Gary – posted 25 August 2003 06:46
I thought I asked an easy question. But I guess not. I only got one reply (posted 8-20-03 yellowing S.Augustine). The 1 reply wasn’t the answer. Either this question was very hard ,this question was just asked and I missed it or _________! G-whiz Wally.
Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 25 August 2003 09:46
Gary,I’m stumped. St Aug yellows for me when we get a lot of rain on our calcium soil. The rain locks up the iron and the grass doesn’t get any. With an acidic soil, you should not have that problem.
Can you get a product called greensand? That is what I use when I have iron problems and it really works well.
But before that, I would get a really good soil test done. Did you say what fertilizer you have used, when, and how much?
Gary – posted 25 August 2003 13:47
DcHall, Thanks for the honesty. Now I’m wondering….You say I shouldnt have the same problem with the soil locking in acid soil. Ialways heard that too much acid in a soil does cause it to lock up. Am I wrong on thisthought? I hope not because I just aerated and limed the yard hoping to see animprovement soon. I think your dead on the soil testing. I will do it soon. I just hope the lime I just putdown doesnt mess up the test. I think you are on track with the nutrients and iron. I may be lacking the calciumalso… but I thought because of the clay, it doesnt have much. The real bad places, is theworst clay area of the yard……….. The thing is the fescue is green and the ST. Augustinesrunners are green and growing great in most of the yard. Its just noticed on last yearsplugs 1x 2 pieces. The only nutrients I put down this season are the grass clippings,which are plentiful this year, cut/mulch twice a week .I was hoping on getting around allthe buying of nutrients. Looking for the low maintenance yard. I think I will just call the sod farm where I bought the St. Augustine and ask themwhat the pH should be. I will keep experimenting with these ideas and keep you posted.
amays – posted 08 September 2003 12:00
If the soil pH is either too high or too low, it will lock up the nutrients.
Here’s a link to a chart that shows how nutrient availability varies based on pH. The width of the horizontal band indicates increased availability.
http://www.cjnetworks.com/~sccdistrict/soilph.htm
You can see that there is no one solution, pH-wise, to a nutrient problem. Heh, in fact treating for one problem can aggravate another latent problem.