Starting a new plot

[bigboreblr]

Atleast collect a second soil test before applying lime. Keep it around if you want a 2nd opinion.

Most lime recommendations are for certain tillage depths. Usually 6" of tillage. IF doing no-till, the recommendation is much less lime and more often. Typical lime reccomendations are to apply and retest in 3 years. With 4.9 pH you cant go wrong with 1 ton/acre. A 18 wheeler load will likely be cheapest, thats 26 tons usually. Anything over a ton an acre I would till in if possible.

Waiting isn't bad, but putting some rye in and letting it grow for a month or two will add organic matter, which is what you probably need for awhile. IF doing rye to attract deer during rifle season, planting between labor day and 2 weeks into september works well here in NY. Should be close to the same in PA.

If doing tillage, I would add some 6-24-24 fertilizer. 120lbs of either phosphorus or potassium is 500lbs/acre of 6-24-24. I'd do half, about 250lbs /acre. Fertilizer makes food plotting expensive, but mild applications of fertilizer makes a big difference in low fertility soils. At camp I either add 100lbs of 6-24-24 a year to my sandy soil and 500bs/acre of pelletized lime. Or double that if I skip a year.

 

[matinc]

Big bore how much do you believe 500 pounds of lime on one acre raises your ph on sandy soil.

 

[FarmerDan]

Regarding the present soil pH and from reading the posts above it's my opinion (sitting behind a desk and typing on a keyboard) this is not suitable land for growing much of anything. Sometimes you need to read between the lines, lay all the evidence on the table and come to a reasonable conclusion. So far as the lime amounts are concerned that's determined by lab results and an engineered recommendation for the specific crop to be grown. No where on any return from a soil testing lab does it say you can add the recommended amount of lime in one application. If one chooses to try to rehabilitate/transform a non-cropland field to cropland multiple applications months/years apart are required. Soil sampling and retesting more frequently than typical should be considered to track progress to the required outcome. All this is expensive in time and money. It's as much art as science. Where to say if it's all worth it is a personal decision. Again, to me, it sounds nearly infeasible from the start. I didn't see anything about slope.

 

[bigboreblr]

Big bore how much do you believe 500 pounds of lime on one acre raises your ph on sandy soil.

I have no scientific evidence here. Don't pH test alot in 2 bad plots. I consider it a status quo thing. After doing maybe 3/4 to 1 ton to get the pH is an acceptable range, the 500 lbs/ acre makes the plot look about the same each year. Soil is horsepower, and the soil is the vehicle. it's takes so much horsepower to get it to speed, and then it take a lower hp to keep it going. Sand over even worse sand displaced witrh rocks (even less growing medium/ volume) is a subcompact car. Remember, plants locally effect the pH to uptake nutrients. decaying plant material lowers the pH. Stuff flows through sand quick. Too much lime too much fertilizer, and this stuff leaches down below where most food plot plants can reach. At that point, your feeding deep perennial weeds, trees, or possibly absolutely nothing.....

A little car with alot of hp takes alot of throttle input to keep things going smoothly. Often and little. Nursing wasteleand into an oasis take small and frequent applications. If you can lime twice a year and fertilze 2 or 3 times a year at small amounts ,your doing good. I do have a cheapie amazon pH meter. I do feel like I am keeping my food plot the same pH, perhaps raising it .1 to .2 at a time.

I have a earthway 2750. I have it set a somewhere around 2.5 to 3 If I recall right. Where I get about 100lbs/acre of rye/oats. I mix about 4-5 parts lime to 1 part fertilizer. I put it in the bag, then take my index finger and hold it about a finger width more open. ON more barren areas I just open it full bore as I go by. maybe 8-10 ft between passes.

 

[bigboreblr]

Another thing I thought about while spraying my home foodplot. I got a soil sample for my 1/2 acre foodplot and my 1/4 acreish main area of fruit trees. Over the past 5 or 6 year, the foodplot has had much more lime and maybe fertilizer every other year if that. Prrobably between 1/2 ton to 1 ton acre application three times over the year, versus one application of 1/2 acre on the fruit tree area. The foodplot had lower pH than the fruit tree area. Think it was 5.2 vs 5.5. My no-till analysis said 1/2 ton acre for 3 years. Pre-plant fruit tree analysis said 6 tons/acre. However, already had trees there for a year. They wanted a deep soil sample to give a existing orchard result.

Never got a good lab analysis from camp. some basic tests. Will take some samples in august, one or two will be good soil tests, while a few will just be their 0-1" pH test. I am part of a hunting club that leases land. Any of my foodplots there are subject ot be destroyed by loggers making a nice log landing home on my spots. I got 6 spots I am maintaining. Probably hunt mostly between 2 of them. Brother in law is a farmer, so I got plenty of land to hunt. This is more just for fun.