leaves and mulched them into the lawn.
This Spring, I rolled and aerated the lawn.
Analyzing the soil is a good idea.

One thing I've started doing is buying any chemicals I need in concentrated form and mixing myself.
It's a little inconvenient, buy the savings make it worthwhile.

 

[StevieC]

I didn't even know this was a thing... I just use Scotts Lawn Food in the spring and fall and never have an issue with weeds or with my grass not looking perfect.
That and some Ortho Weed-B-Gone 250+ weed-killer treatment once a year blanketed across the grass in the spring in about May.

No fertilizer needed.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid
I was in H.D. the other day and the Spring fertilizer was $65 a bag.
I could not get myself to buy it.

Last Fall, I collected bags of leaves and mulched them into the lawn.
This Spring, I rolled and aerated the lawn.
Analyzing the soil is a good idea.

One thing I've started doing is buying any chemicals I need in concentrated form and mixing myself.
It's a little inconvenient, buy the savings make it worthwhile.



I bought a bunch of fertilizer last fall when Walmart wanted to get rid of it before winter.

Home Depot sells Lesco fertilizer which is quality fertilizer without paying for a Scotts name.

Scotts thinks everyone needs the same basically. From my soil test I only need nitrogen, no phosphorus or potassium (N-P-K).

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I bought 10 40lb bags of lime this spring and have spread 9 of them.
They sent a kid out to "help" me load them and I think I made him feel bad when I carried two at a time and he was only doing one. I would have done three at once if he hadn't been there...
I also put quite a bit of grass seed down and would have used some special starter fertilizer I used a few years ago that also contained a pre-emergent crabgrass preventer (great stuff), but I have a huge bag of regular starter fertilizer in the garage for some reason and feel obligated to use it. So, I will probably have bad crabgrass this year.
Some moles have been aerating my lawn for me and I also had a bad looking "ring" in the front yard, so I guess my milky spore has "worn off" and I have Japanese beetle grubs again.
Ordered some more milky spore from Amazon last night, got the powder because it is light for shipping and also the cheapest. It is also a PITA to apply, but it won't kill me.
Put out two sound stakes to try to drive the moles away, probably need to buy two more so I cover both lawns better. We also have a lawn out by the street that I don't worry about too much, our shrubs have spread enough there that the grass area is low and you also don't notice it so much.

The lawn is always a struggle for me, we don't water much since we are on a well and a dry summer can be really rough on our grass. I usually plant tall fescue, but I guess it is only drought resistant to a point. I actually envy some of the folks around here that have lots of pine trees and just let the needles lay to kill of weeds and grass alike...we have a good mix of trees, maple, birch, oak, beech, ash, hemlock, and pine.
I especially like the birches we have with dark bark whose twigs smell like spearmint when you snap them...

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
I bought 10 40lb bags of lime this spring and have spread 9 of them.
They sent a kid out to "help" me load them and I think I made him feel bad when I carried two at a time and he was only doing one. I would have done three at once if he hadn't been there...
I also put quite a bit of grass seed down and would have used some special starter fertilizer I used a few years ago that also contained a pre-emergent crabgrass preventer (great stuff), but I have a huge bag of regular starter fertilizer in the garage for some reason and feel obligated to use it. So, I will probably have bad crabgrass this year.
Some moles have been aerating my lawn for me and I also had a bad looking "ring" in the front yard, so I guess my milky spore has "worn off" and I have Japanese beetle grubs again.
Ordered some more milky spore from Amazon last night, got the powder because it is light for shipping and also the cheapest. It is also a PITA to apply, but it won't kill me.
Put out two sound stakes to try to drive the moles away, probably need to buy two more so I cover both lawns better. We also have a lawn out by the street that I don't worry about too much, our shrubs have spread enough there that the grass area is low and you also don't notice it so much.

The lawn is always a struggle for me, we don't water much since we are on a well and a dry summer can be really rough on our grass. I usually plant tall fescue, but I guess it is only drought resistant to a point. I actually envy some of the folks around here that have lots of pine trees and just let the needles lay to kill of weeds and grass alike...we have a good mix of trees, maple, birch, oak, beech, ash, hemlock, and pine.
I especially like the birches we have with dark bark whose twigs smell like spearmint when you snap them...


The pre-emergent herbicide will kill regular grass seeds right after germination, just like crabgrass. Best to do pre-emergent in spring and seed or overseed in fall.

One bag of lime is all I want to load in truck at a time. Between age and desk job. 40 lb is enough to carry.

 

[Kestas]

The last I read, milky spore doesn't overwinter well, and is ineffective the next year. Maybe in the southern climes it can do better.

Time for doitmyself to chime in.

 

[doitmyself]

I recommend synthetic turf. Spend your leisure time drinking beer while watching baseball on TV. While you're at it, maybe have the wife, girlfriend, or partner get the charcoal going and grill a nice steak for you so you don't have to get out of the LazyBoy. Much more relaxing than chasing sod webworm moths fluttering across your lawn.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Why yes, now that you mention it, I have UOA, I've had my dirt tested, I've (smoked) oil on the kitchen stove (much to the ridicule on BITOG), put 5w30 in the freezer, I drive around everywhere with a digital camera AND a dashcam, carry an IR thermometer, check my oil level almost daily, have about 33 quarts capacity of bypass filtration (on a 4.5 qt Buick), etc. I also work for a testing laboratory (we DON'T test oil), and I live in the Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth. (Except New York and CA, they're crazy), where we PAY for dirt and water.
Thanks for asking...


^^^^^^BTW, what does a sod webworm moth look like?^^^^^^ Thanks for the laugh.

 

[Donald]

I live in NY and implicitly pay for water as I pay for the electricity to run my well pump

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted by Donald

The pre-emergent herbicide will kill regular grass seeds right after germination, just like crabgrass. Best to do pre-emergent in spring and seed or overseed in fall.
One bag of lime is all I want to load in truck at a time. Between age and desk job. 40 lb is enough to carry.

I know that would happen with a typical fertilizer that prevents crabgrass, but I did use a special starter version of that kind of product a few years ago and it really did help keep the crabgrass down while still letting the fescue sprout.
I don't know how it worked, but it did work....I think I only had a small bag of it because it was quite expensive (and also probably a Scott's product). I may not have used it in the backyard as that is a much bigger area for us....

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted by Kestas
The last I read, milky spore doesn't overwinter well, and is ineffective the next year. Maybe in the southern climes it can do better.
Time for doitmyself to chime in.

I have used it twice in the past and it seems to have a 10 year "lifetime" for me.
Before the first batch, over 20 years ago, we had so many Japanese beetles in the summer that it was hard to see some of our shrubs...I can't remember if I read about milky spore or somebody told me about it, the next year we had almost none of those shiny little sex maniacs.
Roughly 10 years later, I had another ring show up in one of the yards and I treated again with apparent success.
It has been about 10 more years and we have a clear ring in the front and maybe one developing in the back, so I will put out my new bag of milky spore just before our next rain. The great thing is this stuff doesn't harm anything but the grubs and it is just a superdose of a common bacterium...I wouldn't eat the stuff with a spoon or put it on an open wound, but I feel a lot better about applying this stuff than even straight fertilizer. Lime also seems pretty harmless in general.

 

[jeepman3071]

Yes. Luckily I have a friend who works for an environmental company with soil testing equipment.