Barn lime

[bigboreblr]

I've like pelletized lime because it also has magnesium in it.

Anybody seen negative effects of spreading lime and planting at the same time. I'vr always wondered what it does for germination. I know local big AG in NY spreads lime during dormant seasons in the winter. Not sure if it's just a slow time of year to catch up on field work. Always wondered if their effeorts just get leached out during spring rains.

An intersting thing I found out about limestone. It's a part of the clover innoculant coating. So im guessing it's not that bad for young seedlings. Wonder why they use it? Keep innoculant alive / dormant? Keep the seed dry during storage? High pH starts to dissolve the hard seed coating, like a chemical scarification?

 

[bigboreblr]

Also, lets say you want a new plot in an area for a late summer / fall seeding. Do you spread lime ahead of time, like in the spring or summer while working to clean up the spot. LEt's say there tall weeds and small brush there. Or just spread it when your doing your inital till n seed.

 

[yoderjac]

Also, lets say you want a new plot in an area for a late summer / fall seeding. Do you spread lime ahead of time, like in the spring or summer while working to clean up the spot. LEt's say there tall weeds and small brush there. Or just spread it when your doing your inital till n seed.

In sandy soil, limes can move quickly. I know some folks that have to lime each time they plant. In clay soil lime moves quite slowly. It is best to avoid tillage to preserve soil health, so I never till in lime to make it work faster. Instead, I find it best to choose crops like WR and BW that tolerate low pH and infertility when establishing a new plot. This provides good deer food while soil amendments are adjusting pH. With most soils, I'd probably lime about 6 months before planting if possible.

 

[SD51555]

I've like pelletized lime because it also has magnesium in it.

Anybody seen negative effects of spreading lime and planting at the same time. I'vr always wondered what it does for germination. I know local big AG in NY spreads lime during dormant seasons in the winter. Not sure if it's just a slow time of year to catch up on field work. Always wondered if their effeorts just get leached out during spring rains.

An intersting thing I found out about limestone. It's a part of the clover innoculant coating. So im guessing it's not that bad for young seedlings. Wonder why they use it? Keep innoculant alive / dormant? Keep the seed dry during storage? High pH starts to dissolve the hard seed coating, like a chemical scarification?

I would spread lime as soon as I was able to, even if it's a year in advance, so long as you're not pushing topsoil around later on with equipment. Watch out for your pell brands, not all has magnesium in it.

 

[FarmerDan]

Bigbore, good questions!

I've like pelletized lime because it also has magnesium in it.
Liming is simply moving naturally occurring rocks from where they are found to where they are needed. Limestone is an actual geologic classification. Some areas are high in calcium. Others in magnesium. If I find I need some pH boost AND I'm deficient in magnesium I call company A for bulk lime. If not, company B comes riding to the rescue. It's a little more complicated.

Anybody seen negative effects of spreading lime and planting at the same time. I'vr always wondered what it does for germination.
If the addition of lime to soil has any impact on germination the effect is inconsequential. It’s not a consideration.

I know local big AG in NY spreads lime during dormant seasons in the winter. Not sure if it's just a slow time of year to catch up on field work. Always wondered if their effeorts just get leached out during spring rains.
Spring, summer, fall, winter – It gets done when it can. Lime is a catalyst for a chemical reaction in the soil. It’s not a powder that just lays there. But it needs to be in the soil and not just lay on top. Winter is a good time because there’s not much to get in the way of application. Frozen ground allows heavy equipment on the soil without threat of compaction and – having a truck get stuck. It’s also a bad time if the slope of the field would cause the lime to run-off before it actually gets into the soil.

An intersting thing I found out about limestone. It's a part of the clover innoculant coating. So im guessing it's not that bad for young seedlings. Wonder why they use it? Keep innoculant alive / dormant? Keep the seed dry during storage? High pH starts to dissolve the hard seed coating, like a chemical scarification?
Why? None of the above. For an inoculant to do what you want it to do it needs to stick to the seed. Think of it like this. Pre-inoculated seed is pelletized lime with a bonus. There’s a seed in the middle and the rhizobial bacteria (the inoculant) is mixed in the lime. An easily dissolved binder, the glue, holds it all together.

Also, lets say you want a new plot in an area for a late summer / fall seeding. Do you spread lime ahead of time, like in the spring or summer while working to clean up the spot. LEt's say there tall weeds and small brush there. Or just spread it when your doing your inital till n seed.
Most lime is applied months after it should have been applied. If there’s a fire, call the fire department. Lime when you can. While it’s true it takes months for the FULL soil chemical reaction to run its course, the impact early is substantial. It’s not straight-line. If your soil pH is bad and if you were able to measure, a significant part of the improvement in soil pH occurs within weeks (maybe even days if conditions are right). Apply lime when you can. Make it easy on yourself.

 

[TreeDaddy]

........and there ya have it

.........another " drop the mic" Farmer Dan post

bill

 

[yoderjac]

........and there ya have it

.........another " drop the mic" Farmer Dan post

bill

Only bad thing is the red on grey is hard for me to read.

