|
It
is highly recommended that you have your lawn or turf checked for PH
requirements annually. It is not as critical for your shrubs and
ornamentals, but they would definately benefit as well.
If you have shade trees, nine out of ten times you will need a
limestone application. (Peletized Lime is better because it is not
as messy as pulverized Lime. It should not be inhaled). The
ideal PH is between 6.0 and 7.0 for most turf grasses.
One of the exceptions is Centipede, 5.8 is fine for it. That is
the reason Centipede does well naturally in the upstate, because most
of the time that is what your soil analysis will indicate it presently
is. Basically, the way it works hypothetically, if you applicated
one hundred pounds of appropriate fertilizer to your lawn or turf and
it had a poor PH reading you could be wasting as much as 60 % of the
fertilizer treatment (that is 60 lbs. of waste).
When the Ph is ideal, (most of the time it should be 6.5) your soil's
ability to absorb the fertilization will be "unlocked". It
takes 45+ days to raise the Ph. Hence, this should be done before the
growing season or reseeding to bring it to the optimum level. The
good news is clay/loam type soils hold their Ph longer, but take longer
to get it to optimum level. Sandy soils raise Ph quicker, but do
not keep the optimum Ph as long. Do not miss the importance of
this step. It is the number #2 reason of a failed lawn (#1 is lack
of water).
|
