Like all other plants, your lawn needs nutrients to keep it healthy and green. Nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, are the primary nutrients to keep your lawn healthy and green.
In addition to the above, a green healthy lawn also needs secondary nutrients such as sulfur.
Sulfur will be able to help your grass absorb primary and secondary nutrients to create a lush, green appearance to your lawn.
It’s not necessary since it’s a secondary nutrient to your lawn, which can help most lawns to be stronger and greener.
Apply sulfur on your lawn twice a year and at with least three weeks apart.
However, secondary nutrients such as sulfur are only needed in smaller quantities compared to the primary nutrients to keep your lawn healthy.
With that said, they are still needed for the correct development of your lawn.
That’s why we have written this article to give you an answer to how often you have to apply sulfur on your lawn.
In addition to providing good nutrients for your lawn, sulfur is a powerful tool against fungicides and pesticides.
Throughout our article, we will explain how often you need to apply sulfur on your lawn.
If your lawn is already green, it means it’s healthy and contains enough sulfur. However, if your lawn is yellow or pale, it doesn’t contain enough sulfur to grow properly and stay healthy.
The benefits of sulfur
When you apply sulfur on your lawn, usually on the brown marking, it will be beneficial for your lawn, but you’ll not see the effect immediately.
The benefits of using sulfur on your lawn are the following:
- Your grass will have an easier time getting through the winter.
- Your lawn will be less susceptible to diseases.
- Your lawn will recover more easily if it suffers a fungal infection.
- Your lawn will become more green and denser if it’s not treated with sulfur.
However, if your soil has a high pH, you can reduce the pH by applying sulfur to your lawn.
How To Apply Sulfur to your lawn in 5 Easy Steps
1. Test soil pH value
A lot of different grass varieties will grow best if the soil has a pH between 6 to 7. How the grass grows therefore depends on the pH value in the soil and the type of grass
However, some grasses can even grow in soil with a pH as low as 5.5 and on the other hand as high as 7.5. The soil should not be too alkaline, but not too acidic either
If you apply sulfur to your soil, you can then reduce the soil’s pH level to make it optimal for growing your chosen type of grass.
To test your soil’s pH value, you can do it with a home soil testing kit, which can be bought on many webshops.
Some want to take it a step further and ask their local soil testing company.
They can give you more detailed results about your soil and even advise, how you can balance your soil even more and make it optimal for growing grass.
2. Choice of sulfur
It’s recommended that for every 1,000 square feet of lawn, you can use 5 pounds of elemental sulfur.
However, the great thing is that sulfur will often come in 2½- or 5-pound bags of sulfur, but can be purchased in larger quantities if there is a need for this.
The composition of your soil will affect how long it takes before sulfur, which will affect the pH value. In some areas, the soil is more sandy, while others have more clay in the soil where they live.
If your soil is more sandy, you’ll often need between 10-15 pounds of sulfur, which corresponds to two to three applications of sulfur, to be able to reduce the pH value.
In addition, if your soil has a higher amount of clay instead of sand, it will more likely require between 20-25 pounds of sulfur.
This will correspond to four to five applications of sulfur per 1,000 square feet of lawn.
Be aware that applying more than 10 pounds of sulfur to your lawn per 1,000 square feet can cause your grass to start burning.
3. Watch the weather forecast
It’s a great idea when applying sulfur to your lawn, to wait until the temperature is below 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26,5 °C) to avoid the grass starts burning.
Try to pick a date where it’s not windy or where it’s just a little wind because the sulfur should preferably fall where you want it on your lawn.
The best time of year to apply sulfur is either spring or fall.
4. When applying sulfur
When applying sulfur to your lawn, it’s a great idea to wear a pair of gloves and long sleeves to protect your skin from to protect your skin to get in touch with the sulfur.
The best way to apply sulfur to your lawn is to sprinkle it out across your lawn, by starting from one end and working your way through to the other end.
Wait 30 minutes and then water your lawn to help it absorb the sulfur down through the ground.
However, if you haven’t even planted your grass on your lawn, you can mix up six inches of the soil in your lawn with sulfur and mix it with a rake afterward.
In addition, some also tend to add other amendments to your soil at the same time, if needed such as organic materials or other compost.
5. Test your soil’s pH again
It will usually take around 2-3 months for sulfur to change the pH of the soil in your lawn.
It’s therefore important to test your pH value again after 3 months when sulfur has been applied to your lawn, to see if the pH value has changed.
If the pH value hasn’t changed, you can apply more sulfur to lower the pH value of the soil if needed.
Keep applying sulfur until the pH in the soil is at the ideal level. I will recommend to consider testing the pH levels at least once a year, to verify the pH value change after applying sulfur.
Final thoughts
Sulfur is a fantastic nutrient to apply on your lawn, but it has to be the right amount.
Too much sulfur applied on your lawn will damage it and at worst, set your lawn on fire.
Sulfur is not a necessary primary nutrient, but a secondary nutrient for your lawn, which can help it become stronger and more green.
There are a lot of great benefits of applying sulfur to your lawn and it’s a great way to reduce the pH in your soil to the ideal level you want.
I have used sulfur on my lawn for many years with great results to keep it healthy and green.
I will always only use the recommended dosage of sulfur in order not to increase the risk of your lawn starting to burn.
Furthermore, I hope you got something out of this article and that you know now how sulfur can help your lawn to become green.