Too much Phosphorus?

[A&Mfarms]

How much phosphorus is too much? My soil tests came back an one pasture had 404 lbs./Acre. Is this bad if so what can I do? The other fields were
121 lbs./A
171 lbs./A
159 lbs./A
227 lbs./A

The pH on all tests were between 5.6 And 5.8. Mostly fescue and mixed grass pastures.

 

[dun]

How much phosphorus is too much? My soil tests came back an one pasture had 404 lbs./Acre. Is this bad if so what can I do? The other fields were
121 lbs./A
171 lbs./A
159 lbs./A
227 lbs./A

The pH on all tests were between 5.6 And 5.8. Mostly fescue and mixed grass pastures.

From out latest tests about 40 lbs/a is in the desired range, 60 is very high and 303 is excessive. That's for CSG legume pastures

dun

 

[A&Mfarms]

I thought 404 was very high, but will this hurt anything? If so what can I do.

 

[dun]

I thought 404 was very high, but will this hurt anything? If so what can I do.

We've just let it slide, doesn;t seem to hurt the grass, actaully the OG seems to really like it. As long as it doesn;t run off into a stream or the water table there isn;t a problem that I'm aware of.

dun

 

[Ranchcop]

I hate to sound like a broken record here.... , but I would apply Effective Nitrogen Fixing Micro Organisims to the soil to help get rid of the excess.
I would also talk to your Fertilzer company to make sure that they can mix you a product without Phosphorus. Sounds like you wont need any for a long time.
Brad
http://www.WatsonRanchOrganic.com

 

[Dave]

Grass hay removes about 4 to 8 pounds of P per ton. Pasture even less because most of the P taken up in the grass is returned through the manure. You are going to remove a lot of grass before you need more P. Raising your soil pH will make even more P available. If you buy any commercial fertilizer I would make sure it has a 0 for the second number and I wouldn't apply any manure to the field that tested 404. This wont hurt the grass or the livestock and you can grow it out of the soil but it is going to take a long while.
Just curious but what was this field used for in the past?
Dave

 

[A&Mfarms]

It has been used for cattle pasture for the last 40 years. Our granddad just believed in chicken litter.

 

[J]

I thought that hay removed closer to 15 pounds of P per ton but I could be wrong, but no matter what the number is, it sounds to me like this particular pastuer needs to be used for cutting hay off of for the next few years, only fertilizing according to soil tests. I would like to know the previous use of this pasture also. Just curious.

 

[Dave]

Grandpa must have really believed in chicken manure. I would doubt that you need any K with this high of a P test result. You can probably get by with just N for the next 5 or 10 years.
In some areas where they are beginning to regulate based on P levels you would be on their list. However most P losses are through soil erosion and you wont lose much soil from a pasture.
By the way with that high a P level I would look closely at the K level. High K level in the soil can cause the grass to luxury consume K this can lead to low Mg level in the grass which leads to grass tetany.
Dave

 

[Angus Guy]

I'm curious about the rest of the soil test numbers.