Lawn gypsum is a rock product commonly used in lawn applications.  Most consumers don’t know the benefits of gypsum for their lawn, so I thought that it would be a good idea to briefly review how this product is used in lawn applications.  Understanding how this product works will help you better utilize it in your lawn.

Lawn Gypsum benefits.

Gypsum is a natural product commonly used in drywall products.  Gypsum is used in lawn applications to help loosen clay and compacted soil.  Gypsum will penetrate the soil and provide calcium and sulfate.  Applying gypsum to the soil will allow you to increase the amount of calcium without effecting the PH of the soil.  The sulfur found in gypsum cancels the benefits found in calcium and the result is no PH gain.

Lawn gypsum is a low-cost remedy for acidic soils.  Most pelitized gypsum products are less than $5.00 for a 50 lb bag of product.  Most lawn gypsum applications will be rather heavy in nature.  It is not uncommon to apply 10 lbs of product to a 1,000 square foot section of turf at one time.  The great thing about gypsum is that it doesn’t take as long as limestone to break down.  Limestone generally takes several years to break down in the soil.

Lawn gypsum is a great product to use to help with salt damage.  Salt damage is magnified on lawns containing clay soils because the clay holds the salts in the soil.  Lawn gypsum will help flush the salts down into the soil, below the root system of the grass plant.  Once the salts are removed from the root system of the grass, your lawn can now start to recover.  Most common types of salt damage are caused by dog urine or ice melt products.  Some coastal regions may see salt damage cause by hurricanes spreading salt water from the ocean or gulf.