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Central Florida lawns grow in sandy soil – much of the Orlando area is Myakka fine sand, Florida’s official state soil. It drains very fast but holds little water or nutrients, so water and fertilizer leach through it quickly. That is why Orlando lawns need frequent, lighter irrigation within the watering rules, slow-release fertilizer, and added organic matter to build up the root zone – and why over-fertilizing pollutes nearby waterways so easily. Most native Florida sand is acidic, so a soil test is worth doing before adding lime or fertilizer.
Source: USDA Web Soil Survey / UF/IFAS Extension. Updated 2026-06-15.
| Property | Orlando / Central Florida |
|---|---|
| Dominant soil | Myakka fine sand (Florida state soil) |
| Texture | Sandy – fast-draining |
| Water-holding capacity | Low |
| Nutrient-holding (CEC) | Low – leaches quickly |
| Native pH | Acidic – test before liming |
| Lawn implications | Frequent light irrigation, slow-release fertilizer, add organic matter |
How do you improve sandy soil for an Orlando lawn?
Add organic matter. Compost, composted manure or topdressing raises the sand’s ability to hold water and nutrients, and slow-release fertilizer keeps those nutrients from flushing straight through. Mulch the beds to slow drying and pick a grass suited to sand, like St. Augustine or Bahia. You won’t turn sand into loam, but the difference is real.
Build up sandy Orlando soil by adding organic matter – compost, composted manure, or topdressing – to raise its ability to hold water and nutrients. Use slow-release fertilizer so nutrients are not flushed straight through, mulch beds to slow drying, and choose grass suited to sand, like St. Augustine or Bahia. You won’t change sand into loam, but organic matter and the right inputs make a big difference.
Why does sandy soil need more frequent watering?
Sandy soil has large particles and big pore spaces, so water drains past the root zone fast and little is stored for the grass. In Orlando that means lawns dry out quickly between rains and benefit from shorter, more frequent watering within the legal 2-day schedule rather than one long soak. Adding organic matter helps the soil hold moisture longer.
What is the soil pH for Orlando lawns?
Native Central Florida sand is usually acidic, but maintained lawns vary, so the only reliable answer is a soil test. UF/IFAS Extension offers low-cost soil pH testing through the Orange County office. Test before adding lime or fertilizer – St. Augustine and Zoysia do best around a slightly acidic to neutral pH, and guessing wastes money and can pollute.
Does sandy soil need special fertilizer?
Yes. Because nutrients leach quickly through sand, Orlando lawns should use slow-release (controlled-release) nitrogen, which Orange County also requires at 65%+ from October to May. Slow-release feeds the grass gradually instead of dumping nutrients that wash into groundwater. Avoid quick-release products and never fertilize during the June 1-September 30 summer ban.
Is Orlando soil good for growing grass?
Orlando’s sandy soil drains well and rarely waterlogs, which warm-season grasses like, but its low water- and nutrient-holding capacity makes it demanding – lawns need steady irrigation within the rules, slow-release feeding, and organic matter. Match the grass to the site (St. Augustine for shade, Bahia for low input) and the sandy soil grows a healthy lawn with the right care.
What soil types are under most Orlando lawns?
Three soil series cover most of the metro. Myakka is poorly drained flatwoods sand with a cemented hardpan between 20 and 36 inches, so water perches on it in the wet season. Candler and Astatula, on the higher ground west and north of the city, are excessively drained ridge sands with water tables deeper than 80 and 60 inches.
Myakka is the one people have heard of, because it is Florida’s official state soil. It
is not the only one under this metro, and the differences decide how you water.
Myakka: a hardpan at 20 to 36 inches
Myakka is classified as a poorly to very poorly drained flatwoods soil with a
spodic horizon between 20 and 36 inches – a dark, cemented layer of organic
matter and aluminium. In most years the water table sits within 18 inches of the
surface for one to four months, then recedes past 40 inches in the dry season.
For a lawn that means two opposite problems on the same property. In the wet season water
perches on top of the hardpan and roots sit in it. In the dry season the same hardpan limits
how deep roots reached in the first place, so the turf runs out of moisture faster than the
sand alone would explain. Breaking or planting through that layer, rather than adding more
water, is usually the fix.
Candler and Astatula: excessively drained ridge sand
West and north of the city, on the higher ground that used to be citrus, the soils are
Candler and Astatula. Both are classified excessively drained with very rapid
permeability. The water table under Candler sits deeper than 80 inches;
under Astatula, saturation is deeper than 60 inches.
There is no hardpan holding anything up here. Water applied to these soils keeps going,
and so does dissolved fertiliser. A lawn on Candler or Astatula needs shorter, more frequent
cycles and slow-release nutrition, and it will show drought stress days before a Myakka lawn
on the same street grid does. An Orlando irrigation repair visit can reset the controller for those shorter cycles.
Why doesn’t a neighbor’s watering schedule work on my Orlando lawn?
Because two properties twenty minutes apart can sit on opposite soils. Flatwoods Myakka perches water over a cemented layer, while ridge Candler loses it past the root zone entirely, so a schedule copied across that boundary fails even when the calendar is right. Both lawns still have to run inside the Orange County watering days and hours.
A property on flatwoods Myakka and a property on ridge Candler can be twenty minutes
apart in this metro and behave in opposite ways: one perches water over a cemented layer,
the other loses it past the root zone entirely. Copying an irrigation schedule across that
boundary is the most common reason a lawn is watered correctly by the calendar and still
fails.
Both still have to run inside the Orange County watering schedule, which sets the days
and hours regardless of what is under the grass. The days, the current restriction status
and the enforcement process are on our
Orange County
watering restrictions page.
Soil classifications, drainage
classes, spodic horizon depth and water-table depths from the USDA NRCS Official Series
Descriptions for
Myakka,
Candler and
Astatula, all read 2026-08-31.