As we addressed in a recent post, soil testing provides an abundance of useful information about the health of your lawn. A soil test kit can be purchased at a local hardware store or facilitated by your local municipality. One of the key features of the soil test is the pH level. If your pH is below 7.0, that means your soil is acidic. The lower the pH the more acidic it is and the more important it is to apply lime to your lawn. When your soil is too acidic, it can reduce the ability of your grass and plants to receive certain nutrients. Fortunately, lime is a great solution to this problem.
Most experts will tell you that lime can be added anytime of the year, but fall is a particularly useful time for a lime application. This additive does not move very quickly and will take several months to become fully submersed in your soil. A fall application gives the lime time to work when not much else is going on in your yard. Some soil test reports will have a suggestion of amount of lime needed. However, if you don’t have this feature on your soil test, you should consult with your lawn care professional. Just as soil that is too acidic can be problematic, too much lime can cause your soil to be too alkaline and cause serious problems as well.
Lime comes in several different forms that can be used on your lawn. The various types of lime range in price and ease of application. Pelletized limestone is one of the most popular forms of lime for residential lawns. This product can be easily applied with a spreader and it’s important that you cover your lawn evenly because the lime won’t spread itself evenly in your soil. The typical recommendation for the amount of lime to use is around 50lbs/1000sq ft. However, this can vary based on the type of soil you have and how acidic it currently is.