Lime?

When is too late to lime? Was going to already but may place is like a lake/bog we got soo much tremendous rain last few weeks - we hav for several years now but especially last few weeks. If rain holds off rest of week - i may be able to Saturday. Of course - great chance it still flooding by then.
Is early august 2 late ?? Will try before then if schedule n rain allows. I plant oct 1-12 time range

It is never too late! The best time is early spring if it is ag lime, but again, it is never too late. Later will help a little this year, but will really help next year. If you get your PH right, you will only have to lime ever three years or so normally.

Tdog we were planning on using Ag lime, but due to lack of equipment resources we are going to use pelletized lime. It works fairly quickly and is not terribly expensive if you don't need a crap load. Not going to be fun spreading it though.

My big field ph is 4.3

Other fields 4.6

First time i ever checked

Thanks

Thats bad, real bad......if you fertilize, you might as well spread half of it and dump the other half in the river. Thats about how much of it the plants are getting. You need about 2ton to the acre. My garden spot was similar to that the first time i checked it, the production sucked. I disked in some pelletized lime and it went up immediately. My ground was also low in organic material. I added gin trash and that made a world of difference. I know youre working with too much ground to do that but you likely need to consider a cover crop that eill add some organic material to your soil. You dont just need to lime it, you need to build it.

yeeeee.

u got start somewhere and no better time than now. the difference one point will make coming from where you’re at now will be noticeable, some foliar apps once the plants are up this fall for micros will be abt as good as u can get

Ouch Tdog, that's rough. I thought my 5.3 spots were bad low. Pelletized lime won't be the route for you to go unless you have some folks that hunt with you to split the cost. Also, PM sent

^^
Got it and thanks

I hav never done anything after planting either. Could extra fertilizer later weeks after planting help? What type?

Think i may try to atleast lime my big field this year

Good advice,,,,,,,,,,,

If I fertilize/plant in October, I usually hit the plots a couple weeks before Christmas with some 34-0-0 to green them back up before the rut kicks off good. You really need lime to get your pH up though, or you will be wasting your money and effort.

^^
Thanks

What is a good cover crop u speak of JW / CNC?

Lot of my soil is ugly red clay

Fertilizer isnt going to help much at all until you get your ph up about two points. At 4.3 you could literally poison your plants with fertilized before they would get the full amount they need. The plants can only utilize 1/2 the fertilizer. Spend your fertilizer m9ney on lime. You need lime and green manure.

Brown top millet is cheap, easy to establish, and will provide carbon and OM. Buckwheat is also an excellent choice.

The trouble these days is not so much the cost of lime -- it is getting the lime spread out. Years ago co-ops and seed stores did this, but not now. They may do a farmers pasture, but won't come to a club and spread it. Deliver it, yes, spread it no. If you are lucky you may be able to rent a buggy from the people you buy the lime from, but that is all.
We all know the need, getting it done is something else.

Pell city co-op came and spread 6 tons for me last year for $300.

You were VERY lucky! 9 out of 10 co-ops probably would not have done that. I bet I called at least eight places the last time we limed and none of them would spread it.

Yeah, the reason most people wont spread it is because roads aren't wide enough for the lime trucks and they don't want to scratch them up or bust a tire. Our roads are wide.

This is right. Just for reference I had a rear float tire come off the rim this year and had to pay $460 just to get it put back on the rim and holding air. Had I had to have replaced the tire it would have been thousands of dollars. My truck is 10’ wide and about the same height and it will not fit where I hunt so I can’t use it. Very few places have roads decent enough for a spreader truck to go and even if they do you won’t be spreading enough lime to justify the cost and liability of tearing it up, getting stuck, etc.

This would be my worry also.

As of at least a couple of years ago, Pike Co coop would bring a spreader truck and do your plots. At the time, I think lime was like $30 a ton, $40 a ton spread on ag fields and $60 a ton on food plots.

For right at $10,000 you can buy a 3 point hitch spreader that will spread wet ag lime. And you can use it with a smaller tractor too.

Will not be putting any out this week - we got hammered all week w rain - again

I can hear my grass growing 😀

Finally put lime out today - bought 4 ton - was going to hit big field (acre field) w 3 ton (4.3 ph) and 1 ton on .4 acre field
When we were spreading on big field - we saw big storm coming - i made executive decisin to put all on big field - it started flooding right when we finished - we would hav never made it to small field

Maybe i take 1000 pounds and spread w my truck later on .4 acre field

At least i got my best field limed - late 😀

It will work perfect. It’s not late at all.

Good for you Tdog! I guess we are just going to wait til planting time for the pelletized lime.

