Lawn Soil Testing a Critical Step in Lawn Care 

Finally got my soil test back from siteone, my soil has a good amount of nutrients, intact it has too much calcium and the ph is at 8.0!!! Agree everyone should have a soil test done otherwise I would've just kept adding crap too it

I got a soil test done by my state university. Cost a decent amount of money and took time to have processed which delayed my lawncare program which wasn’t worth it in my opinion. The results were about what I was expecting. They told me soil in lawns in my area hardly changes that much and you really don’t have to worry about it as much as people say. They said it only is really important if you are planting specific types of trees, bushes, or very large gardens. Things of that nature.

Please make sure that you wait at least 30 days after applying any fertilizer or you will likely skew the results. Not sure Doc cautioned in this video.

I just got my soil test back and it noted I needed to throw lime on the back yard. While it gave me how much to put down per 1k sqft it didn't say what pH I was supposed to end up at. I emailed my ag extension and it turns out their calculation was to bring the soil up to 6.1. I have KBG sod/seed and it does better in a pH range closer to 7. But on the test order form they didn't differentiate between types of cool season lawn, it's all lumped together. She said they're probably going to change the form to account for that. The change means I need to put down 50% lime than they initially told me. Just a reminder that it's important to get the results but also be able to interpret them correctly.

Good video old man 👍

Is adding humic acid during the winter beneficial? Why not just use 100% DG biochar? Some one please answer this…

Doc, great timing on this video. I have a question for you regarding the bag of Phosphorus that you applied to your lawn. How do you know how many pounds of this to apply per 1,000 and would the same application rate be applied to Potassium if needed. The reason for my question is that when I ran my soil test back in March/April parts of my yard were very low in both P & K. Instead of throwing out 16-4-8 on these sections of lawn I applied 10-10-10. I will run my next soil test late October. If this test comes back low I will need to attack this problem using the same method as you. Which makes me wonder what the formula is if there is one, (Hope that makes sense,)

How long must I wait to test after applying fertilizer?

everyone talks about lawn ph. but what about tree growing ph. I have shade trees only in Arizona. What should the ph. be? is it always a 7 or at least close to it? excuse my ignorance 😎😬

I bought that stick PH reader and the results were way off compared to a professional soil test result.

Doc that soil tester you linked is only 8 1/4" teh one you used looks more like 30". Can you supply info for the longer one?

Got my soil test for a section of lawn that would never grow. Answered a lot. About to seed it all over again with tall Fescue, but because of the drought I was thinking of pre germinating it. Have you tried that?

Thanks Doc!

Hi Doc I live Long Island in NY, is there a better time then other times to do a soil test?

Hey Doc what is the growing hype on spreading wood ash on your lawn? does it help with acidic/ hard soil turf?

I bought that tester, sd 3 some all over the yard, mail in soil test says 5.4 The grass acts like 5 not 3. I bought a lemon, well it is yellowish lol

Thanks for the video! Do you still recommend using the MySoil Soil Test Kit?

Can I do a soil test while my grass is asleep or wait till growning season

Is it 50 dollars for a 20. Lb bag? I have 60 k sq feet. With a 7 and to get a 1/3 lb of nitrogen, I would need 4 Lb per 1000 / 240 lbs 12 bags. Is not a great deal. Ag stores 33/0/0 is 17 dollars for a 50 lb bag. I will try some of the bio char though

@Doc, I have 20k sq lawn + 10k bare clay area. I want to get roots on the ground but don’t need more grass. What no maintenance solution do you recommend for erosion control that doesn’t grow tall and I don’t have to mow.

Coming out of the winter, how often could dirt booster plus be applied? Soil test shows high across all micros and macros (except boron) PH is 7.4, this fall been using sta green triple 10+ 7% sulpher at reccomended rate, every 2 weeks since lawn new back yard had its 2nd mow

how accurate is that tester ? Thanks for the video

I found a hammerhead worm and trying to understand how to protect my yard as well as my regular worms. Anyone looked into this yet ?

Doc, my soil is possessed… top layer 2 inches measures above 7… next 2 inches are reading 5.5. How do I treat this for ph?

Doc Is That Your Heat And Drought Tall Fescue?

Does the Clemens test you suggest come with a nitrogen level for the $6? I was looking into trying them but I thought you had to order it separately.

Doc is a ex Marine he's a fighter! Aka military man!

Is this Mel Gibson’s brother?