Scooping Soil Into Test Dish
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Is it worth testing my soil?
Since soils and situations can vary significantly from lawn to lawn, no one product or regimen suits all lawns. What’s just right in one yard might not be enough in another or might not be needed at all.
On one hand, adding nutrients that aren’t needed is wasteful and potentially polluting.
A case in point is recent findings that most soils have sufficient levels of the root-enhancing nutrient phosphorus that once was a common component of lawn fertilizers. Many lawn fertilizers now don’t contain any phosphorus, which can leach into waterways when applied to excess.
None of GreenView’s fertilizers, for example, contain phosphorus, other than a starter fertilizer for new lawns.
Over-fertilizing also can be counter-productive to good grass growth. Excess amounts of nitrogen can make lawns more prone to diseases such as summer patch, brown patch, and pythium blight as well as more likely to develop excess thatch. And spills or uneven application of traditional high-nitrogen fertilizers can lead to burns and brown streaking.
On the other hand, lack of key nutrients – especially nitrogen – can lead to weak growth that in turn gives grass poor color and creates openings that make a lawn more weed-prone. Diseases such as dollar spot, rust, and red thread also tend to occur more often in under-fertilized, nitrogen-poor lawns.
Read more on lawn diseases