What happens if you put too much lime in your soil?

Author: Tressa Schmidt DVM  |  Last update: Sunday, February 15, 2026

Putting too much lime on lawns can cause a bunch of problems. It can push the soil pH above 7.5, making it too alkaline, and when that happens, your grass can't easily get some important nutrients like iron, manganese, copper, and zinc. This can lead to your grass turning yellow and not growing as well as it should.

How to fix too much lime in soil?

Treating a high pH, caused by liming or an alkaline soil, with elemental sulfur or sulfur compounds, such as ammonium sulfate, can lower the soil pH. Elemental sulfur is changed by bacteria in the soil to sulfuric acid, which neutralizes alkalinity.

What happens if you put down too much lime?

Using too much lime on your lawn will remove the acidity from the soil, but it will also make it too alkaline for your grass to thrive. This will cause yellowing grass that is also not able to absorb vital moisture and nutrients from the soil around it.

Is too much lime bad for your garden?

Yes! Too much lime will bring the pH way too high inhibiting the roots of your grass to uptake chemistry for photosynthesis.

Does lime damage soil?

Excess liming can cause nutrient imbalances and deficiencies. It's best to lime based on soil test recommendations.

Q&A - Can you add too much lime to the soil?

Which plants do not like lime?

Lime hating plants include:
  • Azalea.
  • Blueberry.
  • Camellia.
  • Enkianthus.
  • Gaultheria.
  • Heathers (Calluna)
  • Pieris.
  • Rhododendron.

How do you fix too much lime juice?

There are a few ways, but your recipe will definitely taste differently than intended. Lime is an acid, so a base will balance it. Sugar will even it out nicely. Another solution is to increase all of the other ingredients by the same proportion of the lime overage.

Can you sprinkle lime on top of soil?

Garden lime has been used safely in agriculture for over a thousand years to change the soil pH, making it easier for plants to take up minerals and nutrients from the soil. Lime also promotes the spread of new, good bacteria in your garden by supplying critical nutrients like phosphorus and zinc in your soil.

What are the disadvantages of liming?

Nonetheless, lime treatment has a number of inherent disadvantages, such as carbonation, sulfate attack and environment impact. Magnesium oxide/hydroxide are thus proposed as a suitable alternative stabilizer to overcome at least some of the disadvantages of using lime in soil stabilization.

Do tomatoes like lime added to the soil?

A. Tomatoes like lime as it provides a good source of calcium. Lime also improves soil structure, encouraging decomposition of organic matter and earthworm activity, so it is fine to add to the soil where tomatoes are planted.

How do you know if your soil needs lime?

Signs You Need to Apply Lime

You have sandy or clay soil. Both of these are naturally acidic. Weeds or moss have grown in your yard. The fertilizer you're using doesn't appear to be working.

Should you water after putting lime down?

You can also apply lime in early spring. Don't apply lime when your lawn is frost-covered or wilted. And always water the lawn after applying the lime to wash the lime off the grass blades and allow it to make contact with the soil.

How long does lime take to dissolve in soil?

You'll begin to see a measurable difference in the soil pH about four weeks after adding lime, but it can take six to twelve months for the lime to dissolve completely. You won't see the full effect of adding lime to the soil until it is completely dissolved and incorporated into the soil.

Can you put down too much lime?

What Happens When You Over-Lime? Putting too much lime on lawns can cause a bunch of problems. It can push the soil pH above 7.5, making it too alkaline, and when that happens, your grass can't easily get some important nutrients like iron, manganese, copper, and zinc.

How do you remove lime from soil?

Crops and livestock remove lime, for example, a crop of first cut grass silage 5t/ha DM) removes approximately 75 kg/ha of lime equivalent. A finished bullock removed approximately 25kg while 1,000 litres of milk removes approximately 3kg of lime. Nitrogen fertilizers also have an acidifying effect.

What happens if soil has too much lime?

Effect on pH

Just by increasing soil pH, phosphate may be released and increased in the soil. But if the pH goes unduly high, phosphates can also be tied up. Using more than enough lime can cause the pH to increase by so much that this happens.

Is pelletized lime better than powdered lime?

Powdered lime has a small particle size, making it less effective at bringing change to soil than pelletized lime.

How long does it take pelletized lime to work?

This figure also shows that while pelletized lime increases soil pH more than calcitic lime when applied at equal rates, it also takes pelletized lime in excess to 100 days to reach a maximum soil pH adjustment. That is a over 3 months, or slightly longer when taking field environmental factors into consideration.

Do you fertilize or lime first?

It's best to apply fertilizer first and water it in (or wait until after a rain) before liming the lawn.

Does lime need to be tilled in?

It is ideal to move lime into the soil profile, if possible. You might consider applying on cornstalks ahead of soybeans. If you do, and since you're planning a tillage pass anyway, there is also a benefit to vertical till in the fall.

When should I add lime to soil?

If you need to put out lime, applying it in the fall and winter gives it enough time to break down in the soil and raise the pH before the spring growing season.

Why is too much lime bad for you?

Citric acid can damage the mucus lining inside the stomach causing painful sores inside the stomach.. Since the stomach already produces several acids to handle the food inside the stomach, extra citric acid from excess lime juice can irritate the stomach.

What to do with excess lime?

7 Amazing Ways To Use Up Excess Citrus
  1. Freeze them! Did you know most citrus freezes really well, lasts months and can be frozen in various ways? ...
  2. Turn into an air freshener. ...
  3. Use as fire starter. ...
  4. Make a body scrub. ...
  5. Make candied peel. ...
  6. Donate excess citrus. ...
  7. Make tasty creations with a high citrus content.

What does too much of lime cause?

Its high acidity can lead to the decay of the tooth enamel.

Symptoms? Other consequences of consuming lime juice (especially canned) in excessive quantities include loss of dental tissue, stained teeth, and in some extreme cases, cavities.

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