Lime
Core aeration
Lime: Its Purpose and Function for Your Lawn and Flowerbeds
Does your lawn or flowerbed need lime? This question can actually be answered by a “maybe.” It is because soils in lawns and gardens tend to differ from one yard to another. There are yards wherein lime should be added every several years so that plants can stay health. On the other hand, especially those located in beaches, adding lime might bring harm to the plans.
Yet, there is no denying that lime is a useful lawn additive that can help in maintaining the health of grass through amending the soil. As a homeowner, you will surely want your lawn to stay as attractive as possible as this will enhance the appearance of your property. Through maintaining the turf and the soil, you can easily achieve the improved look that you want.
Lime – What is It Really?
Lime is actually a soil amendment that is made through grinding limestone, a kind of rock that naturally occurs in the environment and has high calcium content. Right now, there are two types of lime commonly used in gardens and lawns, namely dolomitic lime and agricultural lime. Also sold as garden lime, the agricultural lime has been made from calcium carbonate.
Meanwhile, dolomitic lime is created using dolomite, a kind of rock that resembles limestone except that this also has magnesium content. Both of these lime types can provide your plants with calcium but dolomitic lime can also supply magnesium, which is a nutrient that usually has low content in some soils. Some other lime types that you can find today include slaked or hydrated lime and burnt or quick lime. However, these are not recommended for gardens and lawns.
Functions of Lime
You have to remember that lime is actually a soil conditioner, not a type of fertilizer even though this is usually mistaken to be one. Lime performs different functions that can help in proper lawn maintenance and growth.
• Lime corrects the acidity of soil.
• It reduces the occurrence of different toxic substances including manganese, iron and aluminum.
• It replenishes the vital nutrients of magnesium and calcium.
• This can help regulate and promote copper, phosphorous and zinc.
• This can provide for the compost or organic decayed matter to operate at their most efficient levels.
• Lime increases the soil’s ability of absorbing and retaining water.
• It allows improved circulation of air in porous soil.Apart from supplying calcium, lime can also make soils less acidic. Sour soils, as what old timers use when referring to acidic soils, have low soil pH. The levels of soil pH can range from the very acidic 3.0 to a moderately basic 8.0. Majority of ornamental plants, fruits and vegetables thrive best when the soil pH is a bit acidic between 5.5 and 6.5. When the level is lower than this, most nutrients can become inaccessible to plants even though they still might be found in the soil while the elements such as aluminum can become excessively available and cause burning in the roots.
Extremely high soil pH can make plants develop yellowing between their veins or iron chlorosis.
If the soil pH is extremely low, most of the plants are not going to grow properly even if you add a lot of fertilizer. If the soil pH is already 6.5 or more, lime addition might only harm the plants as this will raise the pH excessively. It will make the nutrients unavailable that will result to symptoms of nutrient deficiency like stunted growth and yellow leaves. It is specifically true for plants that love acid that can grow best if the soil pH is about 5.0 to 5.5.
How to Determine if Your Lawn Soil Needs Lime
The solely accurate method to determine if your lawn or flowerbed requires lime is to have your soil tested. There are now soil test kits that can be bought online or at garden centers but these will not be able to give you accurate results or tell you the right amount of lime that you need to add. Good thing that Perfect Leaf Management conducts soil tests before applying lime in your lawns to have an accurate application.
When is the Perfect Time for Lime Application?
The most ideal time when you should be applying lime is when your lawn is ready to be laid. It is important for the soil to be prepared with lime application because as research shows, it will take two years before lime can move two inches deep to the soil. For established lawns, the applications can be made during late fall, winter or even early spring. Summer and late spring rains may only make the soil extremely wet that will not allow an even distribution.
How to Apply Lime
It is important that you evenly spread lime across the whole lawn as this is not going to move horizontally. The use of a spreader will allow even distribution, particularly around trees and flower beds. Right now, lime is made available in the form of pellet. Even though this form is a bit more expensive, this can allow an application using your hands without the presence of dust which can be tracked into your house or blown around your yard.
Correcting the soil pH in your lawns or flowerbeds through liming truly brings numerous benefits. Since lime can foster a healthy environment in the soil, liming can help the plants in reaping all benefits provided by healthy soil.
Since most nutrients important for a healthy growth of plants are available usually at a neutral pH
range, soil pH neutralization can make sure that the existing soil nutrients will be unlocked and made readily available for the uptake of plants. Neutral soil pH is the preferred pH for most grasses and plants which means that they grow best at such range. Also, liming can help the worms and microbes to thrive that will foster a truly living and thriving soil environment instead of a dead and stagnant soil. Liming can also help the fertilizers to become more effective.
For your liming needs, you can call Perfect Leaf Management as we can lend you a helping hand in ensuring that your lawns and flowerbeds will get the appropriate liming application.