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Liming Grass

If you live in an area that receives fairly high amounts of rainfall, you will probably need to lime your yard. Excessive rainfall leads to leaching losses of calcium and magnesium which produce unhealthy acid soil conditions. The optium ph level for turf is in the range of 6.2 to 6.5 for most grass species.

Too much lime can be as bad for your lawn as too little. So, it is important to test your soil before applying lime. If you decide that you need to apply lime, it is simple to apply. You can use either a drop spreader for powdered lime or a spinner spreader for pelletized lime. Uniformed coverage is important because lime is very insoluable and stays where it is put. So, skipped areas will not receive the lime needed to neutralize acidity. A good way to ensure even coverage is to apply half of the lime in one directions and the other half in a perpendicular direction. If you use powdered lime, you can actually see the coverage - not so with pelletized lime.

The best time to apply lime is in the fall to enable the material to move into the soil. However, lime can be applied any time particularly in January and February. If you apply enough lime to bring your ph up to 6.5, it should last for three to five years. For Aesthetics, if after you have tested your lawn's ph and the recommendation is for more than 50 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft., you should split your lime applications and apply the other half three to six months later. For applications under 50 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. will disappear after one or two rainfalls.