joeu235
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2014
- Messages
- 724
- Location
- Little River, TX
- Tractor
- John Deere 4020 / 6403 / 317 Ford 5600
Our soil has its own problems but I'm thankful pH is not one of them. Lime sounds like a major pain.
Fertilizer and lime... better to buy bulk and apply or hire it done?
- Thread starter Dadnatron
- Start date
Rustyiron
Super Member
Do you have a "Southern States Co op" in your area? I've bought by the ton in their "buggy" spreader. Pull it home with a stout truck and hook it to the tractor. Every one wants to do it at the same time, and they only had so many buggies. You need to get on their waiting list. They'll be able to re fill it on your farm from their bulk truck if needed.
I have been liming and fertilizing (with soil tests) for 3-4 years. Mostly doing 1-6 acre food plots. Whether doing 1 or 6 or more acres I rent the buggy at the co-op. It's so much cheaper and more efficient. At $45/ton bulk I'll never pick up a bag. Same goes for the K and P and the N. Soon I'll be liming about 25-30 acres (40-60 tons) and I will let the co-op do that for me ........ I think they need at least 15 tons to use their truck.
TIP: You learn has you go and I have. Never go to pick up lime unless it hasn't rained in a week or more unless they keep it under cover or they have a fresh dry load. You never want to put out wet lime. Also, before you hook up to a cart/buggy to load with lime...... always climb up and look to see what's in it. If it has a ton of wet lime, let someone else clean it out and come back another day. You will have a war if you wind up with wet lime in the buggy. One day it started raining while I was liming (yes I was trying to beat the rain) and I ended up climbing back there in the buggy a half a dozen times or more with shovels and anything to try and help move the lime to get it to flow. Huge PITA. Rain and lime do not mix!!!
STORY: I am not an experienced farm/hay person. But, IMO ......... the people at my local co-ops are not at the top of the food chain (nicest way I could find to say it). I've been wanting to put about 8 tons of lime 6-8 acres adjacent to some of my food plots. My food plots are gorgeous where I've been liming and fertilizing. 30 feet away it looks like a train wreck. 7.0 pH vs 5.3 pH. So I call the co-op from my gravel driveway in my truck ....... "hello, do ya'll have a lime buggy available". "Yes". "Great, I'll see you in about 15 min". Co-op - "Fine, we'll see you in a few". So I drive to co-op, go to switch the receiver attachment and the receiver lock won't function. Go in the co-op and buy WD-40. Back to truck and treat lock with WD-40, finally switch over to the attachment to take the pin on the lime buggy. Go back to counter in co-op to order buggy/lime.......... they have trouble ringing up bulk lime. Same guy I talked to on the phone comes to register and checks, then says, "I'll go out back and see what the problem is". So I shop around the store and after about 10 minutes he comes in and informs me that they 'might' be able to scrap up about 1 ton but that's all the lime they have. (YES....... I called before I came but I only asked if they had a lime buggy, I never asked if they had lime.) Anyway, I was about 7 miles east of my place and trying to beat the possibility of rain. I called another co-op about 6-7 miles south of my place. I asked if they had lime and lime buggy available............ she said "you can't put out lime". Confused I asked "why not". She said "its pouring down rain here, the lime is wet and won't flow". I drove there anyway since I knew she had not been outside. I found almost no sign of rain the entire way there, but, when I arrived at the co-op every pot hole was full of water. The lime was wet as far as I could stick my finger in it. Needless to say......... I still need to lime.
TIP: You learn has you go and I have. Never go to pick up lime unless it hasn't rained in a week or more unless they keep it under cover or they have a fresh dry load. You never want to put out wet lime. Also, before you hook up to a cart/buggy to load with lime...... always climb up and look to see what's in it. If it has a ton of wet lime, let someone else clean it out and come back another day. You will have a war if you wind up with wet lime in the buggy. One day it started raining while I was liming (yes I was trying to beat the rain) and I ended up climbing back there in the buggy a half a dozen times or more with shovels and anything to try and help move the lime to get it to flow. Huge PITA. Rain and lime do not mix!!!
STORY: I am not an experienced farm/hay person. But, IMO ......... the people at my local co-ops are not at the top of the food chain (nicest way I could find to say it). I've been wanting to put about 8 tons of lime 6-8 acres adjacent to some of my food plots. My food plots are gorgeous where I've been liming and fertilizing. 30 feet away it looks like a train wreck. 7.0 pH vs 5.3 pH. So I call the co-op from my gravel driveway in my truck ....... "hello, do ya'll have a lime buggy available". "Yes". "Great, I'll see you in about 15 min". Co-op - "Fine, we'll see you in a few". So I drive to co-op, go to switch the receiver attachment and the receiver lock won't function. Go in the co-op and buy WD-40. Back to truck and treat lock with WD-40, finally switch over to the attachment to take the pin on the lime buggy. Go back to counter in co-op to order buggy/lime.......... they have trouble ringing up bulk lime. Same guy I talked to on the phone comes to register and checks, then says, "I'll go out back and see what the problem is". So I shop around the store and after about 10 minutes he comes in and informs me that they 'might' be able to scrap up about 1 ton but that's all the lime they have. (YES....... I called before I came but I only asked if they had a lime buggy, I never asked if they had lime.) Anyway, I was about 7 miles east of my place and trying to beat the possibility of rain. I called another co-op about 6-7 miles south of my place. I asked if they had lime and lime buggy available............ she said "you can't put out lime". Confused I asked "why not". She said "its pouring down rain here, the lime is wet and won't flow". I drove there anyway since I knew she had not been outside. I found almost no sign of rain the entire way there, but, when I arrived at the co-op every pot hole was full of water. The lime was wet as far as I could stick my finger in it. Needless to say......... I still need to lime.
StuartDK45SE
Silver Member
Bulk 15-15-15 in my area is around $370 per ton and like $15 to "rent" the spreader.