Lime for Memphis Lawns: What Does It Do & How Does It Correct pH Levels?

Your lawn needs some tender loving care throughout the year.

And while some of the lawn care treatments and services you receive may seem straightforward, other maintenance tasks might seem a bit more confusing.For instance, one such service that may make you scratch your head a bit is lawn limestone applications. You may have heard about them, or heard a neighbor talking about them. You may have even seen them performed at some of the home lawns on your street. But you might not understand how they work or what they do to help your lawn

We’re here to help.

Memphis, TN, lawns sometimes require lime to help improve soil health and promote healthy grass growth.

To give you more insight into this necessary service, let’s examine lime for lawns and what a lawn lime treatment does for your lawn.

What Are Lawn Lime Treatments?

Lawn lime treatments are in a category of lawn care treatments called soil amendments. These are applications that improve the condition of your soil so that what’s planted in it can grow much better.

Here, we’ll try to answer the most common questions we get about lime for lawns in Memphis, TN.

What is Lawn Lime?

Lawn lime treatments are technically composed of ground limestone.

When you add it to the soil, it can adjust your soil pH. Your soil pH is important because it can impact your lawn’s color and vigor.

We prefer to use high-quality pelletized limestone that also includes calcium and gypsum. Calcium and gypsum make the lime act faster, and calcium also helps reduce soil compaction, which is a nice bonus. This is preferable over powdered lime, which is fairly dusty.

How Can You Find Out Your Lawn’s Soil pH?

A soil test determines what nutrients your Memphis lawn might lack. This can reveal fertilization specifics and any other treatments your lawn might need for improved color, density, and health.

I bet you didn’t know that if your lawn soil’s pH is off, the fertilizer you’re feeding it might not work. Poor pH can limit nutrient uptake. Lawn lime treatments can help correct your soil’s pH and restore it to a better balance.

What Does a Lawn Lime Treatment Do For Your Grass?

As we mentioned, a soil test is the first and most important step in lime for lawns. You have to know your soil's pH before you can amend it. This is crucial because if you don’t test your soil first, you could be making your soil condition worse instead of better with lime.

For Memphis warm-season grasses, scores of 6.3 to 6.5 are ideal. And we typically have good, silty loam soils. When you see pockets of clay, you tend to see lower soil pH levels. Also, excavation and earthmoving work in new subdivisions can expose pockets of soil that are different in composition than expected.

This proper pH enables your lawn to uptake nutrients, which is where lime can help. If your pH is out of this range, your lawn can’t effectively take in those nutrients from the soil.

How Many Lime Treatments Do I Need?

If your pH is off, lime for lawns helps adjust it, bringing it into that more perfect range.

When you send in your soil test, the results will recommend a certain number of pounds of lime per square foot. Usually, lawn care professionals recommend no more than 50 pounds of lime per 1,000 square feet in a single application, which is as much as your soil can absorb at any time.

So, if your soil test results require a higher number, you’ll need multiple lime applications over time to ensure your soil gets the lime it needs to adjust its pH.

Some soils will respond better to lime than others, but typically, when the soil test report says you need a certain amount of lime per 1,000 square feet, that’s exactly what brings your soil to the proper levels.

Testing your soil again after a lime treatment plan should show a pH improvement. Lawn & Pest Solutions likes to test soils every two to three years or, if we see diminished results in a lawn, to be sure soil chemistry is in balance. When a lawn is far out of balance, we recommend applying the prescribed amount of lime and retesting no sooner than 6 months since it takes time for soil levels to balance.

What Are Proper Lawn Lime Application Techniques?

Lime lawn applications are typically done using a lawn spreader, similar to how granular fertilizer is applied. Your lawn care technician will calibrate the spreader properly to ensure accurate lime application.

Then, they will follow soil test guidance to deliver the right amount of lime your lawn needs.

This is certainly a lot to process and remember. That’s why hiring a professional to conduct soil tests and apply lime to lawns is beneficial.

They have the necessary experience and proper equipment to do the job right and are also familiar with this region’s lawn care rules and application best practices. They can ensure you receive the right amount of lime.

When Should Lime Be Applied in Memphis, TN?

You can apply lime at any time of year, but we prefer to do so in the fall for lawns.

This allows your lawn soil to soak up the lime during the cooler season, allowing your pH to adjust come springtime.

How Quickly Does Lawn Lime Work?

How quickly lime works for lawn pH depends on your poor pH.

The time it takes to change your soil's pH depends on how off it is. Typically, this can take one to two years since lime takes a full year to break down.

What Can Happen If I Don’t Fix My Soil pH?

If you do not take the steps needed to adjust your soil pH with lawn limestone, your grass will not be as healthy as it could be.

Not only could your lawn lose color and vigor, leaving you with thin spots, bare areas, or an off-color lawn, but it can also encourage weeds to thrive.

Are Lawn Lime Treatments Safe For Dogs?

Calcitic and dolomitic lime are nontoxic to humans, pets, and wildlife.

However, since lime dust can irritate your pet’s eyes, lungs, and skin, it’s best to wait until the lime application is incorporated into the soil before letting your pet use the yard.

Make Sure Your Lawn Gets What It Needs

You want to know that your lawn is getting what it needs at the right times, including lime treatments to improve pH balance in lawns.

But it can certainly seem frustrating not knowing if your soil is sufficient to grow a thick, green lawn or if your efforts are being wasted because it needs a proper pH adjustment.

This is why it’s crucial to choose a lawn care company in Memphis, TN that knows local soils and understands everything your lawn needs to thrive. You certainly have better things to do than worry about whether your lawn gets every treatment it needs at the proper times. You want to trust that it’s in the right professional hands and looks good.

That’s where Lawn & Pest Solutions can help. We have decades of experience in the North Mississippi region and have seen more than our fair share of local soil. We’re happy to take this worry off your mind and improve your soil pH with lime applications.

Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for lawn care in Memphis, TN? We’re excited to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. We can prepare a customized plan perfect for you and your yard.