Most soils in the Southeast, East and Pacific Northwest are considered to be acidic type soils. Some indicators that your soil may be acidic include, abundance of oak and pine trees, wild strawberry, dandelions, and plantain type weeds.
Having a acidic soil is not all bad. Azaleas, berries, roses, and many other plants enjoy an acidic soil. Turfgrasses on the other hand prefer only slightly acidic soils. Slightly acidic is a pH of 6.0 to 6.9. These numbers are a pH scale that determines if something is basic or acidic. A neutral pH is 7.0. A pH higher than 7 is considered basic and a pH lower than 7 is charge of considered acidic.
pH is defined as a measure of the hydronium ions or Potential Hydrogen. With this said, to adjust the pH of a soil we must affect the level of hydrogen ions in the soil. To raise a pH we neutralize the acidity with a carbonate. Carbonates are negatively charge and attach to the positive charge of hydrogen thereby neutralizing the acidity.
pHix is formulated with Calcium Carbonate and designed to lower the pH of the soil while adding calcium to the soil profile as well (We will look at the role of calcium in another article). With pHix the calcium carbonate separate in water and the carbonates attach to the hydrogen thereby lowering the pH as stated in the paragraph above. By raising the pH, turfgrasses will be more vigorous and able to absorb nutrients much better than they would in an overly acidic or basic environment.