Summary of Mehlich-3 P Data from Home-Lawn Soil Tests in Pennsylvania

Abstract

InDISCRIMINATE USE of P-containing fertilizer on runof-prone turfgrass sites is thought to contribute to the contamination of ground and surface water (Soldat and Petrovic, 2008). Consequently, several states have enacted laws restricting the use of P fertilizers, and others are considering similar legislation. A bill restricting P and N fertilizer on turfgrass was recently introduced in Pennsylvania, and implications of the proposed legislation are currently being discussed with stakeholders. Although soil testing is primarily performed to assess nutrient status in crop and turfgrass systems, some researchers have used soil-test summaries to examine trends in nutrient management practices and the status of soil P in cropland and lawns at the regional scale (Sims, 2000). Soldat and Petrovic (2008) stated that little published data on trends in soil P concentrations exist for turfgrass sites, and such information would be beneicial to validate predictions made for lawns and other turf areas. he objective of this study was to determine soil-test P concentrations in Pennsylvania home lawns based on unsolicited soil samples submitted to Penn State’s Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory (AASL). Data from Pennsylvania home-lawn soil samples submitted to AASL between 1 Jan. 2004 and 31 Dec. 2009 were assembled into a spread sheet and summarized. Samples were submitted by homeowners and professional lawn fertilizer applicators via test kits distributed from county extension oices in Pennsylvania. he distribution of test kits was on a request basis, and no attempt was made to solicit soil samples from homeowners and professional applicators for this study. Instructions for collecting soil samples are included in the kits and call for a sampling depth of 5.1 to 7.6 mm, 12 or more cores per sample from each sampling site, and discarding all grass and thatch from cores. All soil samples were processed and analyzed at AASL according to methods listed by Wolf and Beegle (1995). Phosphorus was extracted from soil samples using Mehlich-3 Published in Applied Turfgrass Science DOI 10.2134/ATS-2014-0048-BR © 2014 American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711