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Melissa Webster
Member
Username: Mwebster
Post Number: 474
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, Jan 5, 2007 - 7:47 pm: |   |
Given the incredibly warm weather we've been having in Massachusetts (60 degrees today), we've been feeling like Spring Fever... and we were wondering whether it might be OK to lime our pastures at this time, even though it would normally be a task we'd undertake in spring or fall. Any downside to doing this? There isn't much grass growing at this point, though incredibly there's a little (!) and the lilacs are budding out.
Thanks,
Melissa |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 17428
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Sunday, Jan 7, 2007 - 8:51 am: | |
Assuming your soil a bit on the acidic side and the ground not to wet to run the truck over, right now is the best time to lime. It takes months before the lime dissolves and raises the ph of the soil, so by doing it now you get the best conditions for when you fertilize just before the active growing conditions. Not only that but the lime trucks are idle so you don't have to wait in line.
DrO |
Melissa Webster
Member
Username: Mwebster
Post Number: 476
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, Jan 7, 2007 - 6:21 pm: | |
Great! Thanks so much for your reply! That's great news, we can get a jump on it.
Generally the soil here tends to be acidic (good for the azaleas, rhodos, and all the other acid-loving plants; not as good for grass. The ferns are looking too healthy and I'm seeing some moss.)
Looks like we'll be doing it with our own tractor... my husband just found a used fertilizer spreader for a good price. Though I'm thinking it may wind up costing more (!) since here we are buying this stuff by the bag instead of by the ton.
I am not quite sure how to figure out the amount to use, is there an article that would guide us? (Maybe worth getting a lime truck over this time, and let my husband do some "remedial liming" going forward?)
Also, is there any reason to keep the horses off the pasture we've just limed? We're using pelleted stuff. There's not much to nibble out there right now, though they're trying. We have hay in front of them all the time, hopefully they will try less?
Thanks!
Melissa |
Melissa Webster
Member
Username: Mwebster
Post Number: 477
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, Jan 7, 2007 - 7:20 pm: | |
Hi - actually, we've got a ratio from the Agway folks on how much to use. But it would be great to know whether we should keep the horses off the limed pasture for some time after liming. (We'd need to fence off sections with electric tape to manage that.)
Thanks!
M |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 17447
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Monday, Jan 8, 2007 - 6:51 pm: | |
Though ag lime is probably not very toxic, it is usually recommended are to keep them off until after a good rain / snow.
DrO |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: imogen
Post Number: 904
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - 1:50 pm: | |
I thought that the recommendations were different for granular lime (that you spread with a fertiliser spreader as Melissa suggests here) and mineral lime (the lorry dumps it, powdery stuff, goes absolutely everywhere when it is spread).
My understanding was that mineral lime does indeed take months to change the growing conditions, but the granular stuff you are supposed to put on at the start of the growing season, before the fertiliser but not much.
Maybe I'm wrong? Anyone any more information on this? Also have any of you ever tried to deal with a field that's acidic in patches?
For years I assumed that the patchy way the horses liked to graze was just horse-sick pasture that needed reseeding. I reseeded. Same patches. I used ph tests and found that the stuff they like to eat is on ph 6.5 to 7.0 and the stuff they don't like to eat is on ph 5.5 soil.
(visions of me doing do-nuts in the tiny tractor tryinig to keep the lime to the right places...)
All the best
Imogen |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: dro
Post Number: 17836
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007 - 6:33 pm: | |
Imogen I have never heard of different application recommendations. Carbonates and phosphates of magnesium and calcium don't care whether they are powdered or granulated, they dissolve slowly in either case so I would think quick application once a acidic conditions is identified, no matter what time it is, would be the best recommendation.
DrO |
