Before you start gathering limes from the fridge so you can squeeze them all over your lawn, hold on a minute.
Save those limes for good stuff like key lime pie, chicken burrito bowls, and margaritas.
We’re talking about the lime that’s a soil amendment made from ground limestone rock. Which is definitely not an ingredient in key lime pie. It would make it way too crunchy.
What does a lime treatment do for a lawn?
Lots of good things, if your lawn needs it. Here’s a look at four benefits of lime application:
First, Why Does a Lawn Need Lime?
If your Eau Claire Wi or Minneapolis lawn isn’t looking too great, even though you’re staying on top of your fertilizer applications, it could mean its pH is off and needs lime to balance it.
Soil pH is a way to measure the amount of acidity or alkalinity in your lawn’s soil. It’s measured on a scale from 0 to 14. Extreme acidity is at the low end of the scale, extreme alkalinity is at the top end.
Soil at the midpoint, number 7, is neutral soil — neither acidic nor alkaline. Most grasses thrive at a pH range of between 6.0 and 7.0.
If your lawn soil pH is too low, it’s time for lime, a soil amendment made from ground limestone rock, which contains calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.
Add lime to your soil, and these compounds increase the soil's pH, making the soil less acidic and more alkaline.
Or, if your lawn soil pH is too high, your lawn might need gypsum, a mineral that contains hydrated calcium sulfate.
What are the benefits of lime application?
1. Your Lawn Will Be Thicker and Greener
Important nutrients for grass are available in soil when the pH is balanced at that mid-level. If your pH is off, your grass won’t get the nutrients it needs, no matter how much you fertilize.
If your lawn’s roots can’t take in the fertilizer’s nutrients, it won’t be thick, healthy, and have that rich green color you love.
The right pH unlocks your lawn’s ability to take in nutrients and thrive.
2. What Does Lime Do for a Lawn? Fewer Weeds
A healthy lawn, with balanced pH, is better equipped to choke out weeds.
Many weeds prefer acidic soil. Adding lime will balance your soil so weeds won’t be so happy there.
3. Your Lawn Will Better Resist Pests and Disease
Pests and lawn diseases don’t like healthy lawns, either. If your pH is off and your lawn isn’t thriving, it’s easier for pests and diseases to move in.
4. Your Lawn Will Be Tougher
One of the best benefits of lime application is that a healthy lawn with a balanced pH level is tougher, and able to stand up better to stresses like drought, heat, high traffic, or whatever else you or nature dishes out.
What’s Your Lawn Soil pH? Time for a Test
So how do you know if your lawn needs the benefits of a lime application? RainMaster lawn care specialists will insert a meter into your soil to check the pH level.
Lawn soil pH varies from city to city, and even from lawn to lawn in the same neighborhood.
Lawn soil in Eau Claire, WI tends to be acidic, while the soil in Minneapolis often leans toward alkaline.
Once your lawn is balanced with the right pH, your soil can actually use the nutrients in your fertilizer and flourish.
Want the Benefits of Lime Application? Ask RainMaster
Here at RainMaster, we consider lawn soil pH so important, that we include pH testing in all three levels of our lawn care programs. And we include pH balancers lime or gypsum in our top two lawn care program levels.
You’re paying for fertilizer so your grass can grow green and healthy. Make sure it can do its job, and you’re getting your money’s worth.
Does your lawn need lime or gypsum? Want to be sure your fertilizer is working? Request a quote today! We’ll review your lawn care options together so you can make a great choice. Then, you can finally enjoy your lawn and stop worrying about it.
Image Source: pH Scale
