Lime – Soil Amendment Or Soil Conditioner?

Some garden experts suggest that lime is a soil amendment. Others claim that it is a soil conditioner.

These are both rather vague terms and leave the average homeowner/gardener still in the dark as to just why lime should be used.

Some authorities are more definite in their recommendations and say that lime is used to correct soil acidity. A few mention lime as a fertilizer, whereas others believe that it should never be considered as one.

Such general and conflicting statements are confusing to homeowners and may result in their hesitancy to use this rather cheap, innocuous white powder assumed to be of little apparent value.

Key To A Better Lawn and Garden?


However, as this “white powder” may be the key to a better lawn and garden, it behooves every gardener to gain a better understanding of its functions and value.

The first and most important purpose of lime is to change an acid soil to the proper reaction for the particular plants like vegetables to be grown.

When an expert is consulted concerning any trouble with plants and cannot immediately recognize the cause from the appearance of a plant, he will usually ask, “Is the soil acid?” Such a question would seem to imply that an acid soil is the cause of considerable trouble. So it is.

Plant Preferences – Slightly Acid

The majority of plants commonly cultivated prefer a soil which is only slightly acid. Therefore, if the soil in your garden and lawn is medium to very acid it will be necessary to use lime to neutralize partially the acidity and make it possible for you to grow vigorous, healthy plants.

In an acid soil, some of the desirable plant food elements are combined with other chemicals to form insoluble compounds.

Under such conditions much of the plant food in the soil, as well as in the fertilizers which may be applied, will not be available to the plants.

As soon as lime is used and well mixed with the soil, the acidity is neutralized, the reaction changed and the various plant food elements will form soluble compounds readily available to the plants.

The accompanying chart illustrates this point. Although not strictly accurate chemically or in showing the relative proportion of the various elements, it should help to show how the availability of the nutrient elements changes with the soil reaction.

http://images.plant-care.com/element-soil-reaction.jpg

Best Levels of pH For Nutrients?

Note: The greatest total of the desirable plant foods is available in the column between pH6 and pH7 or when the soil is slightly acid.

Therefore, the majority of our cultivated plants grow best in this range. The undesirable element, aluminum, is soluble only when the soil is very acid or very alkaline.

You will also note that the essential trace elements – boron, iron, manganese, copper and zinc — become unavailable when the soil is even slightly alkaline. This will emphasize the care that must be taken when applying lime. Too much may be as bad, or worse, than too little.

Amazing Activity in Soil

Few homeowners/gardeners are aware of the tremendous activity which is constantly going on in a good garden soil.

Earthworms are improving the soil texture; bacteria are breaking down complex compounds in the soil and in fertilizers, converting them into simpler forms available to the plants; beneficial fungi are making humus out of plant roots, compost and other plant debris.

In fact, hundreds of different kinds of minute plants and animals, called microorganisms, are working to improve the soil. A tablespoon of good garden soil may contain a billion of them. Incomprehensible? It certainly is; nevertheless, it is true.

The presence of these microorganisms in action means the difference between a “dead” and “live” soil. As the soil becomes more acid, it becomes impossible for these organisms to live.

Hence the presence of plant and animal remains, thousands of years old, in bogs. The application of lime to acid soils changes the picture within a few months, by creating conditions favorable to the growth and activity of these beneficial organisms.