Where did you get the 4 ton of Lime from?

I put 7 Tons out yesterday. Should be perfect.

T you get it in tville? How much did it run ya if you don’t mind me askin…plan on doin the same as you from tville if so.

Go see John at feed and seed n tville - i rented his buggy - he put 4 ton lime in it - i pulled it to lease n my truck. Seem like cost for lime and buggy rent was $335 ish

I spread lime w a tractor - 4 tons would hav beat the crap out of me in truck if i spread it w that. Never got over 25-30 mph n truck in blacktop - and way slower on club roads - parked and used tractor. Will b harder to stop w 4 tons r more also w truck

Later i got only 2 tons and i spread that w truck - but i went 6-7 mph r less on club roads

B carefull pulling lime in buggy w truck if u got 3-4 tons r more - folks hav flipped trucks before - use tractor to spread and if i would hav got more than 4 tons - i prob need more truck than my 1500 Silverado to haul

Co-op in Leroy will not put more than 2 tons in a buggy hooked to a half ton truck.

10 4 appreciate it brotha

Spot on!

Lime is often overlooked yet it’s the most important equation
We actually used lime and very little fertilizer when establishing our plots at Martin. Fertilizer was a waist of money for a few years.

People, pursue knowledge... educate yourself. DESIRE to learn. If you don't know about the importance of soil pH, then your life is hap-hazard and you don't care. Sorry, that's the way it is. If you care, you want to learn. Soil pH is VERY important and it's been preached for a very long time now. Just sayin'!

You're exactly right. If you can't afford both lime and fert, then LIME!! Glad to see someone pushing the importance of soil pH.

Got 4 tons Monday for approximately $45/ton. It's Calcitic so no Mg but it's also very fine so I expect it to work fairly quick.

Another option for those of you spreading by hand, or not close to a co-op. This is year 2 of us using this, and can mix it with your herbicides. We use Atv sprayers, mix in a bucket with water first and stir with drill mixer:

https://www.grasshopperfertilizer.com/product/mojo-k20-plus

I plan on using more foliar materials. But I also understand 2 gallons of liquid does not equal a ton of dry material to increase actual pH. What is happening is you’re making a foliar application of a plant available form rather than making a soil amendment.

I’m applying it 25 gallons per acre, no it’s not the same as a ton of lime. But I’m 45 minutes to the closest co-op, and I can’t get a buggy to the back half of my lease anyway. I’m also doing this annually instead of every couple of years. It’s the best option I’ve got, so hopefully better than nothing

I’d also apply 400 lbs pelletized per acre every year as a maintenance dose every year on hard to reach plots. Current cost is about $60/acre. You could double it and see some change in pH. How fast and how long it stays will depend on your soil CEC. If the lab doing your soil test doesn’t report actual CEC, find a new lab.

We limed our fields in late june and I bush hogged yesterday and there was a significant difference in growth
The fields were much thicker

Nutrients in the soil remain locked up when soil ph is off. If I recall correctly a simplified method is to look at it this way. If you want 6.5 and your soil is 5.5 it will take 10Xs the fertilizer to get there. But you can’t put out the 10Xs amount,
You’d cause serious issues. That’s not exactly correct but used as a basic understanding

There’s more to it with trace elements, minerals and soil types. A soil test would identify shortfalls within the soil.

Take your lawn for instance. Just put out lime and you’ll cut more often as if you’d fertilizer it. However more than likely it’s be much greener and healthier with just lime.

Decided not to start new thread

I got a new plot i going to push out/create. When i do this in next few weeks - its an old logging ramp - after i clear it - if i put lime out (ph like 4.7) - would it be stupid to throw clover over the top of lime? Will that hurt anything? It was just going to be clover plot - what fertilize would u use? Thanks

Honestly, it takes from what I’ve seen 4-6 months before the lime kicks in etc…my 2 cents would be your wasting money on a clover plot doing it with such a low ph etc…I personally would plant an annual blend and then establish the clover plot in the spring/next fall when the ph is higher with a cover crop as in oats etc

Crimson can handle lower pH, look how much volunteer crimson you see on the shoulder of the road each spring. I'd put down 10-12 bags of pelletized lime at planting. If using wheat or another small grain nurse crop I'd also add 250 lbs 13-13-13 or whatever fertilizer you want. Delta Ag seed coat in addition to whatever seed coating is pre-innoculated on your seed. Then if it looks to be struggling in about a month or so, there are several liquid products you can use.

Thanks guys

Creating this field for turkey - they like this area - was gone create strutt area - only reason did not throw lime early was gone take dozier to it