how do you spread lime?

[shimp]

With a telephone....

There's 3 big limestone quarries with-in a 20 mile radius of here. They have an abundance of lime dust. The product is cheap. Haulers will spread it for less than it would cost me to handle it.

same here-quarry is 1/2 mile from my place

let them haul it and spread it

 

[Z-Michigan]

It's not excessively steep, but it's crowded with pine trees and cross fenced about a million times. You could never get a big buggy/truck in there. (even the small tractor is going to be a problem in spots)

Brian, this is your opportunity. Know all those air tankers they use for fighting forest fires? Well, gotta be an off season for them. Find a big one - like a C130 or something - and get it filled up with your 20 tons of lime (or whatever the grand total is) and get an airdrop.

 

[Mike120]

Brian, I only use bulk lime in my hayfields where I can run the truck around. In my horse paddocks I use liquid lime that I put on with one of my sprayers. Normally I'll mix it in with the liquid fertilizer. It's a bit pricey but it works fast and doesn't bother the horses. I usually only apply it to a paddock that I'm resting, but after a rain it's certainly OK for horses. My feed store gets it from Pennington.

 

[cp1969]

Someone mentioned that Ag lime was $150 a ton, at 4 tons thats $600. So it might be worth paying to have someone bring it in even if its a long way off.

Surely that is pelletized. Ag lime goes for $4 a ton here.

I'll even give her FWJ's Kentucky ton (2400 lbs) if I can haul some to her at $150/ton.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Surely that is pelletized. Ag lime goes for $4 a ton here.

I'll even give her FWJ's Kentucky ton (2400 lbs) if I can haul some to her at $150/ton.

I wasn't implying that it takes 2400 lbs to make a ton, but that it may take 2400 lbs of lime applied in two 1200lb applications to achieve the end results of 2000lbs per acre AFTER the long period of time it takes for lime to do it's thing. Lime will wash away faster than it takes to change soil PH. It may take even MORE. I've taken soil tests that tell me to apply (as an example) 3000lbs per acre. Applying 1000lbs at a time, it took 4 or 5 applications to bring the PH in line. If I would have dumped 3000lbs per application, it may STILL have taken several applications to achieve the same end. Lime simply does not achieve an immediate result in most soils.

 

[dixiedrifter]

Here there is one pit who has a monopoly on the lime... as a result of no competetion, lime is now $19 a ton and going up 50｢ per ton every 6 months... I think spreading and hauling from the pit runs around $5 a ton.

The pelletized stuff is a complete rip off... the only catch is that you can't spread lime with a regular cone type spreader or fertilizer buggy... it simply bridges up and will not flow worth a darn.

There are kits though that have special agitator wheels for the cone spreaders, but the lime has to be perfectly dry... I managed to find a work around by jarring the cone spreader by lifting it up and down fast causing the lime to settle.

Its a heck of alot easier just to get someone to haul it out and spread it IMO.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Here there is one pit who has a monopoly on the lime... as a result of no competetion, lime is now $19 a ton and going up 50ï½¢ per ton every 6 months... I think spreading and hauling from the pit runs around $5 a ton.

The pelletized stuff is a complete rip off... the only catch is that you can't spread lime with a regular cone type spreader or fertilizer buggy... it simply bridges up and will not flow worth a darn.

There are kits though that have special agitator wheels for the cone spreaders, but the lime has to be perfectly dry... I managed to find a work around by jarring the cone spreader by lifting it up and down fast causing the lime to settle.

Its a heck of alot easier just to get someone to haul it out and spread it IMO.

Lime dust from a quarry is basically "scrap" to them. If it wasn't for the AG market, there would be relatively no need at all compared to the volume produced while crushing rock. In other words, if they didn't sell it to farmers, they'd have to give it away. It wasn't all that long ago that quarries in this area would LITERALLY give it away if you hauled it yourself. They had huge stockpiles that were just hogging up space.

In all likelyhood, buying lime @ $19 a ton, you're paying $3 or $4 a ton for the lime, and $15 or $16 a ton for the quarry's handling of the lime.

The only real advantage pelletized lime has is it's slow "releasing". It stays in the ground longer, taking it's sweet time about dissolving. That gives it time to effect the PH level instead of leaching out of the soil. But when you consider the price difference, it's FAR more economical to apply extra poundage/tonnage of AG lime than to use that overpriced pelletized lime.

 

[cp1969]

I wasn't implying that it takes 2400 lbs to make a ton...

That takes all the fun out of it. Around here, on our quarry's scales, I think 1400 lbs makes a ton some times.

 

[Bob_Young]

Haven't spread lime yet, but need to in a couple of fields. Thankful for this thread.

Once the amount of lime needed is determined, I'm thinking of spreading half of it late in the Fall so it can sit under the snow all winter and work into the soil. Then turn the fields over in the Spring with a bottom plow and put the rest of the lime on after the field's been disced. Does this make sense?

Or should both applications go on after the field's been plowed and disced?

Thanks.
Bob

 

[unit40]

I run soil tests on all of the Athletic fields and properties that I maintain. I have been using pellitized dolomitic limestone, and spreading with a cone-type broadcast spreader. The most I would ever put down in one application would be one ton per acre. As far as the Nitrogen application, I put down one pound per 1000 square feet, that amounts to 43.5 pounds per acre. I do this 3 -5 times a year.

 

[cp1969]

Haven't spread lime yet, but need to in a couple of fields. Thankful for this thread.

Once the amount of lime needed is determined, I'm thinking of spreading half of it late in the Fall so it can sit under the snow all winter and work into the soil. Then turn the fields over in the Spring with a bottom plow and put the rest of the lime on after the field's been disced. Does this make sense?

Or should both applications go on after the field's been plowed and disced?

Thanks.
Bob

I think I would put the lime on before you disk.

 

[Slamfire]

Ok
I called this one when I first went there, that it would probably not result in any work. (sometimes you just know)
But, we got the soil test done (so that pays for part of it)
She runs Alpaca's on it. (I guess the mountains don't bother them)
It's not excessively steep, but it's crowded with pine trees and cross fenced about a million times. You could never get a big buggy/truck in there. (even the small tractor is going to be a problem in spots)

If she sold a bunch of those pines to a logger, she'd have some cash to pay for the lime, and a whole lot less acid production. I think the loggers would take care of all that fencing, too!

 

[ToadHill]

Years ago I used to work at a rural plant that used ground lime in some of their products. The mill used to put out a cloud of "smoke" all day long and it drifted downwind. The EPA came and told them they would have to clean up the process. The downwind farmers were not happy.

 

[Renovator]

Brian
I used to help spread lme for local coop. We would get it bythe dump truck load and dump on ground then scoop it up dump in truck spreaders. We also had spreaders that could spread lime dust with some adjusting. Nitrogen makes soil acid also works beter when Closer to neutral. Like you said in your situation beter off buying hay.
Renovator