ag vs pelletized lime

[Anonymous-0]

I got my soil samples back the other day, saying a little over 10 ton of lime/acre needed. Went to get prices (haven't gotten quote yet) but was asked about using pelletized instead of ag.
Any thoughts? I kinda like the thought of 500 lbs/ vs 10 tons. And I can spread the pellets in my double barrel funnel spreader vs renting a lime box...

 

[Aaron SEIA]

When I was selling ag chemicals, pel lime was looked at as a quick fix vs a long term rebuild. Think of it as a Red Bull vs a good nights sleep. If you really need 10 tons of ag lime, 500 lbs of pel lime isn't going to last much more than a year.
AaronSEIA

 

[gbs]

did misread or did they recommend 10tons/acre what was your ph or was that 10 tons total instead of 10tons per acre

 

[paul]

If you need that much, you prob need both!

Pel lime is a quick fix, here today, gone tomorrow.

Ag lime can take 6 months to start doing anything much, but will help you out for the next 5 years or more.

Typically pel lime is a money pit, costs more for what you get. You undersand you'll need to apply that 500 lbs every year... But it can be good if you need some buffering in a hurry or only have a 1 year lease.

Myself, my ground is 6.7 to 8.5 ph, so never actually used either product....

--->Paul

 

[Anonymous-0]

We were told by agronomic people that the plow layer would only absorb roughly 4 ton in one application in one season. That is a bunch of money to apply 10 ton at one time. Would split that up over 3 growing seasons or so. Pellet lime is used here mostly by landscapers and golf courses. Ag lime can take years to dissolve, too. Ten tons is way too much at one time, in my thinking.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Sorry about that guys, it was roughly 5 ton/acre 11,000 lbs. Mistyped, I'll get my paper back out and see what the ph was for sure

 

[jackinok]

remember when you start this,first you need ten tons of LIME,not filler.nearly always ag lime is a purer lime that goes to work right away.pelletized takes longer.next buy lime,not filler and WATCH THE COST!!! lime is NOT lime is not lime is not lime! it, just as any natural material varies in its lime content,the fertilizer place should be able to tell you what percentage of their material is lime.(its tested just like fertilizer).by figuring out the actual cost per pound of actual lime you can find the cheapest price for the product.in other words if you have a product thats say 50% actual lime, and another thats 100% and the hundred percent costs half again as much.its a WAY better bargain,since you would have to spread 20 tons to get the same effect with the fifty percent.Next remember that you dont want to add 10 tons per acre all at once.if i recall ,(my memory is shot),three tons max per year is what you want to do and no more.ALSO VERY important.if you spread the three tons its very, very important that you have your soil tested next year,lime DOES NOT work on all soils the same,and it wont work on the same soil the same way from one year to the next,especially in a wet year versus a dry year.remember you are not trying with lime to amend the soil,you are trying to change the actuall soil structure. if you go too far, too fast ,you will be in MUCH MUCH worse shape than if you did nothing at all.lime is one of the better things you can add,its cheap,easy to do,and does more than fertilizer most times for your crops.but you need to know what your doing with it,you simply cant go out and throw twenty tons of concrete mix on every acre of your place.it has to be done properly.AND remember when you do work up to the point that you have the ph of your soil where its needed for your crop,YOU DONT have to keep adding lime every year.you have actually now chemically changed the soil structure.all that you need to do is add maintenance amounts of lime that are lost to leaching etc.some years you wont need any,in a really wet year you probably will.absolutly remember,lime is nothing more than limestone,you dont want to add so much rock to your soil all at once that you bind it up.but water ,and especially high acid rains disolve limestone.this process is means you will have to add maintenance amounts.

 

[RichG]

Ditto what jack said 3 ton of lime per year max. What was the ph of you soil for them to warrant that much lime. 3 ton a year but do a soil test each year befor the application. If they told you to add that much in one year I would seek a second test with someone else. I added pell lime as a starter in one of bean fields because it needed a kick, but that is the only time I use it.

 

[kyhayman]

Get the ag lime, its typically a better bargain. When I was first working as an extension agent we did some field plots of using lime on rented land. The scenario was low pH river bottom soils, annual rent, landlord wouldnt apply anything. Research question was what level of lime is most cost effective for the guy renting to correct nutrient binding. We were at pH levels where, even with high levels of P and K the corn was deficient due to Al binding of the P and K.

What we found was there was no significant difference in response between 3 tons bagged ag lime, 5 tons of quarried ag lime, and 500 pounds pelleted lime per acre with conventional tillage in the first year response. But, the cost per acre was actually cheaper with the quarried lime.

 

[hayray]

A huge misunderstanding about pelletized lime, usually spread by dis-informaiton. No way 500 lbs. of pelletized lime can't equal 10 tons of Ag lime unless the Ag lime has a neuturalizing value of .2 or less. Studies here in Michigan have shown that the pelletized lime does not show a response any faster then quarry lime ground to the fine mesh standard. I get lime for $4 per ton and pelletized lime last time I checked 20 years ago was $200/ton.