Soil testing is becoming an increasingly popular selling tool for lawn care companies and in most cases, has absolutely no impact on the type of fertility protocol that they will use once the customer is on board. The agronomic values established in soil testing are good to have, especially if you are trying to solve otherwise difficult to diagnose issues with overall health and vigor. The problem with most standardized testing for lawn care is that the test mainly focuses on lack of nutrients as the problem and the excess nutrient application as the solution.

Normally, a test will have values for P-K-S-Ca-Mg-Mn and sometimes FE as well as pH and excess lime rating. Usually, (but not always) a cation reading will be placed on the test measuring soils ability to actually use and transfer nutrients. But where’s the beef?

By “beef” I’m saying organic matter and Nitrogen levels. Most Lawn tests do not do this as a standard offering anymore. For some reason, (universities) there has been a change in soil testing for the lawn care industry. While farmers need to know levels of all nutrients to budget for the next year’s inputs, lawn companies are given “standard app rates” for nitrogen based on whatever region they are in. Recommendations are always between 4-5.5 lbs. per season regardless of what is present in the soil. This tends to be taken as “truth” by the person who receives the soil test without ever seeing the whole picture.

So what’s the big deal? You’ve seen soil reports; right? The deal is, it doesn’t matter what the readings are for nutrients in the soil if you don’t know what’s tying them up or allowing them to move. While your Cationic Exchange Rate is going to give you a window through which to view this. The organic matter is going to rule the roost. I could easily put together a fertility plan for someone with only the OM and pH. This tells me everything that is needed to enhance soil fertility. Why? Because the nutrients tied into to all life are enough to feed the bio mass of the earth. The more Organic Matter present (to a point), the more fertile the soil.

For instance, for every 1% of soil organic matter there is 1,000 lbs. of Nitrogen in the soil per acre. A good healthy release rate would be around 6%. However, the soil food web will be the one who rations it out. And we can’t know what’s happening with the web unless we know if they have any food! The pH will tell me what is truly available in the soil, not what is there, just what will be able to be used.

While I do so thoroughly enjoy looking over soil reports, I usually am not doing this because of concern of an improperly cared for or distressed soil system; I am looking for improvements to what has been done in the past. The biggest value to me with soil testing is establishing a starting point and keeping track of the environmental changes in the soil. Throughout the years, Bio Green® and Greene County Fertilizer Company products have added to the overall soil health and total available nutrients across all soil types.

For the average applicator, a soil report as a way of diagnosing a lawn problem is only going to benefit the local fertilizer supplier. It may or may not have an actual impact on the issue(s) at hand. This is why many suppliers are offering this service. But when it comes right down to it, the best way to solve issues is to ask. No, not the soil; the homeowner. The key to unlocking the mystery of many problem lawns is in the history of the lawn, which only a homeowner can provide.

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