Lime Question

[SD51555]

SD,

In one of the videos that you posted and raved about, the host made a point of highlighting the fact that his Ag lime contains Sulphor in amounts that he finds meaningful enough to calculate. Were you aware of that, and do you know how much Sulphur average Ag lime contains?

I did rave. Them guys are good.

I forgot to mention that I did test my lime for extra nutrients. There is 1lb of sulfur per ton in mine. Can't afford or hump 40 tons of lime/ac to get up to an S position, but I can get there with a little gypsum.

For you bystanders, this a test of the brown and blue bag Waukesha lime from Tractor Supply. That is a $100 piece of free data. It's a coarse dolomitic lime. My lands were mostly deficient in magnesium, and had low pH that started in the mid 5's. I used this stuff to bring up my pH and my magnesium, and give me room to get on a long program of modest annual gypsum applications to deliver a cheap, safe, and less leachable form of sulfate to my crops. If I'm doing small applications of lime (like to a clear cut or top dressing apple trees) I'll use this.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/waukesha-lime-barnlime-50-lb-bag?cm_vc=-10005


If I'm doing big quantities, I'll pay up for the pell to save on the fingers. Also readily available at your local Tractor Supply store.

 

[SD51555]

Unfortunately, you forgot to mention that your approach is not “balanced” because the highly acidic fertilizers used to feed your crop would result in essentially mining your PH and without lime would quickly result in a low PH soil with corresponding low nutrient availability levels. The very essence of an unbalanced approach that “mines” soils.

Now we're overlapping. That soil test I put up, that spot hasn't seen lime in 5 years. I don't put down acidifying fertilizers every year. That would be silly and set you on a rollercoster of acidifying and alkalizing that would get exhausting. Get it on at the beginning, get it right, and just feed the anions from there. You're the one putting on acidifying fertilizer each year. Gypsum is pH neutral and therefore doesn't cause a frequent need to re-alkalize your soil.

 

[White Birch Farm]

You're the one putting on acidifying fertilizer each year.

Ok, now you are qualifiying your recomendatios for using gypsum by restricting the use of all fertilizers?

So much for this thread being about growing succesful foodplot!

 

[White Birch Farm]

I used this stuff to bring up my pH and my magnesium

And now you are raving about maintaining a program that annually mines that Magnesium and lowers the PH.

Got it, makes perfect sense!

 

[SD51555]

Ok, now you are qualifiying your recomendatios for using gypsum by restricting the use of all fertilizers?

So much for this thread being about growing succesful foodplot!

Don't lose hope man. I already told you, you won. I'm not saying don't use fertilizer, I said get it on at the beginning. You're not bailing up your plots and hauling everything away like production agriculture. Follow up testing has shown I have plenty of P and K today, far more than when I started. I highly encourage the annual use of fertilizer, fertilizer containing calcium and plant available sulfate.

 

[White Birch Farm]

Can't afford or hump 40 tons of lime/ac to get up to an S position, but I can get there with a little gypsum.

No one here, except you in that qoute, suggested anyone would use Ag lime as a primary source of Sulphur.

Very few people would consider adding 200lbs of supplements to plot a “little” amount.

 

[SD51555]

And now you are raving about maintaining a program that annually mines that Magnesium and lowers the PH.

Got it, makes perfect sense!

A one ton rate of my lime will add about 10-15 years of crop removal magnesium, and that's being generous. Even I can't string out pH stability that long.

 

[White Birch Farm]

You're not bailing up your plots and hauling everything away like production agriculture.

Actaully 30 acres of my land which I referenced in part throughout this thread is being bailed and hauled away as we speak....

Wet years will cause farmers to have an aweful lot of work the first time the soil freezes solid.

 

[SD51555]

No one here, except you in that qoute, suggested anyone would use Ag lime as a primary source of Sulphur.

Very few people would consider adding 200lbs of supplements to plot a “little” amount.

What was your point with this post then? And to answer your question, I do know how much S is in my lime. Was there a follow up to that?

 

[SD51555]

Actaully 30 acres of my land which I referenced in part throughout this thread is being and hauled away as we speak....

Then your experiences aren't exactly applicable advice for a food plot then, are they?

 

[White Birch Farm]

Then your experiences aren't exactly applicable advice for a food plot then, are they?

Which piece of the “in part” did you miss?

 

[Kooch]

I leave. I come back, and things are getting spicy!

 

[SD51555]

Which piece of the “in part” did you miss?

Well on which part are you giving us advice? And you're getting behind. What was your point in asking if I knew how much sulfur was in my lime if it wasn't to try to make a point that I can get some measurable amount of sulfur out of lime?

 

[White Birch Farm]

Then your experiences aren't exactly applicable advice for a food plot then, are they?

I think the fact that my plots are still seeing this kind of use in February speaks for my applicable experience

 

[White Birch Farm]

What was your point in asking if I knew how much sulfur was in my lime if it wasn't to try to make a point that I can get some measurable amount of sulfur out of lime?

You posted the link to a guy making that point...not me.

I never considered lime as a substantial source of Sulphur, so I was interested to know why he made that point.

 

[SD51555]

Then your experiences aren't exactly applicable advice for a food plot then, are they?

I think the fact that my plots are still seeing this kind of use in February speaks for my applicable experienceView attachment 22649

I hope that’s not the one being harvested right now. Which of these spots are u giving your advice, your production ag fields, or your grazed plots? Your nutrient removal is going to be dramatically different and your audience needs to know what advice they’re getting.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[White Birch Farm]

I hope that’s not the one being harvested right now.

This is what is being cut, and will be composted for commercial mushroom production.

The other other is mainly winter rye by this point in the portion the deer are in, and the other half is all dead in preperation for spring drilling of NWSG.

 

[White Birch Farm]

Which of these spots are u giving your advice, your production ag fields, or your grazed plots?

My advice is never based on any one single experience. Instead, it is based on my collective experiences that are most relevent to the specific question(s) being asked.

I have acres of fields that range the gamut from barely managed to intensively managed to optimize whitetail forage production. Being self aware enough to know what I don’t know I work both with an agronomist to select forage species and develope an appropriate fertilization plan for that species and my land, and a commercial fertilizer salesman to determine the most efficient way for me to implement that plan....which at times means not buying a thing from him.

Some places I can roll into like a Mack truck, others I work by hand.

This is what an active day looks like in my front yard.

 

[SD51555]

This is what is being cut, and will be composted for commercial mushroom production.

The other other is mainly winter rye by this point in the portion the deer are in, and the other half is all dead in preperation for spring drilling of NWSG.

Let's take a timeout and let me say thank you then. I love mushrooms, and those sold here come out of PA.

Now, you giving advice from a biomass production and harvest perspective, or a wildlife grazing perspective? Most guys likely don't have bailers run across their hunting properties, none that I know anyway. Gotta keep an eye on what's getting hauled away.

 

[Mortenson]

Our production fields are getting their sulfur from combos of MicroessentialSZ, AMS & ATS. MESZ is a good product, but it's expensive, so I with the ups and the downs, I watch cost. In our rotations, ph seems to drop about .2 per year. My tiny food plots have gotten none of that stuff. Why? Because the deer and the plants haven't really told me they need it. It's fine for the guys on this site (most of whom own their plots) to do some mining from time to time. I'm overdue for P-K and lime, which I'll address. I'm also going to buy a bag of $5 gypsum and with the drop spreader make a line in the clover. Will be a fun experiment.