Liming Your Grass
When you start to look at your lawn care this spring, try thinking about the soil a little more than just the grass blades. In addition to that, think organically. There are several types of treatments that you can add to your grass to make it green and thick that do not involve chemicals. Lime is one of those important factors.
Why a Lime Treatment?
Lawns just will not grow properly if the soil is not in proper balance. In fact, most people only look at the grass, and not the foundation soil beneath. But in all reality, no lawn treatment will work well if the soil is off. That is where lime comes in, but only to reduce the acidity levels of your base dirt or soil.
You may have heard the terms “sweet soil” and “sour soil” somewhere? Sour soil has too much acid in it, whereas sweet soils are overly alkaline. Extremes on either end are not favorable, however. Grass needs balance, just like we do!
So now let’s all look back to 7th grade chemistry studies. Remember that pH is measured from 1-14, with 7 being neutral? Good, keep that in mind for a little while.
Just like experiments in the chemistry class at your local middle school, soil with a reading of less than pH 7.0 is acidic and soil with a reading greater than pH 7.0 is alkaline. Most turf grasses grow best between pH 6.5 and pH 7.0. That is referred to as ‘neutral’ and that is the target we are aiming for.
How can your lawn benefit from lime application?
Two important elements that help maintain the balance in the soil are calcium and magnesium. Those two elements together are lime!
Acidic soil is not necessarily useless, but is a sign that the supplies of calcium and magnesium are low and need to be brought back to healthy levels so the grass can grow.
In addition, high acidity or low pH levels may also cause other nutrients to be un-usable to grass plants. This means that micro-nutrients are bound up in the soil and grass roots cannot grab them for use. A common example if this binding is iron, which makes grass a deep-blue-green color. Iron binds up and becomes unusable with soil is highly acidic. The greater the acidity of the soil, the greater the need for lime. The lime helps release the iron which in turn, makes the grass deep blue baby!
Keep in mind that lime is not a fertilizer product, but more of a soil conditioner. Putting lime on your lawn is not going to make it green and thick. It will, however, allow your other organic products to do their jobs better.
Applications of lime on existing lawns are best applied in Fall and Spring because of cooler temperatures and readily available moisture. Ask your lawn care provider about lime treatments and when they recommend scheduling these vital landscaping services.
If you have big evergreen trees or shrubs in your lawn or around your landscape and no turf will stay alive underneath them, be sure to mention this when you call as this may require further lime treatments or other more drastic measures like digging out soil and replacing or amending. If you are unsure about what to do, call a company like TruGreen or Scott’s lawn service to help you.
You never want to over-do the lime. In fact, too much of it will hurt the turf and stunt the growth. Balance is the key with any of these products, even if they are organic. Throw in a little Milorganite organic lawn fertilizer, and your lawn will be super green and healthy all year long.