Lawns and Soil Sampling
Getting a soil test is one of the best ways you can make sure your lawn and turf grass have what they need to provide the green lawn to which you look forward and also protect water quality in the Lynnhaven River. Plants obtain a variety of compounds from the soil that allow them to grow. When the soil is depleted of these compounds, such as potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous, plants do not have the components they need to be healthy. However, adding these nutrients to your yard without knowing what it needs may place excess nutrients on your lawn that will simply be washed away in the next rain instead of being used by the plants you are trying to feed.
A soil test can provide you with the information you need to best supply your lawn with the compounds needed to keep it growing strong. You should never put fertilizer on your yard without first having a test done to see what is lacking in the soil. Once you have the results of your test, you can then go look for the appropriate fertilizer to supplement the soil. You may not even need to feed your lawn, saving you a big expense in the long run.
In the Tidewater area, the soil is naturally rich in phosphorus. Often the soil here is so rich in phosphorus that tests may report that no phosphorous is needed.
Measuring nitrogen levels is a little trickier. Most soil tests do not actually measure nitrogen. An actual nitrogen test can be difficult and expensive. A basic soil test, however, will offer you a nitrogen recommendation. This is based on a general guideline that is recommended through leading agricultural academics.
The problem with this nitrogen recommendation is that this is only a recommendation. They have no idea how much nitrogen you have in your soil. And, if you add more, it may just wash off into the storm drain during the next rain and find its way to the closest waterway. Excess nutrients are one of the Lynnhaven River’s biggest problems.