Fall Is A Great Time For Lime

Fall is a great time to sign up for a lime application in many parts of Canada, since the weather is still warm and the lawn is actively growing. It's also a great time for yard clean-up, raking and lawn care maintenance tasks. Fall really is a handy season! 

Calcitic Lime is a lawn care supplement primarily used to improve the acidity in soil. In essence, it is limestone that has been broken down into fine particles. As the name suggests, it contains a high amount of calcium.

Compared to dolomitic lime (which also contains magnesium and much less calcium) calcitic lime is 4 times more effective and works much faster; dolomitic lime applications can take up to 4 years to break down and start working, which isn't ideal for residential turf.

Regular liming can do a wealth of good for your grass. With a number of benefits, calcitic lime is a welcome addition for every home lawn, especially those that need a little TLC.

Balance The Soil pH 

Acidic soil pH conditions are very common, particularly in coastal areas of Canada. When your soil is acidic, it becomes very difficult to grow healthy grass.

As soil acidity increases, several plant essential nutrients become unavailable for the plant to uptake, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - the three macro nutrients required for healthy growth. Neutralizing soil pH effectively frees up these essential nutrients, giving your lawn a better chance at success.

The climate and vegetation in coastal regions are big contributors to the acidity in lawn soil. Optimal soil pH ranges between 6.5 to 7.5; readings that are below 6.9 are considered acidic and readings above 7.1 are considered alkaline.

An application of Enhanced Calcitic Lime works to neutralize soil pH when conditions are below 6.5. As soil conditions are neutralized, the lawn can begin to take up important nutrients, making it much easier to maintain a healthy lawn.

Watch For Moss Problems

Unlike grass, moss can thrive in acidic soil conditions. Moss infestations are common in shady, moist environments as well as many coastal regions with acidic soil pH, where grass finds it very difficult to compete. 

Using calcitic lime will help neutralize your soil pH, and in turn give turf a better chance at competing with moss, reducing the likelihood of an infestation occuring.

It's important to know that lime cannot kill moss. Although annual lime treatments are very beneficial and a good cultural practice, existing moss infestations may require moss control treatments.

Manage Weed Problems

Like moss, weeds can thrive in acidic soil. Getting the soil back to optimal conditions, you're giving your grass a better chance to grow and outcompete weeds.

Preserve and Protect Your Lawn

While the major benefit of using lime in your lawn is correcting soil acidity, calcitic lime also adds an important nutrient to your lawn; that's right, calcium.

Calcium helps maintain your lawn's colour and strength, and also helps protect the lawn from stress, including heat, drought, or heavy foot traffic.

Improve Fertilizer Results

Liming can help improve the efficiency of your fertilizing efforts by nourishing the good bacteria found in soil. This in turn will make your fertilizer perform better, since the lime optimises soil pH allowing plant essential nutrients to become available.

Correcting undesireable soil pH conditions prior to and during fertilizer applications is recommended practice.

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