ground lime or granulated lime value for money

satstheway

What's the crack on lime? Granulated more expensive doesn't last very long but convenient. Ground lime cheaper last longer and not so easy to spread.

Has anyone worked out how much more expensive granulated is taking into account its short lifespan compared to ground?

Lastly how long in has ground lime to be on before the cows get on it. Weather was to wet until now and now cows be out in a couple weeks if weather holds.
If it can't be grazed quickly I may just go gran lime

bbam

If I remember correctly Gran Lime is four or five times more expensive to use.
But then I can get it on fields that the ground lime spreader would never get to.

ganmo

You could let the cows in straight away, they probably won't eat much though

reilig

Granulated lime is 180 per ton bulkspread or spread yourself.
Ground lime is about 25 per ton spread.
2 bags of gran lime is the equivalent of 1 ton of ground lime. Gran lime needs to be spread every year.

The only thing I can tell you is that if your soil needs lime then any fertiliser that you spread is up to 50% wasted so spreading lime in any form makes financial savings in the long term.

Gran lime can be spread at any stage whereas ground lime has rules about spreading fertilizer or slurry on top.

Ground lime also has a reputation of making heavy land softer after application.

Muckit

You can work away with the ground limestone even when they are in the field. Will do no harm at all so don't be fretting.

bbam

reilig wrote: »

Granulated lime is 180 per ton bulkspread or spread yourself.
Ground lime is about 25 per ton spread.
2 bags of gran lime is the equivalent of 1 ton of ground lime. Gran lime needs to be spread every year.

The only thing I can tell you is that if your soil needs lime then any fertiliser that you spread is up to 50% wasted so spreading lime in any form makes financial savings in the long term.

Gran lime can be spread at any stage whereas ground lime has rules about spreading fertilizer or slurry on top.

Ground lime also has a reputation of making heavy land softer after application.

I thought it was one bag same as a ton, but it's a few years since I checked.

micraX

bbam wrote: »

If I remember correctly Gran Lime is four or five times more expensive to use.
But then I can get it on fields that the ground lime spreader would never get to.

Shovel it off a trailer?

Greengrass1

Use phisolith here.
Brilliant stuff. Spread two bags every year and it grows buckets of grass. Brings a load of trace elements too.
Our pH here was 5.3 I think.
6.6 and 6.7 now.
Could never afford to buy a big lit if lime so it was best way to do it.
Also no topping here. Cows will eat the cow pats there so sweet

TUBBY

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Use phisolith here.
Brilliant stuff. Spread two bags every year and it grows buckets of grass. Brings a load of trace elements too.
Our pH here was 5.3 I think.
6.6 and 6.7 now.
Could never afford to buy a big lit if lime so it was best way to do it.
Also no topping here. Cows will eat the cow pats there so sweet

how much a ton is it

Round Bale

TUBBY wrote: »

how much a ton is it

And what is it?
And where do you get it?
And can you spread with normal spreader?

bbam

Round Bale wrote: »

And what is it?
And where do you get it?
And can you spread with normal spreader?

http://www.grasslandagro.ie/products/fertilizers/soil-conditioner/physiolith/

Price ??

Conmaicne Mara

Ground lime every time and twice on Sundays.

Granulated lime is just too expensive.

Greengrass1

bbam wrote: »

http://www.grasslandagro.ie/products/fertilizers/soil-conditioner/physiolith/

Price ??

250/t I think.
Highly recommend it. Especially if your renting ground

Farmer Pudsey

http://www.donedeal.ie/fertilisers-for-sale/super-slag-basic/4694909

Have anybody tried this it is about 70/ton delivered supposed to be same strenght as Granlime but with about 40 units of phospate/ton. H

maxxuumman

Greengrass1 wrote: »

250/t I think.
Highly recommend it. Especially if your renting ground

Ya used here for the first time (properly) last autumn. Did a soli test in feb, it did the job on ph, and the grass is looking great. Some of the fields that got it have been grazed in feb and are motoring back.
Greengrass are you getting away with 2cwt. My sales man insisted I go with 4cwt and he maintained that would last 3-4 yrs. the main reason im using it,!is that I feel the ground is tired from getting so much washings and slurry and I'm hoping it improves the condition of the soil.

