Small time liming

[SD51555]

I've got a new quarter acre plot I'm working on. I'm calling it a pollinator / fawning / standby garden plot. I'm keeping deer food out of it as much as possible. This year, it'll get planted to rye/flax/vetch/sweet clover, and then I may carve out some stamps for other things. But that's pretty much it.

I'm planning to cut into it around August 1st to get it planted. That means summer liming out of a 5-gallon bucket, and hauling in minerals with the suburu. So, the next three weekends I'll be hauling in:

Trip 1: 400 lbs calcitic pell
Trip 2: 400 lbs calcitic pell
Trip 3: 200 lbs calcitic pell / 200 lbs gypsum

I've kept the grass mowed for the entire summer so far to help burn up years of quack residue and begin exhausting the rhizome network. Canada thistle is coming pretty hot already, but that doesn't bother me. I half considered mowing around those to let them express themselves. Not many self terminating cover crops will give you a broomstick thick taproot in one growing season.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I've got a new quarter acre plot I'm working on. I'm calling it a pollinator / fawning / standby garden plot. I'm keeping deer food out of it as much as possible. This year, it'll get planted to rye/flax/vetch/sweet clover, and then I may carve out some stamps for other things. But that's pretty much it.

I'm planning to cut into it around August 1st to get it planted. That means summer liming out of a 5-gallon bucket, and hauling in minerals with the suburu. So, the next three weekends I'll be hauling in:

Trip 1: 400 lbs calcitic pell
Trip 2: 400 lbs calcitic pell
Trip 3: 200 lbs calcitic pell / 200 lbs gypsum

I've kept the grass mowed for the entire summer so far to help burn up years of quack residue and begin exhausting the rhizome network. Canada thistle is coming pretty hot already, but that doesn't bother me. I half considered mowing around those to let them express themselves. Not many self terminating cover crops will give you a broomstick thick taproot in one growing season.

200lbs/.25 acre of gypsum?

I thought that was what you recommended per acre

bill

 

[SD51555]

200lbs/.25 acre of gypsum?

I thought that was what you recommended per acre

bill

I’m going big on calcium and sulfate. It’s a heavy clay, and I want the new forage to come out swingin. Once I get these plots to full production I’m gonna let them go without gypsum. If I have the calcium up and a diverse mix at full strength, I should be able to cycle all the nutrients I need.

I have been going an extra year or two where there is no topsoil.


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[omicron1792]

Will you fertilize year one to kick start cycle? I rarely put nitrogen fertilizer but I do like to put out 0-20-20 year one to get the cycle started. And in a 1/4 acre plot that is literally one 50lbs bag.

 

[omicron1792]

Also what are your thoughts on minor nutrients like boron, sulfate, etc? I often neglect those but maybe I shouldn’t. I’m always hoping diverse mix mines what is needed, but I think sometimes some of the minor nutrients might not be in the soil to mine.

 

[SD51555]

Will you fertilize year one to kick start cycle? I rarely put nitrogen fertilizer but I do like to put out 0-20-20 year one to get the cycle started. And in a 1/4 acre plot that is literally one 50lbs bag.

I don't buy NPK anymore. Last time was 2018 I think. There is only a response from NPK when it follows a spraying or tillage pass. In a diverse stay-green system, it'll only set you back. I always do stay green unless I've lost my plot to something like burdock or sedge grass. I had to throw in a the towel on two after four years and start over. One was lost to sedge, and the other to burdock and hairy vetch. And the hairy vetch is back with a vengence.

I lime, and that's about it. I even pulled way back on gypsum once prices doubled on everything. I'll still spot treat with gypsum and spread hay where I see poor performance. I'll take the opportunity to juice the sulfate with gypsum at the beginning of a new plot if I'm really trying to head off crusting, or want to get clover off to a good start.

I don't soil test anymore either. I've pulled enough cores to know I'm gonna need 1 ton to get to 6.0, and it's heavy clay, so I go all calcium. Beyond that, I, and most of you, am/are sitting on 10,000 years worth of rock minerals, and the rest we pull out of the atmosphere. You just need a living system to go and get it.

 

[SD51555]

Also what are your thoughts on minor nutrients like boron, sulfate, etc? I often neglect those but maybe I shouldn’t. I’m always hoping diverse mix mines what is needed, but I think sometimes some of the minor nutrients might not be in the soil to mine.

They're there. If you've got your blend right, there won't be a deficiency. I've never seen a nutrient deficiency in nature. Just make sure you've got your food groups covered, and push your numbers as high as you can while still meeting your objectives:

Grasses
Broadleaves
Legumes
Brassicas
Flowers
Cool
Warm
High carbon
Low carbon

 

[omicron1792]

Love your stuff. Thanks my man.

I have had good results kick starting cycle then letting it roll. I totally agree on soil test. I know what my ph will be to start (4.5-5), put some lime, then let er go

 

[Buckhunter10]

Good stuff! I’ll add my 2 cents.

I think it is Always important to balance the base saturations. That is one reason I am a huge fan of soil testing but also doing it on a gps based system.

As for NPK - unless using tillage in most systems, I wouldn’t use the p and K. N is a leachable nutrient and you can help get a system jump started.

Another option when jump starting is foliar applications such as fish fert, humics, etc.

As @SD51555 mentioned we can get a lot done with diversity and balancing C:N.

Keep up great work boys!! Have a great fall!