Calcium...just the facts!

The survival of turf grass really starts and ends with the soils. Without the proper soil structure, soil nutrients and biological activity your turf is going to suffer. One of the most overlooked nutrients, yet one of the most important is calcium. Calcium is critical because of its ability to carry nutrients to the plant. While N-P-K are more famous than calcium, it responsibility in the soil is major. Now that Spring has arrived in many parts of the country, I thought it might be time to talk about what makes this element so vital to your fertility program. 

• Calcium improves soil structure in clay. As I sit here in my office and look out my window, I am reminded how homes in new subdivisions are stripped of their top soils and all that is left is the clay that once sat under all that valuable black dirt. This is where calcium plays a vital role in re-conditioning your lawns. Calcium flocculates the soils. What this means is that smaller clay particles are broken up and then held together in fewer but larger particles. This allows for more air to be trapped in the soil, it allows for pockets to retain water when the roots need it and it allows for more space to let the root mass grow. When you have proper soil structure, you will need less water to maintain a lush, healthy, green lawn. 
• Calcium stimulates biological activity and reduces thach layers. When calcium is applied to the soil and the flocculation occurs, the soils become less compacted and much more porous. When this happens it is a much better habitat for biological and microbial activity. When you have an increase in biological and microbial activity you have billions of tiny helpers managing your fertility program. One of the areas that these helpers affect most is the thatch layers. Most people bag their grass clippings because they are fearful of having thatch layers building up. This is the wrong thing to do! The grass clippings are food for all the biological and microbial friends and they in turn will provide much valuable all natural N-P-K back to the lawns. 
• Calcium helps plants absorb nutrients better. Calcium is a nutrient carrier in both the dirt and in the plant tissue. In the dirt it helps control the water movement and conductivity, which means it can deliver more nutrients from the soil solution. One key factor in this depends on the calcium's ability to be dissolved in water. The faster it can become soluble the faster it can deliver the nutrients. In the turf grass, calcium helps regulate water and nutrient uptake by the roots and movement throughout the plant. Calcium aids in cell division and cell wall formation. It is also critical for respiration during high heat and humid conditions. When you have the proper levels of calcium in the soils and in the turf grass the plant is much stronger and that will in turn, help the plant to become more disease and pest resistant. 
• Calcium can decrease the sodium content in the soils. Calcium is a divalent (double positive charge), and the atomic weight of the calcium molecule being 40 and the sodium molecule being 23 with a single charge, sodium can be replaced in the soil colloid by calcium. The sodium is then ionized in the soil solution, which can then be flushed out of the root zone into the sub-soil where it can't harm the plant anymore. 

So why is calcium so overlooked? I think that in the past there has not been a very good way to get calcium to the soils and then ultimately to the plant. Years ago calcium was messy during application, it took too long for it to break down to the point where it was usable but now there are a very small handful of companies that have perfected the process to provide a very clean, very quick and effective way to apply calcium. Natraturf and Calcium Products manufactures limestone and gypsum based pellets that when applied to the turf, will breakdown extremely fast. It is not necessary to water in the pellets because a heavy dew will break the pellets down. Once the products have been broken down and the will go into solution very fast and begin to work their magic. 

To show you how effective Calcium Products pelletized limestone can be, check out this video: 

 

 

Comments

[Turf Care]

Thanks for the informative article. I was wondering whether one can have TOO much calcium products in the soil and if so, what are the potential effects? Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.