Greengrass1

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/fertilisers-for-sale/super-slag-basic/4694909

Have anybody tried this it is about 70/ton delivered supposed to be same strenght as Granlime but with about 40 units of phospate/ton. H

Asked a lad about that the other day.
He said some places it works and others it doesn't.
Said you could get anything in the load. Its not guaranteed you will get what they say.
He said if you have couple hundred acres of tillage and you wanted to bring a load of trace elements it would do grand.
But you could end up poisening the ground if you spread it on grass

Greengrass1

maxxuumman wrote: »

Ya used here for the first time (properly) last autumn. Did a soli test in feb, it did the job on ph, and the grass is looking great. Some of the fields that got it have been grazed in feb and are motoring back.
Greengrass are you getting away with 2cwt. My sales man insisted I go with 4cwt and he maintained that would last 3-4 yrs. the main reason im using it,!is that I feel the ground is tired from getting so much washings and slurry and I'm hoping it improves the condition of the soil.

We spread 4 bags two yrs ago. Just topping up now every year with two.
Using there phosphorus fert now to see if its as good as salesman said and as good as the phisolith worked.
Timac are using our farm as a moniter farm for there products because of the reaction there products has had here

Damo810

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Use phisolith here.
Brilliant stuff. Spread two bags every year and it grows buckets of grass. Brings a load of trace elements too.
Our pH here was 5.3 I think.
6.6 and 6.7 now.
Could never afford to buy a big lit if lime so it was best way to do it.
Also no topping here. Cows will eat the cow pats there so sweet

Price and application rates, never heard of it before but it seems it uses calcium to raise the pH (which makes sense, calcium is non acidic) but looking at another forum, people don't seem impressed with it at all? Your results seem impressive though, depending on the cost of course.

maxxuumman

Greengrass1 wrote: »

We spread 4 bags two yrs ago. Just topping up now every year with two.
Using there phosphorus fert now to see if its as good as salesman said and as good as the phisolith worked.
Timac are using our farm as a moniter farm for there products because of the reaction there products has had here

What's their phosphorus fert.
Timac have done some great work on soil chemistry. You could look at their products as expensive snake-oil.

Greengrass1

maxxuumman wrote: »

What's their phosphorus fert.
Timac have done some great work on soil chemistry. You could look at their products as expensive snake-oil.

P27 is what we got. 11% p
Its soft rock phosphorus and supposed to be more readily available to the plant and not as hard on the soil like hard rock.
Dear though

Greengrass1

Damo810 wrote: »

Price and application rates, never heard of it before but it seems it uses calcium to raise the pH (which makes sense, calcium is non acidic) but looking at another forum, people don't seem impressed with it at all? Your results seem impressive though, depending on the cost of course.

250/t.
We put 4 bags two yrs ago and two from now on. It is dear but our ground was all water logged when we moved first so didn't want to get a big spreader in

agriman27

Greengrass1 wrote: »

250/t.
We put 4 bags two yrs ago and two from now on. It is dear but our ground was all water logged when we moved first so didn't want to get a big spreader in

Few questions for ya. can you spread this stuff with a wagtail spreader. I wonder would you have to pay extra on top for long haulage,I'm in cavan. Never heard of anyone using I around my area, do they have reps all over the country. It sounds like it would suit me really well because my ph is high and phosphorous is low

Greengrass1

agriman27 wrote: »

Few questions for ya. can you spread this stuff with a wagtail spreader. I wonder would you have to pay extra on top for long haulage,I'm in cavan. Never heard of anyone using I around my area, do they have reps all over the country. It sounds like it would suit me really well because my ph is high and phosphorous is low

Yes you spread it yourself.
Don't know if it with lower your pH.
Heard of some other mineral you spread to lower your pH.
Look up timac and see if they have rep in your area

Conmaicne Mara

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Yes you spread it yourself.
Don't know if it with lower your pH.
Heard of some other mineral you spread to lower your pH.
Look up timac and see if they have rep in your area

Sulphur?

