[Crabbychas]

Got my soil test results back. Planning on growing bermuda from seed. What should I do? Soil is basically straight sand to slightly loamy sand.

 

[viva_oldtrafford]

I can go into depth later, but the things that stand out to me. Low CEC (exchange capacity on report) - if you do go the seed route, keeping the soil wet is going to be very difficult. Additionally, the soil is not going to hold many nutrients - you may find yourself applying NPK only to have it leach through the sandy profile. To fix this, you need to incorporate organic material (or clay, though I do not like this tactic) into the profile. This will increase your exchange capacity and allow your profile to hold more water, along with more nutrients. Secondly, the Na levels in the front are well above recommended levels - find a way to get some calcium into the soil profile (gypsum is often used).

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bump.

 

[Crabbychas]

So assuming I can find a source of gypsum, I plan to drop about 20# of gypsum, along with about 10# of TSP and 20# of k-mag. I have some small bags of trace elements on the way but I haven't had time to figure out how much to apply. I'm also going to put down 5-10# of humic acid granules to get some microbial activity going and possibly try and till it all in with some compost or manure. My original plan was to just fertilize and seed but when I was digging for the irrigation system I discovered lots of concrete chunks and smaller pieces which I assume is the reason for the high pH of the sand so more aggressive actions may need to be taken. Any thoughts?