A lawn is only as good as the soil that is beneath it. Your soil is composed of minerals, organic material, air and water. Plants and soil have a symbiotic relationship -- plant roots aerate and break down the soil into smaller particles, and eventually die, decompose, and add nutrients back to the soil.  In a good soil mixture, almost 1/2 of the bulk of the soil is made up of water and air. This amount will fluctuate during the different seasons.

Soil Testing

There are several nutrients that are essential for a healthy lawn.  Soil testing is used to determine the amount of these nutrients in the soil.  We will take samples of soil from various areas on your property including problem areas and areas that do exceptionally well.  The samples are sent to a lab and test results are used to make a soil test report. In addition to indicating the level of nutrients in your soil, the report will also tell you the pH value, soluble salts level and many other values that affect the health of a lawn or landscape.  The report will make a recommendation for the amount and type of fertilizer and/or lime you need to add to the soil for optimum turf/landscape growth. This will allow us to customize your fertilizer and lime applications to your lawn’s needs.

A bit of Chemistry
As plant material dies and decays it adds organic matter in the form of humus to the soil. Humus improves the soils moisture retention and also affects the soil chemistry. Cations such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium are attracted and held to humus. These cations are rather weakly held to the humus and can be replaced by metallic ions like iron and aluminum, releasing them into the soil for plants to use. Soils with the ability to absorb and retain exchangeable cations have a high cation-exchange capacity. Soils with a high cation-exchange capacity are more fertile than those with a low exchange capacity. 

Bulk density
This is the mass per unit volume including the pore space. The bulk density of a soil increases with clay content and is considered a measure of the compactness of the soil. The higher the bulk density, the more compacted the soil is. Compact soils have low permeability which restricts the movement of water. The use of heavy equipment, lawn equipment, cars, trucks and constant foot traffic can cause compaction of soil, especially in wet clay soil. Soil compaction results in reduced infiltration and increase runoff and erosion.

Soil pH
Hydrogen ion concentration in the soil is measured in terms of the pH scale.  Soil pH ranges from 3 to 10. Pure water has a pH of 7 which is considered neutral, pH values greater than seven are considered basic or alkaline and  below seven are acidic. Most good agricultural soils have a pH between 5 and 7. Though acidic soils pose a problem for agriculture due to their lack of nutrients, alkaline soils can pose a problem as well. Alkaline soils may contain appreciable amounts of sodium that exceed the tolerances of plants, contribute to high bulk density and poor soil structure.

Increasing the soil pH
To make soils less acidic, the common practice is to apply a material that contains some form of lime. Ground agricultural limestone is most frequently used. The finer the limestone particles, the more rapidly it becomes effective. Different soils will require a different amount of lime to adjust the soil pH value. The texture of the soil, organic matter content and the plants to be grown are all factors to consider in adjusting the pH value. For example, soils low in clay require less lime than soils high in clay to make the same pH change.

Decreasing the soil pH
Two materials commonly used for lowering the soil pH are aluminum sulfate and sulfur. Aluminum sulfate will change the soil pH instantly because the aluminum produces the acidity as soon as it dissolves in the soil. Sulfur, however, requires some time for the conversion to sulfuric acid with the aid of soil bacteria. The conversion rate of the sulfur is dependent on the fineness of the sulfur, the amount of soil moisture, soil temperature and the presence of the bacteria. Depending on these factors, the conversion rate of sulfur may be very slow and take several months if the conditions are not ideal. For this reason, the use aluminum of sulfate is much more common.