Ag Lime Spreader?

[Will_C]

That's a tough situation-I'm in the same boat. Have planting several acres of food plots-mostly irregular shapes and small-no feed store is interested in spreading it.

I have used some pell lime. I buy 40-50 bags when it goes on sale and spread it through my broadcast spreader. I can apply all the lime I need at once but keep rotating through my plots, slowly increasing my ph.
I think I may get a couple of friends to help out this spring and buy a few tons ofAG lime and spread with shovels out of my loader bucket or the back of my RTV. I have done a ton before by myself-a bit of exercise but not unbearable.

Will

 

[sd455dan]

I知 in search of some kind of implement that I can use to spread ag lime on my food plots. I need to spread about 6-7 tons of ag lime. Pelletized lime is going to be ridiculously expensive for the amount I need. There are absolutely NO places that rent lime buggies within an hour drive of me. There is one guy that uses a spreader truck, but he can稚 fit it through the trails on my property. So I need to figure something out that I can use to spread the lime myself.

I have a tractor and loader, but I can稚 seem to find anything that痴 not crazy expensive to use to spread the lime. My grandpa said you could spread ag lime using a small seed drill, but I can稚 find anything online to support that. Seems like it would need some kind of agitator to keep it flowing.

Any advice?

Something like our Kent would probably work, also branded as Co-OP worked well for spreading pellatized lime
I am not sure how it wooould do with the ag lime.

Just a thought if you find something similar.

 

[sixdogs]

I'm telling you friend...the best scenario for small plots of land in terms of convenience, cost, and get the same or better result is pelletized lime.

You confusion might come from not truly understanding the difference in the RNV of pelletized vs ag lime. The efficacy of the product comes from the RNV%. Pelletized lime RNV (relative neutralizing value - which means neutralizing the acidity of your soil) is higher than ag lime. Example, your local quarry will tell you the neutralizing value of their lime, mine is 50%. Pelletized lime is usually pushing 97% give or take a few % points. SO, 2000# of ag lime contain with a 50% RNV value will equal 1/2 ton of pelletized lime.

Having ag lime hauled to your property and dumped and then you having to use your loader and load into a spreader, then hoolk up the spreader, spread your material, then unhook and load from your pile is quite the chore as compared to just having it mixed in with your fertilizer you are spreading for your plots. The haul bill adds cost as well.

Been there and done all this. For small food plots, the crop production supplier of bulk fertilizer and pelletized lime is the way to go. All the commercial tobocco guys are going this way.

OldRed is correct.

 

[crazyal]

The guy I bought my Herd 750 sand spreader from used it to put down Ag lime on a small field. But years of neglect leaving both lime and fertilizer in it rotted it to the point where I had to rebuild it. It has an agitator in side it that beats the sides as it spins. I don't know how well it worked, just that he did use it. I suspect that the fertilizer did in the bare steel and the lime corroded the aluminum plate at the bottom of the hopper and the spinning wheel that throws it. What ever you get make sure to keep it clean.

 

[rogstown]

This might be completely crazy but what about some type of sandblaster??? Depending on how big your plots are

 

[sixdogs]

This might be completely crazy but what about some type of sandblaster??? Depending on how big your plots are

That won't work but it my younger and more foolish days I once put down 3/4 acre of lime with a drop type yard spreader. It wasn't that bad, didn't take that long and was great cardio. If I was young and broke and the grass was pretty short, I could see being able to put down two or three acres. I've done harder things to get ahead in life. Even today I would do that 3/4 acre again if I had to.

 

[EJP1234]

I say Pelletized lime as well... been there done that.

As far as application rates and how often for either... your soil make up will define that. For instance we have sandy soil here... doesn't matter what I put down, it leaches out quickly.

Pelletized unless your doing huge ag style fields, but your not so save yourself the headache your creating.