When to put down lime?

The Suburban Farmer · Mar 24, 2015

Our soil around here is naturally acidic, but especially in a couple of areas where I cleared out some old pine scrub and brush to expand the yard. I know I need to put down lime, but was wondering when I should do it? BEFORE the grass starts growing this year, or after?

mx1alex · Mar 24, 2015

Doesn't really matter with lime. It takes a few years to really take affect so the sooner the better.

RalphVa · Mar 24, 2015

You can put lime down any time. Why waste your money? It'll take many # of it to bring the pH up to around 6.5 (from the natural 5.5 it probably is now), but why bother. The best grass that I have is tall fescue in 5.5 pH soil growing down the back side of my hill and in the creek overflow area.

Ralph

Thomas · Mar 24, 2015

I lime just before ground freeze again late spring.

The Suburban Farmer · Mar 24, 2015

Thanks for the replies. I've heard it can take a while and was considering getting some of the "fast acting" lime from one of the garden centers near me... any idea if it's any faster? (It's not any more expensive than the more traditional lime.)

Ralph -- mine is actually worse than 5.5 in the areas where I cleared out the pines -- closer to 4.5 and nothing seems like it wants to take root. The rest of the yard is "ok" but I figured I'd do the lime on the whole yard since you're right -- I'm at about 5.5 right now in the lawn area.

Is there something that works faster / better than lime to bring down the acidity, or am I just looking at a ~2 season project to get the grass in that part of the yard to finally grow?

japody · Mar 24, 2015

Your best bet is to have your soil tested. they will tell you how much lime to apply. VA Tech does the testing for free. You can get the sample boxes at most farm supply stores like Southern States. Although you can apply lime any time of year, it takes at least six months for the lime to have any effect on the pH. The best time to apply lime in your area, for cool season grasses, is around November. This gives the lime time to work by the time the grass starts to sprout, around April.

We just applied 100 tons last fall!

Good luck.