Drop spreader experts?

[pomester]

I'd like to get a drop spreader, mainly to apply lime to small (2-4 acre) plots for speciality crops.

CL offers some, tho most are a few hours south of me. Beyond not being rusted out, what should I be looking for/at? Is there any manufacturer/models associated with superior quality/features?

Thanks for any observations,
David

 

[Harold Hubbard]

Not rusted out, slides operating freely, shutting off completely, hubs and agitators
working, tires close to original size, and legible or otherwise available application
chart.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Most drop spreaders will not spread fine ground lime like from the quarry,if you are using pelleted it'll work fine.

 

[paul]

I wasnt sure on that as we never need lime around here, our soil tests as low as 6.5 but most is well over 7 and into 8.1ph......

But I was thinking a lime spreader is a little different then a fertilizer spreader, you need to be sure a drop spreader is designed to handle Ag lime or it won?t work well? As tiny as the fertilizer granules are, they flow pretty good. Ag lime is ground, and does not flow as well, and can easily cake up. A lime spreader needs to account for that.

I think my version is right on this?

As you say pelleted lime is a little different, that would work. Costs more and typically has a bigger effect for a shorter period of time from what I hear?

Paul

 

[divedigger]

I have a 8 ft new idea that I bought and ran 100 ton of lime from the quarry through. I had 5 20 ton loads dumped and just loaded with fil on tractor to
put on hay field just stopped couple times per ld and punch down bridged lime with hoe handle. It would do better if the lime had not got rained on
several times. You can take the lids off and let sombody set between the boxes and keep it punched down . The Co op dont keep but a couple for lime
and they were spoke for most of the time. If you have fil tractor and a helper you can put out 100 ton in a day and can get around to food plots with a
atv pretty easy , just dont load to full. This was the only way we had yrs ago.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Powered lime will pack real easy,plus the quarries these days spray water on the lime as it being crushed to keep down the dust so that makes it even harder to get thru a spreader.
In my area the Stoltzfus Spreader is what farmers use mostly to spread ag lime.

 

[MJMJ]

The old drop spreaders were made to apply ag lime, though it's true that the lime you get today isn't always the same that it was back then. I spread 20 tons a couple springs ago with mine. It'll work, but it can be frustrating at times. It doesn't take much moisture to cause bridging, so you have to go like he$$ so it bounces more. The bouncing causes the bridged areas to collapse. For small areas it works fine and is far more economical than resorting to pelletized lime.

 

[showcrop]

You could get granular lime too. It will take a couple years longer to take effect, but you could schedule around that. When I used to get lime by the 33 ton load, it was sometimes pretty scary getting it to come out of the trailer after the three hour ride.

 

[pomester]

thanks everyone -

We'll see what I can turn up