Greengrass1

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Sulphur?

Can't think of it. Lad in college had to spread it every year on his land to lower it

Damo810

agriman27 wrote: »

Few questions for ya. can you spread this stuff with a wagtail spreader. I wonder would you have to pay extra on top for long haulage,I'm in cavan. Never heard of anyone using I around my area, do they have reps all over the country. It sounds like it would suit me really well because my ph is high and phosphorous is low

If your ph is high, then you don't need lime or the stuff green spreads as that would only raise it more. The lower the pH, the more acidic a soil is.

agriman27

Damo810 wrote: »

If your ph is high, then you don't need lime or the stuff green spreads as that would only raise it more. The lower the pH, the more acidic a soil is.

Yeah I know ,I got confused with greengrass comment I thought he meant the physiolith stuff did the two jobs but I do know the land needs lime though. Is goin to cost a lot to get my ground into good shape

jack o shea

whats the lime you can get in big bags and spread yourself? how much per tonne and what rate per acre?

Farmer Pudsey

jack o shea wrote: »

whats the lime you can get in big bags and spread yourself? how much per tonne and what rate per acre?

Granlime or G-Lime. It costs about 140/ton ( i buy with my fertlizer). 2 bags/are to lower PH and 1 bag.acre to maintain ph.

jack o shea

2 small bags to the acre pudsey? is it good? my land needs lime havnt spread it in a long time, can this stuff be spread with a normal amazon spreader?

Farmer Pudsey

jack o shea wrote: »

2 small bags to the acre pudsey? is it good? my land needs lime havnt spread it in a long time, can this stuff be spread with a normal amazon spreader?

My land is high in calcium however I am told that this calcium is locked up. have spread it for the last 5ish years. My ph is very good. not sure if it can all be put down to the granlime. Buy a few ton and see how you get on. Yes two small bags (100kgs)/acre to lower ph.

jack o shea

would you notice results fairly quickly?do glanbia sell it?i was thinking of trying it on some of the grazing block,after cows graze i presume would be best time?cud it be spread on top of fertilizer?

freedominacup

40 units of N = €20/acre dropped in the yard no debate about spreading it (bar weather)

1 tonne of lime = €20/acre dropped in yard, endless debate about spreading it..............

Greengrass1

Does no one read the whole thread any more?
Same questions asked about 3 times now

TUBBY

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Does no one read the whole thread any more?
Same questions asked about 3 times now

just to clarify, what is difference between bag and bulk lime

genuinely though green grass, is the phsiolith not v dear compaed to g lime at 140 a ton.

Greengrass1

TUBBY wrote: »

just to clarify, what is difference between bag and bulk lime

genuinely though green grass, is the phsiolith not v dear compaed to g lime at 140 a ton.

It is yes. But it brought up our pH in 3 yrs and we don't know have to top.
Father is still the boss so if he wants to spend I'll let him at it

maxxuumman

TUBBY wrote: »

just to clarify, what is difference between bag and bulk lime

genuinely though green grass, is the phsiolith not v dear compaed to g lime at 140 a ton.

It is but it isn't just a ph balancer, it claims that it does a lot more of the soil chemistry. Enzymes to break down slurry, and other magic stuff like that.
I have to say that where I spread it last year is looking good, and the soil structure is looking much better. There is a noticeable difference in the amount of worm casts in the fields that got it.

nhg

When doing an 11 acre reseed last yr we used the physolith as we we'nt able to tie it in with the full farm spread (& hadn't our soil tests back).

On our second reseed (5 acres) (both fields side by side) we used the ground lime which we tied in with the full farm spread - it will be interesting to see later in the year if there is any difference in the two fields.