 

[wooduck]

I've like pelletized lime because it also has magnesium in it.

Anybody seen negative effects of spreading lime and planting at the same time. I'vr always wondered what it does for germination. I know local big AG in NY spreads lime during dormant seasons in the winter. Not sure if it's just a slow time of year to catch up on field work. Always wondered if their effeorts just get leached out during spring rains.

An intersting thing I found out about limestone. It's a part of the clover innoculant coating. So im guessing it's not that bad for young seedlings. (((( Wonder why they use it? )))) Keep innoculant alive / dormant? Keep the seed dry during storage? High pH starts to dissolve the hard seed coating, like a chemical scarification?

Do you want to know why your seed is coated ,, they selll pounds ,, how many pounds of coating in a bag ??? More coating the more pure prrofit ,, inoculant would hardy be visible if that is all there was ,, alfalfa seed is very high lots of incentive to coat alot

 

[bigboreblr]

Do you want to know why your seed is coated ,, they selll pounds ,, how many pounds of coating in a bag ??? More coating the more pure prrofit ,, inoculant would hardy be visible if that is all there was ,, alfalfa seed is very high lots of incentive to coat alot

A decent portion of the clover seed at my local AG co-op has uncoated seed. I prefer to buy both coated and uncoated seed. Just feel the birds can get the coated seed too easily. I seed when I can get there, its not always snow free or bare in all spots. The uncoated seed could be innoculated with out looking like candy colored bird sprinkles? The innoculant is needed right on the seed? I have read conflicting things about the rhibzomes. You dont need them if your soil has them already and then you always need them right on the seed itself always. I plant clover mainly because it does well in less than ideal lighting areas. Most of my habitat improvements are early season minded. My area, the deer herd most years. Not a footprint or camera hit when the snow is about 18 inches until about early to mid april. So, I try to make the place the most attractive to a extra family or two of does for the season.

 

[yoderjac]

A decent portion of the clover seed at my local AG co-op has uncoated seed. I prefer to buy both coated and uncoated seed. Just feel the birds can get the coated seed too easily. I seed when I can get there, its not always snow free or bare in all spots. The uncoated seed could be innoculated with out looking like candy colored bird sprinkles? The innoculant is needed right on the seed? I have read conflicting things about the rhibzomes. You dont need them if your soil has them already and then you always need them right on the seed itself always. I plant clover mainly because it does well in less than ideal lighting areas. Most of my habitat improvements are early season minded. My area, the deer herd most years. Not a footprint or camera hit when the snow is about 18 inches until about early to mid april. So, I try to make the place the most attractive to a extra family or two of does for the season.

I inoculate legumes only when they are first planted in a field. This ensures there are sufficient rhibosomes in the soil. Inoculant has nothing to do with germination it simply improves the ability of the plant to fix N into the soil. I've never intentionally added commercial N to any of my food plots even back when I was using commercial fertilizer. I did use DAP back then to achieve my P needs, and that has a small percentage of N in it. A wise mix and rotation including legumes has always provided sufficient N. It is usually when folks try to plant monocultures, try to achieve unnecessary high yields, and use traditional farming's tillage techniques that high inputs are required.

When my plots begin to show signs of an issue, or deer reduce their usage without reason (like improving native foods), I'll take some foliar samples and send them for testing. I've been doing this min/no-till stuff for enough years, I'm not expecting to see that.

I just took some soil samples of a number of my fields. I did so to check pH levels. They came back with much better NPK levels than they did back when I was tiling and fertilizing.

 

[bigboreblr]

As of 2 weeks ago fertilizer was $27 a 50lb bag. Pretty much any variety at the local Ag Co-op. Was thinking of buying (2) bags of 6-24-24 and (2) of potash.

Need to take a soil sample again. But, Im sure Ill need some pottasium. I am also tilling up (2) new spots. I will be giving no-till a good shot, but these spots need to be leveled out of ruts so I can roll and / or mow. I am making a 1/8 acre plot for the neighbors club as a thank you for letting me mow their part of the snowmobile trail. I have a 1/10 acre strip parallel to the better part of the trail. I have another 1/10th acre log landing right by the road, but has a privacy screen of a hill of dirt.

I got 3 potential new spots to build. All my plots are with-in 100 yards of the dirt road. Sometimes a car goes by every 10-15 minutes, sometimes hours go by. I am going to take a closer look at these spots deeper in the lease. All are pretty much a 1/8th acre. I also have a 1/10 acre log landing right by the road with a privacy hill of dirt. My property borders state land by a reservoir. The state land is barely huntable, like 75 yards of land around the neighboring resevoir, but there has been a poacher or two over there, so I may hold off there.

Short story long...... The food plot seeder I am building will have a fertilizer box I turn down real low, like 75-100lbs an acre. I might just mix pelletized lime with the fertilizer to keep costs down. The soil here is sandy, so it cant hold a bunch of inputs for long.......