useing iron

[greg6775]

so you would recommend 46-0-0 ?

[Ric]

so you would recommend 46-0-0 ?

greg6775

I am in warm season turf and calcareous sandy soil. Therefore anything I would recommend might not be right for your area. Francis was Correct when he suggested Granular fertilizer as being the best. However that is more costly and doesn't work for everyone. Most agronomist recommend a 4-1-2 ratio for most turfs however that is only a general rule. Lorenzo Piedra Recommend 5-10-31 which sound awful good to me because I believe in a lottttt of Potassium.

Potassium Nitrate 13.75-0-46 or 13-0-44 is a great tank mix fertilizer in my opinion. It will give you good drought tolerance for the summer dry season and a fast green up now. Your clay soil of Ky should have enough CEC to hold it. And it shouldn't cause excessive growth.

Lesco sells a 33-0-17 if you want a little more Nitrogen and once again you are getting more potassium than straight 46-0-0.

Peters 20-10-20 is an other mixes that would offer you a full package of Minors also.

Of course there are many more blends for tank mixing and you DO NOT HAVE TO USE THE WHOLE BAG each time you mix You can MIX AND MATCH DIFFERENT BLENDS to get what your soil needs.

Now what ever you use, you should consider minor elements also. 15-0-0 Chelated Iron is a common Golf Course Iron in my area. Whereas 12-0-0 chelate Iron is cheaper and more of a residential Iron because of cost.

Now once again I will advise you that I am not the best person to help you chose a blend of Fertilizer. I am not Familiar with your soil or its needs. If I had a soil Analysis I could better help you. However someone in your area who is more familiar with your weather and soil could help you much better

[Ole Green]

RIC said "Now to better explain the % let us take a 100 lb bag of 16-4-8 Fertilizer. 16 pounds of that bag would be N or Nitrogen. 4 pounds of the bag would be P Phosphate. and 8 pounds of that bag would be K Potassium. A 50 lb bag is the most common way fertilizer is packaged. So to under stand how much material is in it we take haft those values because 50 lbs is haft of a 100 Lbs.

Therefore 2% P would mean for every 100 lbs of fertilizer, it would only have 2 lbs of Phosphate. Or in a 50 lb bag there would only be 1 lb of P Phosphate."

Ric, your on the right track however if you took as little as one pound from a bag that had 16-4-8 that pound still consists of 16% N- 4% P- 8%K.
The analysis on a bag of fert. is always the percent of content this will never change if it’s a 2000-lb pile or a handfull it still contains the same percentages of the bag analysis. To keep it simple an application is made in lbs. per 1000 square feet look at the bags analysis 16-4-8. This is .16 N-.04 P -.08 K now multiply this decimal equlavent of percent by your rate in lbs. per 1000 sq. ft.

Example: if your rate is 4 lbs

.16 N - .04 P - .08 K
x4 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. rate
____________
.64 N - .16 P- .32 K = pounds per 1000 sq. ft. applied

[Ric]

Ole Green

Welcome to Lawn Service Forum. Glad you approve that I might be on the right Track. I would hate to be perceived as a Sailor instead of a Nursery Grower.

Now as long as we are in Material Calculations. How might you calculate Actual P and K instead of the Oxide forms listed on the Bag.

[Ole Green]

Ric, Soil tests are typically reported in oxide form as are the recomendations for fertilizer unless otherwise noted. So this is totally useless information for the masses in reguards to lawn. But here ill attempt to caculate this madness:
P derived from phosphate or P2o5 the P atom weight is 31x2=62 the oxgen atomic weight 16x5=142. 62/142=. 44 or 44% P take the number on the bag x .44 or use the factor 2.27 (100/44=2.27) this will give you the elemential weight of P.Now for K derived from Potash K2o the K atom weight 39x2 =78 the o atom weight of 16. 78+16= a total weight of 94. 39/94 (39 weight of K)= .4148x2(K2)= .8297 or 83% to find the elimential weight of K multiply the number on the bag by .83 or use the factor 1.2 (100/83=1.2)
16 N - 4 P2o5 - 8 K2o
x.44 x.83
____________________
16% N - 1.76% P- 6.64%K

If I am right please give me an apple.
Ric, as you know if you deal with customer’s people hear what they want to hear and the same goes for what they see and read. After the talk of halfing a bag it could be misunderstood that we should also look at half the anaylisis untill they read the next line you typed. Statistically people only remember 30% of what they read if what the viewer read and rememberd was halfing those values and he took that to the bank his product cost would be half and his results would also. This is the precise reason I hate responding to posts people read what they want to read. I have read Ric's posts for several months and I have a lot of respect for him. Helping others is a great thing and this man is a wealth of knowledge. People who attack Ric should be battered lightly then fried or slowly BBQ’d. Now its time for me to put on some sunblock and run the other way.

[Ric]

Hello Jim

Had me fooled at first. I though you were a new kid and had to throw a little test at you. If I had not realized it was you the next question would have been the Valance Value of Phosphorus. Then would come the agronomic value of Phosphoric Acid Vs Triple Super Phosphate.

Ah yes I would have put the new guy though the ringer. Just to see now much he really Knew. However in this case The new guy would have put Ric's in the dirt.