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Lawn Soil Microbes and Lawn Health

Soil Health
2 min read

Normal, fertile soil teems with soil microbes. In fact, there can be hundreds of millions to billions of them in a single gram of lawn soil. The most numerous, by far, are bacteria, followed in decreasing numerical order by the actinomycetes, the fungi and the algae. Also present in lawn soil are the protozoa; single celled organisms that also decompose organic materials as well as consume large numbers of bacteria.

Soil microbes are of paramount importance in cycling nutrients in the lawn soil. It is only through their actions that the nutrients in organic fertilizers are liberated for use by lawn grass plants.

Soil compaction reduces the oxygen levels in the lawn soil. The vast numbers of microbes found in the soil require oxygen to live. Many of these fix atmospheric nitrogen, making that nutrient available for lawn grass growth. In addition, the uptake of the essential nutrient potassium is affected by compacted soil.

The best way to make the lawn soil more porous is to feed the microbes with a carbon source. Once the microbes start to flourish, they will make the lawn soil more porous. Jonathan Green Love Your Soil® does precisely that.

The most important limiting factor for microbial growth in the soil, assuming the moisture is adequate, is the abundance of a carbon source. The microbes require organic carbon compounds to oxidize for energy and to build organic constituents of their cell bodies.

These organisms are also involved in complex relationships with lawn grass roots, providing organic and mineral nutrients and imparting resistance to disease, fungus and drought.

Jonathan Green Love Your Soil provides carbon to help soil microbes flourish.  Provides lawn grass with disease and drought resistance. Reduces soil compaction by increasing oxygen levels in the lawn soil. Love Your Soil also reduces watering requirements.

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