The rep selling the physolith lives near us & he did the soil tests for us. I plan on doing soil tests next jan/feb again before we go with the follow up lime spread.

We paid €250/T for the physolith (spread ourselves with wag tail) and €20/T for the ground lime spread.

Farmer Pudsey

freedominacup wrote: »

40 units of N = €20/acre dropped in the yard no debate about spreading it (bar weather)

1 tonne of lime = €20/acre dropped in yard, endless debate about spreading it..............

For to maintain ph, gran-lime works out at 7/acre. to raise ph it is 14/acre. now it is a yearly cost as opposed tp ground lime at 40/acre for 4-5 years.

I think spreading any lime is a no brainer, if your ph is wrong then it is costing you 20-35% in fertlizer effiency. It is ike lads getting caught up reseeding a field or two when they would spray the whole farm for weeds for 15-20/acre and maybe get a 20-30% return on grass crop

Conmaicne Mara

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

For to maintain ph, gran-lime works out at 7/acre. to raise ph it is 14/acre. now it is a yearly cost as opposed tp ground lime at 40/acre for 4-5 years.

I think spreading any lime is a no brainer, if your ph is wrong then it is costing you 20-35% in fertlizer effiency. It is ike lads getting caught up reseeding a field or two when they would spray the whole farm for weeds for 15-20/acre and maybe get a 20-30% return on grass crop

Trouble is, if we take gran lime to be 5 times as dear as ground lime, people can think that's not too bad for it being so handy. But, they forget then they're only comparing it in ONE year. Like you said, gran lime needs to be put out every year compared to every few years for ground. So gran lime can work out 20-25 times as dear as ground lime.

Would we spend that mark up on any other product?

eorna

can g-lime be spread a week or 2 after urea or is it the same as ground lime where one would loose the nitrogen in urea?

bbam

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Trouble is, if we take gran lime to be 5 times as dear as ground lime, people can think that's not too bad for it being so handy. But, they forget then they're only comparing it in ONE year. Like you said, gran lime needs to be put out every year compared to every few years for ground. So gran lime can work out 20-25 times as dear as ground lime.

Would we spend that mark up on any other product?

No I think thats worked out over a few years.. there was a more detailed thread maybe 3 years ago....

I'll have a stab at it...

€150 a ton, 100kg (€15 worth)same as 1 ton ground,
so say I spread 2 ton ground lime @ €25 a ton, thats €50 to cover for 3 years.

In G-Lime that would be €15 * 2 = €30 each year for 3 years = €90

So for the same cover for 3 years would be €50 in ground lime and €90 in G-lime..

Actually that looks much better than I had thought... not twice the cost..

But it would depend on the deal you can strike on ground lime, the quarry near us will spread it within 5 miles for €18/ton and would charge us €27/ton, and there is no cost for spreading the G-lime yourself included, probably should be €5/ton.

On the plus side for G-lime..
Can be stored for use when needed
I can cover any small area when it suits me, with gound I'd need a full 24 ton load.
I can spread just when conditions are right rather than waiting for a contractor.
For those of us with smaller field access its just handier..

reilig

eorna wrote: »

can g-lime be spread a week or 2 after urea or is it the same as ground lime where one would loose the nitrogen in urea?

You can spread it at any time - it had no impact on N in fertilizer or slurry

Injuryprone

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Trouble is, if we take gran lime to be 5 times as dear as ground lime, people can think that's not too bad for it being so handy. But, they forget then they're only comparing it in ONE year. Like you said, gran lime needs to be put out every year compared to every few years for ground. So gran lime can work out 20-25 times as dear as ground lime.

Would we spend that mark up on any other product?

I think you need to recheck your figures there Con.

As I see it, gran lime (at 1 bag /acre/year) costs €7 + spreading costs.
Ground lime costs (at €23/tonne around here) €46/acre every 5 years or €9.20/acre/year.

