Your Lawn on Drugs
It’s practically a ritual in Westchester. Spread fertilizer on the lawn in the spring and fall, maybe even twice more during the summer, so it stays a bright green. Add limestone to keep the soil alkaline, to increase nutrient uptake. Apply a pre-emergent to control the weeds. Spray Roundup and pesticides when needed.This ritual took hold in the late 1950′s. Up until then, lawns weren’t that big a deal. People just mowed and either put up with weeds or hand pulled them. Quite a few people were growing food in their “victory gardens” wherever there was space and sun.
Just after World War II, when all the G.I.’s were buying homes, the lawn became the mandated symbol of community pride. Not so coincidentally, the factories producing nitrogen for bombs needed another way to make profits. Enter chemical lawn fertilizers.
Bags of these fertilizers combine nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, the main minerals needed for plant growth. (The 3 numbers you typically see on fertilizer bags, e.g. 5-3-5, represent N-P-K: nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium.) These minerals are usually present in sufficient amounts in your soil. The commercial fertilizers give your lawn a super dose of growth promoters. So super that your lawn will look thick, lush and bright green in a matter of days. But this creates problems.
Problem #1: Nitrogen Addiction Your grass cannot possibly absorb the sudden, large amounts of nitrogen. Insects, which are also looking for nitrogen as a food source, are attracted to the excess. So now you have an insect problem, like whiteflies. What does the gardener do? Spray insecticide. Which kills the bad bugs, but also all the good bugs. These good bugs are the predators that would eat the bad bugs. They don’t bounce back as fast as the pests, for the same reason why there are a lot more rats than hawks. Nature tries to keep a balance of food sources. The very thing fertilizers and herbicides mess with.
Problem #2: Grass on Steroids These chemical fertilizers make the lawn look intensely green because they cause quick growth. So quickly, that the growth cannot be supported indefinitely. The blades die, clogging the lawn, creating a condition called thatch. Too much thatch traps humidity in the lawn, creating conditions for mold and mildew to move in.
Problem #3: A Disrupted Ecosystem Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are important minerals. Just as important are the millions of creatures and microbes that contribute to healthy soil. Soil may look like dirt, but it contains an entire ecosystem of fungi, bacteria, predators and prey. Many have specific jobs, such as bacteria that help plant roots absorb the minerals, fungi that recycle wood and worms that aerate the soil and recycle organic matter. Lime, a common lawn care additive, is toxic to to worms.
Applying Lime To Lawns - News
Lime, a common lawn care additive, is toxic to to worms. But, you say, “I want a beautiful green lawn.” You can still have a lush lawn without chemicals. The main objective is to build healthy soil. The grass will take care of itself.
The Master Gardener will return that information to residents with advice about applying it to lawns. Anyone interested in having the service performed can call the Master Gardener Volunteers' Help Desk at 703-771-5150, or email ex107mg@vt.edu.
If the pH reading is 7.0 or lower you could add lime to the lawn and wash it into the soil to raise the pH and make life more uncomfortable for this weed = if the growing conditions for the weed are not ideal, you get a better result with the
A spinning cylinder resembling a supersized cheese grater sifted out tidbits like lime wedges and grass clippings and spit the chunkier items onto a platform, where a worker in a neon vest plucked out plastic bags and an aerosol can of glass
Opening ceremonies are held in a friend's backyard, and consist of a handful of people sitting around in lawn chairs, drinking beer. We brought a six-pack of Odell Brewing Co.'s Easy Street Wheat, so named because brewers "take it easy" and skip
Lime For Lawns - When to Lime Your Lawn | Plant-Care.com
Answer: Karol, before you put lime on the lawn (your neighbor may be correct) it is always best to have a soil pH test done. Testing the soil pH is the only real way for you to know if your lawn needs an application of lime (dolomitic limestone).
Lime Corrects Acid SoilFor some areas on the country, the soil/dirt may be what is called “ acid soil “. The way you correct acid soil (raise the pH) is by applying or adding lime. Soils on the extreme acid side (and alkaline as well) do not allow grasses to grow very well. A nutrient imbalance exist and the soil can in fact be “toxic”. The acid in the soil can limit (tie up) the availability of some nutrients, reducing the lawn’s ability to use those nutrients for growing a healthy lawn. In general, where you find high rainfall, you will find highly acidic soils.
I would bet your neighbor has been in the neighborhood a long time and knows you will need to add lime to your lawn from experience alone. But I would get a soil pH test just to be sure.
When To Apply Lime To A LawnThe measurement of soil acidity is defined by its pH level. The scale of pH runs from 0 to 14 with a pH of 7 as neutral. Anything above a pH of 7 is alkaline and below a pH of 7 is acid. Most grasses will grow fine with a pH ranging from 5.5 to 7.5, and for the “ideal” grass pH, most lawns would thrive with a 6.8 to 7. The exception being centipede grass which like a soil pH more on the acid side around the 6.0 area.
Raising The pH of the Lawn
If you soil is tested and the pH comes in below 5.5 you can neutralize the pH or raise it (bringing it closer to a pH of 7) by applying lime. The best lime to use on plants is “dolomitic limestone” and you should be able find this “lime for lawns” at garden centers. The application rate of lawn lime per 1,000 feet is 50 to 75 pounds. The best method to apply lime on a lawn is with a drop fertilizer spreader .
The lime reduces the acidity of the soil with direct contact and for this reason be careful not to put lime around the roots of acid loving plants in the landscape.
Applying Lime To Lawns - Bookshelf
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