On 7 Jun 2004 15:20:35 GMT, Ignoramus2772
wrote:

In article , Tom Miller wrote:
On 7 Jun 2004 01:52:56 GMT, Ignoramus25707
wrote:

| In article , TURTLE wrote:
|
| When ever a bunch of pine Trees have been growing in a area. The
| ground will become very high level of acid in the ground. Very few
| plants or grass will grow under a pine tree because of the high acid
| level of the dirty. To get the high level of acid down. You can put
| burnt ashes of fire wood or lime down and then till it up to kill
| the acid level. Get the acid level down and things will start to
| grow there or wait about 20 years and the acid will dissovle by
| it'self. Very rarely will you see a lot of brush or green grass
| under a bunch of pine trees.
|
| Thanks, I will add lime to counter acidity, your advice makes complete
| sense as the ground beneath the pins was barren.
|
| Which brings up a question, I planted a few fruit trees where pines
| grew. Is it too late now to do something to counter the acidity of the
| soil to help those trees? Would dumping a bunch of lime on the ground
| help?
|
| i

Take several soil samples to your local extension service and have
them tested to find out the actual PH of the soil. Then till in the
proper amount of lime, per instructions on the bag or in a turfgrass
book. It takes quite a while for the lime to be absorbed into the soil
and for the PH to adjust. People generally lime the soil the previous
fall. Pulverized lime works fastest. You can go ahead and plant the
grass seed, but best results won't happen until you get into the right
PH zone (ask the agent at the extension service what this is in your
area). Blindly "dumping a bunch of lime on the ground" is not the way
to approach this, although grass is pretty forgiving.

Thanks, I will check about testing ph of my soil. Ibelieve also that
there are kits to do it.

i

Also, be aware that pH changes happen slowly when adding lime. The
agriculture lime is like flour--it works faster, makes a mess, and
you'll need a dust mask. The pellets cost more but more convenient to
use. I use 800 pounds (!) of lime for 18,000 square feet of lawn
every 6 to 12 months (for the past 12 years) and still have a pH of
6.5. My neighbor's (untreated) lawn has a pH of 5.4. The test kits
are worth having for both lawn and garden. Use distilled water for
the tests as tap water is most likely not neutral.