As you can see, no matter how much fertilizer you put down, pH is the ultimate decider whether your grass has those nutrients available to it. Some areas are more prone to becoming acidic such as shady turf areas where thinning can be seen. Applying Lime will “sweeten” the soil by raising the pH to 5.5-6.5 and allowing those nutrients to become available. After treating with Lime, some seeding will be necessary to re-establish thin turf areas. It should be noted that if excessive amounts of low grade fertilizer is applied with an excessively low pH, a high EC or salt buildup can occur that can lead to salt toxicity. While this is detrimental to your lawn, it can be corrected by simply leaching. Adding Organics (like we do) into your soil has a very positive effect on Buffer pH, allowing nutrients to become more “available”.

It is important to note, changing pH (up or down) is NOT and easy or cheap task. Companies offering “free” lime or sulfur applications are NOT helping anything as they are simply NOT applying enough as it would not be economical for them. It’s simply a marketing ploy.
 To increase pH by 1 point, you need nearly 50lbs of product per 1000 square feet of lawn, yearly. That’s ALOT of product. To give you an idea, you generally apply around 3lbs of fertilizer per 1000 square feet of lawn.

*While symptoms can give you an idea of low or high pH, the BEST way to diagnose the problem is to take a soil sample. FERTILAWN offers soil testing at an additional cost. Along with the soil test, our professionals will explain what each piece of information means including everything from pH to different nutrient amounts in the soil.