Customer question: Calcium and pH

I was recently asked a great question about calcium in the soil as it relates to MAXIMIZE and a balanced soil pH.  A customer asked “Your Maximize includes a significant amount of calcium, which is fine for my acidic soils, but would probably not been ideal when I lived in an area with very alkaline soils. I don't see any recommendations on your site or product to test soil acidity before using the product. Do you recommend the use of this product for all soil types?”

 Thanks for the great question! Calcium is really important for all soils and we believe its importance is unheralded. There are calcium sources that are great for alkaline soils because they provide the calcium that plants need and they lower soil pH. Then there are calcium sources that are best for acid soil because they provide calcium and raise pH. Calcium is important and beneficial for BOTH acid and alkaline soil. pH is useful to know, especially if it is abnormally high or low, but it is not essential. Complex microbial soil life will fix all soil problems, including low or high pH. However, sometimes it can be so high or low that the microbes introduced through the John & Bob's products can't survive, let alone flourish. In those cases it is useful to apply and water in organic limestone for acid soil and organic soil sulfur for alkaline soil, prior to applying our products. In addition to being useful for plants, the calcium and all the other minerals in MAXIMIZE are great food for beneficial microbes! It is the complex soil life (beneficial microbes) that is the real key to healthy soil and the focus of our John & Bob's products. Everything revolves around creating lively soil and all our products focus on that goal w/ MAXIMIZE being an important part of our system. I always welcome your questions about our products, soil health and all gardening-related questions! Leave a comment below.