Why & When You Should Apply Lime To Your Lawn

When it comes to establishing a new lawn or treating an existing one, you’re bound to come across a million different year-round lawn care ideas, which may be intimidating, especially if you’re new to the game. While we all have different tastes when it comes to the appearance and feel of our lawn, we believe everyone can agree that a lush, green, healthy lawn will make all of your neighbors envious.

A lime application — a process that helps to balance the pH levels of your soil — is a lawn care service that frequently goes unnoticed. Lime is a variety of soil amendments or a material used to boost the health of your lawn that is made of limestone and gives calcium to the soil to counteract acidity.

Your soil may get more acidic over time, or it may be inherently acidic, which isn’t ideal for healthy grass growth in some conditions. If you live somewhere that gets a lot of rain, you’ll run into this issue at some time – the rain wipes away a lot of nutrients that are difficult to replace. Applying a lime application to your grass might help it recover nutrients lost due to acidity and even heal the damage caused by it.

What is Lime?

Lime is a soil amendment manufactured from crushed limestone rock that contains calcium and magnesium carbonates. These chemicals help to raise the pH of soil when lime is applied, making it less acidic and more alkaline. 

Despite the fact that lime contains calcium and magnesium, which are necessary minerals for plant development, it is not a fertilizer replacement. Lime’s principal function is to change soil pH and neutralize acidity, which can enhance plant nutrient availability.

Why Add Lime?

​​The optimal soil pH level for your grass is somewhat acidic, ranging between 5.8 and 7.0. For cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and fescues, they prefer a little higher, or more alkaline, pH. Warm-season grasses, on the other hand, prefer a pH that is somewhat lower or acidic. 

However, when the pH of the soil gets too acidic, key nutrients required for healthy development (such as nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and calcium) become inaccessible to the lawn, preventing it from growing correctly. Lime (sometimes known as garden lime) or limestone can be applied to the soil to assist in raising the pH and enhance the availability of those nutrients.

Signs Your Lawn Might Need A Lime Application

Have you used just about every product on the market with no signs of your lawn recovering? Most likely, it’s your soil’s pH that’s off and a lime application could fix that problem. Here are some tell-tale signs your lawn needs a lime application: 

• You have either sand or clay soil. Both of them are acidic by nature.
• Your yard has become overrun with weeds or moss.
• Your fertilizer does not appear to be effective. When the pH of the soil becomes too acidic, most fertilizers stop working.
• Your location gets a lot of rain, especially acid rain.
• The grass is becoming yellow.
• You just had a drought, and your grass is struggling to recover.
• A soil test indicates that your lawn’s pH is less than 6.2.

Why Soil Testing is Important

Soil testing offers an accurate measurement of your soil’s present pH level as well as other characteristics, such as soil type, that influence how much lime or other soil amendments it may require. 

You can’t correctly evaluate your lawn’s needs without soil samples. Applying lime when it isn’t needed, or applying too much, can hurt rather than assist lawn grasses. If your soil is too acidic, retest every year until appropriate balance is restored. An established lawn should be tested approximately every three to four years to evaluate its overall health. 

When’s The Best Time To Apply A Lime Application To My Lawn?

Liming lawns is best done in the fall and spring. Fall offers an extra advantage since rain, snow, and cycles of freezing and thawing during the winter and early spring aid in the breakdown of lime and the start of its action.

Maintain a Healthy Lawn With Help From Turfcor

Are you stillwondering if a lime application is the right solution for your lawn? Let one of Turfcor’s experts evaluate your property and help get the lawn you’ve always wanted! Contact Turfcor Lawn and Tree Care today to set up an appointment.