The Benefits of Adding Lime to Your Lawn and When to Apply It… | A&A Lawn Care & Landscaping (2024)

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The Benefits of Adding Lime to Your Lawn and When to Apply It… | A&A Lawn Care & Landscaping? ›

Lime Nourishes Essential Bacteria

In addition, applications of lime should be made either in the spring or fall when rainfall is most abundant. Rain helps move the material into the soil profile and rootzone and also helps avoid any potential for turfgrass foliar burn or injury after application.

Don't apply lime when your lawn is frost-covered or wilted. And always water the lawn after applying the lime to wash the lime off the grass blades and allow it to make contact with the soil.

Lime is usually applied during the Autumn or Winter so your lawn may not need mowing. If it does, then it's best to mow before applying the product.

It's best to apply fertilizer first and water it in (or wait until after a rain) before liming the lawn.

If heavy rain is on the way, delay applying lime or fertilizer until after the showers are over. In fact, wait for your property to drain thoroughly. Never add lime and fertilizer to soggy soil, even if the lawn has puddles. On the other hand, don't put lime and fertilizer on limp, dry grass either.

Too much lime changes the soil pH and pushes it into an area where the grasses will not thrive. If you do not catch this mistake in time, the lawn will turn yellow, and the grasses can die.

Adding lime to soil raises the pH so it becomes less acidic. Lime can 'green-up' a lawn. The best way to determine whether or not your soil needs liming is to test its pH. The target pH level of turf grass, for example, is between 6.2 and 6.5, so if your soil has a lower pH it will likely benefit from adding it.

Lime (limestone) is a material that's heavy in calcium and powerful tool in yard care used to help balance soil acidity. Lime can not be used to kill weeds. While it works to balance the pH of your soil, it may inadvertently make the space less desirable for weeds to grow.

Does lime make your grass thicker? ›

Acidity levels can work against your best efforts, and in the process, you can spend a surprising amount of money just to wind up disappointed. Adding lime to your soil may help your grass grow faster and thicker. Not only just this lend itself to a lush lawn, but one that's robust enough to fight off problems.

It takes about three months for lime to actually move the pH reading so applying your lime now will yield results in the spring and summer when the turf is actively growing and taking in nutrients.

Unfortunately, because so many people lime after aerating their lawns, some homeowners assume the two tasks must be done together. This isn't the case, so while homeowners with warm-season grasses should only aerate in spring, they should apply lime in the fall like their neighbors.

Lime shouldn't be applied to grass and yards that are wilted or covered in frost. Since it can take two years for lime to move 2 inches into your soil, avoid over liming by applying lime only every three to five years.

Calcitic lime is the preferred type, thanks to the added plant benefits provided by the calcium. There are several types of calcitic lime products available, including agricultural ground limestone, pulverized limestone, and pelletized limestone.

This 40 lb. bag will cover up to 6,500 sq. ft. and is 100% guaranteed.

Always start by checking your soil's pH. Making your soil's pH too high with lime application will cause your lawn to suffer. Generally, only apply 50 lbs of lime per 1,000 sqft of lawn or less during the initial application. If you need more than 50 lbs to fully treat the soil, then apply the lime in two applications.

This figure also shows that while pelletized lime increases soil pH more than calcitic lime when applied at equal rates, it also takes pelletized lime in excess to 100 days to reach a maximum soil pH adjustment. That is a over 3 months, or slightly longer when taking field environmental factors into consideration.