# Wrong time to apply lime?



## dvcochran (Apr 13, 2019)

There are several trees in our lawn that really drain the pH so I apply fast acting lime (dolomite) twice/year. It is unusually hot and pretty dry here (middle TN) right now. We are getting a fairly heavy dew but it is burning off by 9:00 - 10:00.
My question; it there a Bad time to apply lime? Is there any risk of burn with the dry/hot climate right now? pH on the spring soil test was a little below 6 which is consistent year to year. 
It is pretty spread out acreage so watering is not very practical.

I also have some 10-10-10 I want to apply so the same question(s) exist with it as well.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Fall right before the ground freezes is a good time to apply lime. It would stress the grass now.

10-10-10 should be watered in, so apply before rain. Summer is not a good time for fertilizer on cool season grass. Fall is the best time for fertilizer.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

Dolomitic lime is slow acting. You will likely need calcitic lime which is fast acting.

No harm in using either as long as your soil analysis supports it. You can apply like at almost anytime during the year, but a good time would be when you are getting water to dissolve it (especially the fast acting types). Fall is also a great time for more than one reason.

Your 10-10-10 def needs to be watered in and I wouldn't apply it in the heat of summer.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

IMO, it's up to you.
Lime needs water to activate and needs constant moisture to stay activated.
In the depth of soil that has been raised in pH, some nutrients (micros and phosphorous) will become less available. In most cases this will result in nothing more than a yellowing of the turf but if you are deficient in a nutrient, it could create added stress, but it (CaCO3) won't "burn" the grass unless it's CaO or CaOH.
Nitrogen during the summer on a cool season turf is not a good idea. It can "burn" and stress the turf.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

I've used "burn" interchangeably here. My bad. Fertilizer "burn" is not a heat burn, it is due to a change in osmosis due the effect of application of a salt where the plant is deprived of water. On the other hand, CaO or CaOH "burn" is due to heat as both produce heat through exothermic chemical reaction.


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## Captquin (Aug 22, 2019)

Ridgerunner said:


> In the depth of soil that has been raised in pH, some nutrients (micros and phosphorous) will become less available.


@Ridgerunner can you educate me on this? I thought the point of appropriate pH was better uptake of nutrients.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

@Captquin 
I could have phrased that better. You are correct that nutrients are most available at a pH between 6 to 7 with 6.8 arguably being the holy grail.
In high pH soils, there are chemical reactions that occur due to the high pH which can make some nutrients less available.
For instance in high pH, some nutrients are more likely to combine into unavailable forms like FeOH or FePO4 making iron and P less available or Calcium phosphate making phosphate less available. These types of reactions affect a number of nutrients especially micros, it's the reason that the sufficiency levels for Mn in soils >pH 7 is two to three times the sufficiency levels for Mn in soils with pH < 7. 
In almost every case, it's not particularly detrimental to turf (many people here with high pH have beautiful showcase lawns) and there are work-arounds for high pH soils: e.g. foliar Fe applications and spoon feeding phosphate.
When lime is surface applied, it works top down, making the top .25-.5" of soil very alkaline. If turf rooting is very shallow and any nutrients (particularly micros) are very low it could create a deficiency in those nutrients that could become a deficiency that may stress the plant. Depending on climate/rain and soil characteristics, it can take 6 months to three years for the pH to homogenize to a depth of 4- 6". This is why I'm not a fan of applying lime prior to seeding.
It's not a red-line or deadly, just something to take into consideration.


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## Captquin (Aug 22, 2019)

@Ridgerunner Makes complete sense. Thanks for the learning.


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