Just spread 70% of the farm with granlime. The rest has been reseeded in the last 3 years. Spread with an Amazone spreader. Tbh it was dusty enough with a nice bit of non-granulated lime in the bag which didn't flow very well. Getting the last couple of cwt out of the spinner was troublesome enough. I'd say it'll work better with a wagtail

reilig

We're putting out Growmax this year. €180 per ton. It's a new product with almost double the strength of other granulated lime - a lot of demand for it in these parts as the co-op can't keep it stocked. Going to spread about 50kg to the acre this year and see how it does - it's 6 years since we spread ground limestone. Going to put out 18-6-12 on top.

http://www.irishlime.com/our-products/quicklime/growmax

bbam

reilig wrote: »

We're putting out Growmax this year. €180 per ton. It's a new product with almost double the strength of other granulated lime - a lot of demand for it in these parts as the co-op can't keep it stocked. Going to spread about 50kg to the acre this year and see how it does - it's 6 years since we spread ground limestone. Going to put out 18-6-12 on top.

http://www.irishlime.com/our-products/quicklime/growmax

That would put it very close to the costs of ground lime and a hell of a lot more convenient for smaller operations..

satstheway

Well if I spread urea today can I spread bulk lime in a week time?
And Jees you's don't half make it hard to make up my mind. A lot of pros and cons.

bbam

satstheway wrote: »

Well if I spread urea today can I spread bulk lime in a week time?
And Jees you's don't half make it hard to make up my mind. A lot of pros and cons.

Yea...
And then you hear lads saying.. "sher the grass is free anyway", FFS :mad:

Round Bale

satstheway wrote: »

Well if I spread urea today can I spread bulk lime in a week time?
And Jees you's don't half make it hard to make up my mind. A lot of pros and cons.

I used to be undecided, but now I'm not so sure:D

Farmer Pudsey

reilig wrote: »

We're putting out Growmax this year. €180 per ton. It's a new product with almost double the strength of other granulated lime - a lot of demand for it in these parts as the co-op can't keep it stocked. Going to spread about 50kg to the acre this year and see how it does - it's 6 years since we spread ground limestone. Going to put out 18-6-12 on top.

http://www.irishlime.com/our-products/quicklime/growmax

That Growmax is very compeditive if it is as it says on the pack. If spreading at 1/2 bag/acre it is costing 4.5/year/acre to maintain ph. That is the price og groundlime.

The advantages of any of these fertlizer type limes is there flexability. You can spread after grazing with out any effect. They are not as hard on groung as ground lime. I saw an article that advised that no more thn 2 ton/acre of ground limestone that lads ploughing in 4/are are upsetting soil microbioliogy. It said that even at 2/acre it was harsh on soil microbes.

With Granlime,G-lime growlime and is it calcifert you get an imediate rise in ph. Groundlime takes a few months to work. You have the flexability with it in the yard to go in after slurry, fertlizer, grazing and before silage.

In a chat with a lad a few weeks ago he told me that he spread groundlime in late 2012 on silage ground. He jad huge issues with silage this winter. He said he was lucky it was bales he had. They were going off in less than 48 hours after opening. I have spread granlim in april at the closing of silage groung and after first cut never had an issue with it.

It flexability is the key and if Growmax is what it says on the tin or if those slags were easy to spread there flexability will allow lime spreading when it suits.

Granlime costs me 140/ton this year it also took me up another discount in the fertlizer table 2/ton applying thios to the granlime it cost about 130/ton. At 140 it costs 7/acre/year to maintain ph. It is an annual cost so it is easy to allow in budget. Ground lime is 22-24/ton spread at two ton/acre it costs say 45/acre over 5 years or 9/acre yearly.

to reduce ph granlime costs 14/acre as opposed to 9+ for groundlime. I think that granlime etc only neutralise the top few centimetres of soil which with grass production may be all you need

just_did_it

Folks,

Would it be better to go out with g-lime before or after slurry ?

With the few dry left I am not sure wether to spread g-lime today and slurry Saturday or the would the other way around be better?

From reading this tread it appears to be safe to apply g-lime to silage ground for cutting this year.