My dad says he has an old Deere grain drill with all the blades and crap removed that they used to use as basically a drop seeder. It’s almost identical to this one, but smaller. Do you think it would work for ag lime?
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Local Extension Agent told a buddy of mine, pelletized lime, commonly known around here as quick lime, is pretty much good for one year. Where as Ag lime will last approx. 5 years. It will reach it's peak at neutralizing @ between 2-3 years. When I questioned the agent about it, he told be to apply the suggested rate, then in 3 years, apply it at half the rate, and it should be near the suggested amount to keep it at that level.
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?
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.
This might be completely crazy but what about some type of sandblaster??? Depending on how big your plots are