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The guy from the lab told me to use 13-13-13 fertilizer. my Lawn is 4000 sq feet, 1 (8 pounds/1000 sq ft) in April and 1 in May end. And then 1 each in September and October end. Also, use liquid ironite. Other stores have different recommendations like adding Pete Moss or gypsum. Updated with Nitrogen levels

Lucky
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    How much is "1"? Unless we know that, the advice could be anywhere between "irrelevant" (too small to have any effect) and "fatal to most plants". – alephzero Apr 07 '21 at 03:27
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    What are you cultivating? This is more important than soil analysis: every plant has own needs, and so you should give them what they need. Then balancing soil will help (as "reserve", but also because plant cannot absorb all nutrients [you need some basis]). – Giacomo Catenazzi Apr 07 '21 at 10:00
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    @alephzero - I have updated my results with Nitrogen levels and 1 means 8 pounds/ 1000 sq ft, my lawn is 4000 sq ft. – Lucky Apr 07 '21 at 14:31

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Depends on what you want to grow and how fast you want it to grow. The most noticeable item is the alkaline pH of 7.8 : most plants are best near neutral ( pH 7) or slightly acidic. That is why gypsum and peat moss were recommended ; both tend to make soil less alkaline / more acid ; good recommendations. If you are growing grass you need some nitrogen ; I would first put on 13 13 13 or 10 10 10 (very general standard products) then later put on lawn fertilizer ; high nitrogen something like 20 5 5 . The numbers are not that important as long as the first one ( nitrogen) is largest. Pretty good test results , about the only low items are N, P, K ; the elements that are most absorbed by plants and most easily replaced with standard fertilizers.

blacksmith37
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  • I was reading this article on Iowa state university - hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2016/02-12/soilpH.htm it says - Elemental sulfur is the safest option to decrease soil pH. and I found some products for that, but the Lab specialist said, your pH will go back to where it is in a year, So he stressed on using liquid Ironite. Will using the Elemental Supphar not reduce my pH? or have no effect on my soil?? – Lucky Apr 07 '21 at 19:09
  • Gypsum / calcium sulfate will slowly dissolve for a few years . Also, organic mulch like peat will continue to release organics acids for some time. But. it is difficult to change the pH of a soil permanently . So, it is a continuing project to have a very nice lawn ( my lawn is pretty bad , so I mostly have azaleas and other shrubs.) – blacksmith37 Apr 07 '21 at 22:55
  • I don't mean to be critical, and I'm not vying for the chosen answer here, but gypsum has a neutral pH (not an acidic one), and while it might actually reduce the pH of an alkaline soil a little, there are other ways to acidify soil (without adding calcium), such as elemental sulfur. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Apr 09 '21 at 11:00
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Well, you certainly don't need gypsum. Gypsum is calcium sulfate, and your calcium is already very, very high.

Your phosphorus is low.

Your sulfur looks very low, though. Adding some sulfur would help to acidify the soil further (your pH is a bit high). Sulfur is usually what people use to acidify soil. It takes a while for it to work, though. Plants also use (and need) sulfur.

You could probably use more copper (don't overdo it, as it can hurt your plants and stop roots from growing; you don't need much). Low copper could make plants more susceptible to disease, and the fruits might not absorb as much water. It can also affect taste.

Peat moss is great to add organic matter, and it is acidic, but I can't say what long-term effect it has on soil pH; for the short-term it seems to help, though.

Your potassium, magnesium, boron, zinc, sodium, and iron look fine.

Your manganese looks much higher than necessary, but that's probably not a big deal when you have alkaline soil (manganese becomes more available the more acidic the soil gets). So, if you acidify too much, it might be a problem and cause toxicity symptoms.

I don't see any mention of your nitrogen levels. With high calcium, you probably want a good supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Adding some extra potassium isn't going to hurt even though your potassium levels are fine already (unless you add way too much). Extra organic matter should also be beneficial.

Note: I'm not an expert on ppm levels, but I googled what the ideal levels are supposed to be and compared those with yours. The ideal ppm levels aren't exactly the same for every soil type, but I'm guessing my analysis is correct. Some nutrients need to be in balance, too (such as manganese and iron).

I have no idea why they recommended iron, but I think adding iron is a bad idea here. As for the gypsum (calcium sulfate), the sulfate in the gypsum would be good, and it might be good for your soil texture, but it would add extra calcium to an already too-high supply (granted, gypsum has a neutral pH; so, it wouldn't raise your pH).

If you have availability problems with a particular nutrient, due to the alkaline soil or something, you can try to do foliar sprays of fertilizer to get around that (make sure the fertilizer can be used as one, and that you use the right ratio of fertilizer to water).

Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
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    "LIquid ironite" is basically a high-nitrogen fertilizer (NPK 7-0-1) plus a bit of iron. One recommended use is getting an "instant" green lawn from the high N content. But the soil analysis doesn't include any results for N and presumably the OP isn't growing a lawn (otherwise the 13-13-13 recommendation makes no sense) so why ironite was recommended is just a guess. Maybe it's a high-profit-margin sales item... – alephzero Apr 07 '21 at 03:22
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The main problem is there is no value for nitrogen... so without nitrogen, it's difficult to reconmand a fertilizer to fix your soil.

so far we know that your dirt is low on phosphorous and potassium..... that is probably why store recomand 13-13-13 fertilizer, it's a safe bet that would fix the low phosphorous and potassium but it might lead to adding too much nitrogen which might cause problem if you are potting the plant..

but if you are growing directly on the ground, than no need to worry about nitrogen build up, the earth will just absorb the excess...

calvin_0
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  • I have updated my question with the Nitrogen results now. – Lucky Apr 07 '21 at 14:36
  • 7.9 parts per million of nitrogen is very low, I understand why 13-13-13 and Liquid ironite is recommended.. you can follow the shop recommendation, alternately you can look for a fertilizer that could provide more nitrogen, something like 16-13-13 or 8-5-5... that way you don't need to fertilize twice. – calvin_0 Apr 07 '21 at 17:08
  • I was reading this article on Iowa state university - https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2016/02-12/soilpH.htm it says - Elemental sulfur is the safest option to decrease soil pH. and I found some products for that, but the Lab specialist said, your pH will go back to where it is in a year, So he stressed on using liquid Ironite.Will using the Elemental Supphar not reduce my pH? or have no effect on my soil?? – Lucky Apr 07 '21 at 19:08
  • I dont think you need to worry about the PH of your soil, it's pretty much ideal for most plant. Liquid Ironite doesnt change PH of your soil, it's a 7-0-1 fertilizer with added iron.. so it's basically ideal for your soil when using together with a 13-13-13 fertilizer. – calvin_0 Apr 08 '21 at 00:37