soil amendments

[S.T.Fanatic]

Have a question. What is best management practices when it comes to spreading gypsum. I have a clover plot I was going to get some on. Also was going to put another bag down on the rest of the plot that is going to be in soybeans. Is it fine to do now or better to wait closer to the time that I plant?

 

[H20fwler]

Early spring and fall are best times, with gypsum it's hard to go wrong.

 

[SD51555]

It lasts at least 12 months, even in sandy soil. I put on enough to raise my sulfate 20 ppm. Before I started adding, I had none. I test each year just before I put the annual application on, and each time I've finished with 13 ppm or better.

It's just a rock. Throw it on any time and repeat the same time each year.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I bought 2 bags for approximately 1 acre. Would that be good enough as a guess? I will be pulling samples before I apply. Haven’t tested in about 3 years.


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[SD51555]

I bought 2 bags for approximately 1 acre. Would that be good enough as a guess? I will be pulling samples before I apply. Haven’t tested in about 3 years.
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I aim for 300 lbs/ac each year. That's gonna give you about 40 lbs of sulfate sulfur. I've never found a good recommendation for what it takes to grow clover, but I benchmark off of high yield soybeans for how to feed a legume crop. 90 bushel beans only pull 16 lbs of sulfur. Knowing plants can't extract 100% of available nutrients, I aim to have at least double that amount so roots and AMF can reach what they need.



I'd also venture to guess that a perennial plot is going to use more sulfur than an annual plot simply because it has 5 active growing months vs maybe 2 in a mature soybean field. There isn't any risk of burning or acidifying with gypsum, and at low rates like that, you're also not going to move your soil composition.

I made a plot expansion out of some subsoil from a water hole dig. I brought up some heavy smeary clay to become my new topsoil. I've started with a rate of 1000 lbs/ac/yr gypsum to start pushing that composition around. The subsoil came up at 6.2 pH, so there won't be any lime.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Where do you buy your gypsum? Will my local co-op carry it or should I just get it from menards?


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[SD51555]

I get mine from Menards. It's the only place I've found in the upper midwest that carries it at a decent price.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

I get it for $5/5gal pail from the co-op.

 

[SD51555]

I get it for $5/5gal pail from the co-op.

That's a great price. In my old job, I had a place I could get bulk, but I don't get by there anymore. I cut a 55 gallon plastic barrel in half and made two tubs that I'd fill. Now it's back to bags for me, but that also makes it a little more convenient to keep a dozen bags on standby if the mood to spread should strike. I had been spreading gypsum in my clear cut spots to juice the regen, but I'd fallen behind on that.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Atwoods 5$/40lb bag at selected stores

bill

 

[Charles Clear]

I got mine at Rural king $5.49 40lb bag