Everyone enjoys a lush green lawn, but the soil can sometimes come in the way of good grass. Lime is an efficient technique to raise the pH of your grass’s soil while also stimulating optimal development. Natural limestone is used to make grass lime.
The rock is finely pulverized and then applied to the soil in lawns, gardens, and other landscape areas to cure it. Limestone has a lot of natural magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate, which are used to neutralize acidic soil. If you’re new to liming your lawn, our beginner’s guide is a great place to start.
When you look at the label’s directions, you’ll notice that there aren’t many, aside from the fact that it’s not a fertilizer. Make sure to check for the active Calcium Carbonate component. You lower your head in disappointment because there are no more instructions on utilizing this soil conditioner.
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What Is Lime? An Overview
Lime is a soil amendment derived from finely crushed limestone. Aglime, agricultural limestone, garden lime, or liming are some of the other names you might have heard for it.
It provides critical nutrients such as calcium and magnesium to the soil when applied to the lawn. Calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate are the main constituents in the supplement.
The grass cannot absorb soil nutrients such as nitrogen when the pH is too low. When this happens, the grass stops growing, and significant lawn issues arise. Lime elevates the pH of the soil and keeps it within the ideal range for grass growth.
More nutrients, such as nitrogen from lawn fertilizer, are accessible for the grass to use when the soil pH is at the correct range, allowing grass to grow fuller and thicker.
Test The Soil Before Adding Lime
Make sure you submit a soil sample to your local county extension department for testing before applying any lime to your lawn. The soil report you’ll get from them will tell you how much lime you need to add to your soil.
Something an at-home soil pH test from your local garden center won’t be able to tell you. The amount of time required to correct the soil pH is determined by the soil type.
A widespread misconception about this product is that it can be used in place of traditional fertilizer. This isn’t correct. Instead, because it enhances nitrogen and potassium uptake into plants, it is frequently used in conjunction with conventional fertilizers. As a result, while it serves various functions in healthy grass care, it is not a fertilizer.
Spring Is The Best Season To Add Lime
It can take several months for lime to break down and modify the pH of your soil after it has been applied. When your soil begins to warm in the spring, it’s an excellent time to test your lawn’s pH and make any necessary adjustments. Lime can be used in the fall as well.
The advantage of applying lime to your soil in the fall is that the freeze-thaw cycles, as well as the heavy rain and snow that fall and winter bring, will help break down the lime and begin raising the pH of the soil. A stressed or dormant lawn should never be treated with lime.
Apply Lime On A Dried Lawn
Lime is blended into the top 5 inches of soil and applied to dry grass. Grassroots are usually just around five inches deep. A drop or rotary spreader is the most effective instrument to employ. Never use your hands to apply lime on your lawn. If you get too close to the lye in the lime, it will burn you.
To keep the dust out of your lungs, you should also use protective equipment like a breathing mask.
Aerate a lawn with a core aerator before adding lime to allow the lime to move into the soil. After that, apply the limestone to your grass with a drop or rotary spreader.
Half of it should be applied while walking in one way across your lawn, and the other half should be applied in the opposite direction. This ensures that lime is applied to every inch of your lawn.
When Do You Add Lime To Your Lawn?
Aside from evaluating your soil pH, a few additional indicators indicate that your Charlotte lawn might benefit from a lime lawn treatment. An abundance of weeds is one of the most telling signs of low soil ph. A good lawn chokes off most weeds. If you observe that more weeds are growing in your lawn than in the past, check the pH of the soil.
Many weeds prefer acidic soil. If lime is required, the pH test will reveal this. If the grass does not green up after fertilizing, the pH of the soil may be too acidic. Lime elevates the pH while keeping it near neutral, which is ideal for most lawn grasses.
Conclusion
Above all, it’s not easy to maintain the lawn, especially while dealing with the chemicals and fertilizers to balance the soil Ph. However, you can get complete details and guidelines to add lime to your lawn from discussed points. Make sure to wear the complete safety dress while adding the lime to the ground.
If you are not sure to apply this chemical to the lawn yourself, hire professional contractors for this purpose. Moreover, you can also consider hiring experts for spraying the lime to the ground if you are suffering from any health condition.
Ideally, experts also have all the essential tools and equipment to apply the lime evenly on the whole ground.
