- Under what circumstances should the lawn be whitewashed?
- How much lime does your soil need?
- When should you whitewash the lawn?
- Lime the lawn and fertilize at the same time?
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Here you can find out when and why you should lime your lawn. We also answer whether you can lime and fertilize the lawn at the same time.
In contrast to lawn fertilizer or compost, which are good for every lawn when given regularly, lime is only beneficial in very specific cases. Basically, you should never lime as a precaution, but only when the need arises. Therefore, below you will find out when your lawn really should be whitewashed. We also answer the question of whether it is possible to lime and fertilize the lawn at the same time.
Whoever talks about lime usually means the chemical compound calcium carbonate (CaCO3), also known as carbonate of lime. This compound is one of the most common in the world. But what does lime do in the soil and how does it affect plants?
Under what circumstances should the lawn be whitewashed?
Because a few mineral lawn fertilizers and slightly acidic rain can cause the pH value of the soil to fall below a value that the lawn can tolerate, liming is occasionally necessary in addition to fertilization. Unlike fertilization, the application of lime does not necessarily have to be regular. Annual liming is only necessary on very acidic sites, but this should be accompanied by regular pH checks. The following applies: Since calcium carbonate influences the pH value of the soil, liming can only make sense on the basis of an analysis of the soil pH value.
Note: Because the acidity of the rain has since decreased due to air pollution restrictions, the rain is no longer averaging pH 5.1 to 5.2 acidifying as much as it did a few years ago.
The more lime the soil contains, the more alkaline the soil, i.e. the higher the pH value. pH is important for plants because nutrient availability changes with pH. If the soil is too acidic or too alkaline, various nutrients are bound in the soil and are less available or not available at all for plants. A pH of 4 or below can also lead to toxic concentrations of some nutrients or pollutants.For most grasses, the ideal pH is not in the neutral range, but rather in the slightly acidic range.
Read more about why lawns need lime in this article from specialist CUXIN DCM.
Lime against moss in the lawn
A heavy moss infestation can be a sign of acidification of the soil - but soil compaction, waterlogging, lack of nutrients or shade are also possible causes of moss growth. If these possibilities have been ruled out and scarifying, aerating and sanding as well as regular fertilizing of the lawn have had no effect, changing the pH value is another adjustment screw that you can use to promote your lawn. Very clear indicators of an acidic soil are, for example, sorrel (Rumex acetosella), creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) or cornflowers ( Centaurea cyanus). However, adding lime can only help against moss and weeds in the lawn if a too low pH value is really the reason for their occurrence. Here are additional tips on how to get rid of moss in your lawn.
When is it necessary to whitewash the lawn?
- If soil pH has been tested and found to be too low
- In the case of heavy moss infestation, when other moss-promoting factors apply to a limited extent
- With increasing occurrence of weeds that like acidic soil (e.g. sorrel, cornflowers, etc.)
Note: Never jump to conclusions and always confirm your suspicions with a pH test. A pH test of the soil, for example, can be done very easily with the soil analysis test set from CUXIN DCM. Is the soil pH below 5.5? Then now is definitely the time to apply lime.
The following pH values in the soil should be aimed for:
- For light, sandy soils, a pH value of 5.5 to 6.0 is desirable so that nutrients are optimally available
- For heavy, clayey soils, a pH value of 6.5 to 7.5 is desirable so that nutrients are optimally available
How much lime does your soil need?
As a rule, soil analyzes provide information on the amount of lime to be used to achieve the desired pH value. Recommendations often refer to the calcium oxide (CaO) contained in the lime, which is also called burnt lime. Since no lime fertilizer is 100 percent pure CaO, you may need to do a small conversion. who himselfIf you would like to take a closer look at the topic of soil analysis, you can read here from the experts at CUXIN DCM how to create the perfect garden with soil samples.
If the fertilizer used has an 80% lime content, it contains 80 grams of lime for every 100 grams of fertilizer. With a required quantity of, for example, 250 grams of lime per square meter, the following calculation results.
Fertiliser used: 80% CaO content=80 g CaO per 100 g fertiliser
Required/recommended quantity (example)=250 g/m²
Amount of lime fertilizer to be spread=100 g / 80 g x 250 g/m² =313 g/m²
In this way, based on your soil analysis, you can easily calculate the correct spreading quantity. For fertilizing lawns, we recommend CUXIN DCM green lime with 60% CaCO3 and 30% MgCO3.
Tip: Slowly soluble calcium carbonate (carbonate of lime) can be used on light soils. However, the heavier a soil becomes, the less effective this type of liming becomes. Quickly soluble burnt lime is used on clayey, heavy soils. You can also use uncontaminated wood ash like burnt lime. You can find out more about fertilizing with ash here.
When should you whitewash the lawn?
How often a lawn is limed depends on the measured pH value and does not follow a regular rhythm. In the course of the year you should always lime if you have not just fertilized or will fertilize very soon. The ideal day for liming is as windless as possible. Before liming, the lawn is mowed, the whole thing can also be combined with scarifying and aerating. If it doesn't rain conveniently after liming, consider artificially watering the lawn.
Lime the lawn and fertilize at the same time?
Unfortunately, applying lime with fertilization does not make sense. If ammonium-containing fertilizers and lime in the soil come into direct contact with each other, foul-smelling ammonia is formed, which means that nitrogen leaves the soil in gaseous form and unused. And combining lime with superphosphate - a popular phosphate fertilizer - is anything but sensible. This results in poorly soluble calcium phosphates, which means that both the calcium and the phosphate cannot be reached by plants and the effect of the liming is reduced.
We therefore recommend strictly separating liming and fertilizing. It is better to wait about two months after fertilization and then distribute lime. Of theThe date should be between March and November. Also note that some slow-release fertilizers have a very long duration of action and that the effects should not overlap if possible.
Instructions for liming and fertilizing the lawn
The best tolerance of lime and fertilizers is achieved when the lawn is fertilized organically. The secret here lies in the slow mineralization of the organically bound nutrients. Our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer with a long-term effect is also a primarily organic lawn fertilizer. This is applied for the first fertilization after the winter in spring - depending on the type of soil between February and May. In early summer, around the end of June, another lawn fertilization follows before the preparation of the lawn for winter begins in August.
A potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizer is used here. After August, you should keep your hands off mineral fertilizers, but you can still apply organic autumn lawn fertilizers such as our Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer at this time of year without hesitation. When fertilizing in the fall, the use of a potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizer is extremely important in order to increase the frost hardiness of the lawn grass. The lime can then be applied about two months after the last autumn lawn fertilization.
As mentioned, there should be a period of about two months between fertilization and liming. An annual plan for fertilizing and liming the lawn could therefore look like this.
| March | June | August | October/ November |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Lawn Fertilizer | Organic Lawn Fertilizer | Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer | lime |
Can the lawn be whitewashed and fertilized at the same time?
- Lime and fertilizer should not be used on the lawn at the same time, caution is required, especially with fertilizers containing ammonium and superphosphate
- There should be a gap of about two months between liming and fertilizing; the easiest way is to apply lime in autumn
- Mainly organic lawn fertilizers such as our Plantura organic lawn fertilizers get along best with lime
You can find more precise information on lawn fertilization in our special article on lawn fertilization. In addition to liming and fertilizing, there are other lawn care tasks. Here you will find all information about lawn care all year round.
Thank you very muchCUXIN DCM for the support!