High Calcium Content in Yard

[kgolf]

I recently received my soil test and it showed an excessive calcium rating.
I have seen other posts here that mention that in the DFW area, we have alot of calcium in our soil and that is somewhat common.
I have the black gumbo dirt in Dallas and St. Augustine grass.

I kind of suspect that the high rating may be due to some sprinker heads not coming up all of the way where the sample soil was taken and the soil may have been on the wet side around that area indicating that the soil needing leaching, so the high calcium may only be in selective areas around bad sprinkler heads.

Can anyone recommend an organic wetting agent to use to leach out the calcium ?

Any other ideas / opinions ?

[CaptainCompostAL]

Don't worry about the calcium content. In a truly organic or sustainable soil building program for a lawn or garden, just keep adding organic matter to your soil over time forever. (Preferably homemade mature compost).

Compost buffers soil pH, buffers and balances available soulble nutrients and insoluble nutrients, and it also feeds soil organisms and microbes that also help buffer and balance nutrients around lawn and garden crop roots.

Also keep in mine that "so called" high levels of certain nutrients are not that big of a deal in a truly organic soil building program. The reason is that plants get the nutrients they need when they need it from the humus and aerobic soil microbes balancing and buffering the nutrients around the crop roots.

Most organic lawns just need mature compost and some form of protein fertilizer to enhance lawn greening, as well as feed soil microbes to build up the soil.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Ha! I laugh at your calcium. HA!!

What movie is that from? Anyway...

My entire neighborhood is build on the grounds of a limestone quarry. They were working in our direction when the quality of the limestone got muddy, so they moved to whiter pastures, so to speak. My "soil" is white limestone rubble and dust. The pH is above 8 and our St Augustine thrives in it. Of course it does not thrive under all natural conditions but for the most part, it does very well. And our water comes from a limestone aquifer. We can't win for losing.

Here's what you need to do.

1. Never test for calcium again. It just doesn't matter.
2. Water normally (once a week for as long as you need to water so the grass will survive for a week). I water for 1-3 hours per zone depending on the weather.
3. When you get a heavy rain that lasts for days, RUN to the garden store and get enough Greensand to cover your yard at 40 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Apply it before the rains stop and you'll have the ONLY grass that's green in 2 weeks. Every other lawn will have leached out what little acidity has built up at the surface and all the iron in the soil will be glued to the alkaline soil particles. All the other lawns will be yellow - not dead, but bright yellow. There's just nothing you can do to prevent that. Greensand is the only cure (unless you just wait until spring).