Gran lime

mengele

My soil results came back and all fields are fine for lime except one 8 acre silage field which needs 4 tonne to the acre.

Since its such a small amount I need was just going to go with 2 bags of gran lime to the acre . What would you think. It would be too awkward to get a lad to spread with a big spreader so was going to do it now myself with the spinner.

Is this time of the year a good time to go with gran lime some dry day?

tanko

Forget about the gran lime and put 16 tonnes of ordinary lime on the field and put the other 4 tonnes on another field.
Do it this year assuming the field is dry enough of course.

orchard farm

tanko wrote: »

Forget about the gran lime and put 16 tonnes of ordinary lime on the field and put the other 4 tonnes on another field.
Do it this year assuming the field is dry enough of course.

Agree with tanko here,gran lime is more of a maintaince product once you correct ph

Capercaillie

Can you spread granular lime at any time of year as long as its dry??

orchard farm

Capercaillie wrote: »

Can you spread granular lime at any time of year as long as its dry??

Yip

Bass Reeves

Best time to spread Granlime is in mid late spring. Garnlime like any lime can be leeched out of the ground. If your PH is very low there is another product that is a stronger product it contains burnt lame(builders lime) which is a more active ingredient. However it needs to be spread before rain as it will burn grass. If you PH is that low 4ton/acre is a huge amount of lime to spread/acre. If you land is soft that amount of lime will really cut it up.

cacs

Lime is all about tones of lime to the acre. Its an expensive way to do it it with gran lime

mengele wrote: »

My soil results came back and all fields are fine for lime except one 8 acre silage field which needs 4 tonne to the acre.

Since its such a small amount I need was just going to go with 2 bags of gran lime to the acre . What would you think. It would be too awkward to get a lad to spread with a big spreader so was going to do it now myself with the spinner.

Is this time of the year a good time to go with gran lime some dry day?

wrangler

mengele wrote: »

My soil results came back and all fields are fine for lime except one 8 acre silage field which needs 4 tonne to the acre.

Since its such a small amount I need was just going to go with 2 bags of gran lime to the acre . What would you think. It would be too awkward to get a lad to spread with a big spreader so was going to do it now myself with the spinner.

Is this time of the year a good time to go with gran lime some dry day?

Gran lime is a waste
2ton ordinary lime/acre as soon as you can....., too near cutting silage will effect preservation and then 2 ton/acre in 12 mths time.
It takes nearly six mths to see any improvement so the sooner the better

mengele

My problem is that I dontvthinkbthe contractor will come just to spread 20 tonne. He is the only local fellow who does it but I know all He will do is keep putting it off until the spring when doing spring barket.

Hard Knocks

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Best time to spread Granlime is in mid late spring. Garnlime like any lime can be leeched out of the ground. If your PH is very low there is another product that is a stronger product it contains burnt lame(builders lime) which is a more active ingredient. However it needs to be spread before rain as it will burn grass. If you PH is that low 4ton/acre is a huge amount of lime to spread/acre. If you land is soft that amount of lime will really cut it up.

So this is a better option for wet acidic land?
Where do you get it & how do you spread it?

GrasstoMilk

wrangler wrote: »

Gran lime is a waste
2ton ordinary lime/acre as soon as you can....., too near cutting silage will effect preservation and then 2 ton/acre in 12 mths time.
It takes nearly six mths to see any improvement so the sooner the better

Wouldn't agree with that wrangler. Haven't spread bulk lime in 12 years.
2 bags of phisolith here every Jan. Costs 22€ per acre. MP tested yearly, PH range from 6.2 to 6.8 last year.
Grew 16t last year up from 12t when I started measuring 4 years ago.
Our thinking here would be to maintain the ph instead of it going below target for a year and loosing tonnes because you haven't enough area to get bulk lime for that paddock.
Just my 2 cents. Works here and get great clean outs right through the year

patsy_mccabe

A good operator will spread the 20T evenly over the 8 acres (2.5T/acre).
The last time it was spread here, I got some ordered for 2 neighbours. I asked them beforehand how many acres were in the feilds. Typical farmers, they both over estimated the acerage.:D I checked them on-line.
I told him descretely beforehand, how much were in the fields. What did he do, he spread the start of each load over a few flieds driving only once around each. They couldn't understand what he was doing, but I did. He was working out the size of the fields himself. He did it for mine too. He spread all loads perfectly.

_Brian

mengele wrote: »

My problem is that I dontvthinkbthe contractor will come just to spread 20 tonne. He is the only local fellow who does it but I know all He will do is keep putting it off until the spring when doing spring barket.

Find out what his min spread is and go for that. Lime some others at 1on/acre and that 8 acre at 2ton/acre

Bass Reeves

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Wouldn't agree with that wrangler. Haven't spread bulk lime in 12 years.
2 bags of phisolith here every Jan. Costs 22€ per acre. MP tested yearly, PH range from 6.2 to 6.8 last year.
Grew 16t last year up from 12t when I started measuring 4 years ago.
Our thinking here would be to maintain the ph instead of it going below target for a year and loosing tonnes because you haven't enough area to get bulk lime for that paddock.
Just my 2 cents. Works here and get great clean outs right through the year

Something like you I use gran lime product. I used to spread 50kgs/acre costing 8/acre every year. Two years ago when checked my PH's were crazy 6.7-7.3. Have spread no granlime for last two years except on a reseed. Lads fail to understand when you spread ground lime because of it effect on silage and because if spread in springtime lads has to be bare granulated lime is as cost effective. Add in it instant hit on PH for the summer and that you can still use Urea as an N source as well.

If you spread 2T/acre this Autumn during this winter 3-400kgs will be washed too deep or leeched away to be of any use and this continues over lower levels during the next year or two. I say if you spread 2Ton/acre in the autumn of 2017 (if you could spread it) the loss would be in the 500kgs+/acre last winter because of the rainfall. I see very few lads that start using granulated lime(if the spread at the right time) going away from it

wrangler

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Wouldn't agree with that wrangler. Haven't spread bulk lime in 12 years.
2 bags of phisolith here every Jan. Costs 22€ per acre. MP tested yearly, PH range from 6.2 to 6.8 last year.
Grew 16t last year up from 12t when I started measuring 4 years ago.
Our thinking here would be to maintain the ph instead of it going below target for a year and loosing tonnes because you haven't enough area to get bulk lime for that paddock.
Just my 2 cents. Works here and get great clean outs right through the year

Probably alright to maintain PH, Land that needs 4 ton would take years to bring up with that treatment. I wonder what his PH is.
Where was your PH before you started that treatment

patsy_mccabe

Just to be clear, Granlime and bulk lime are the same thing. Granlime is just ground finer so gets to work quicker.
Bulk lime will stay working longer.

The Nutty M

Have a look at Growmax too. I was having the same dilemma as you in August. It was for maintenance moreso than lowering PH. I was going to go with granlime but said I'd try growmax to see. €288 for a pallet,4 X 375kg bags. Spread it at 70kgs/acre in September with the manure spreader. It's not looking half bad after it. It will be around March before it gets soil tested to see.

GrasstoMilk

wrangler wrote: »

Probably alright to maintain PH, Land that needs 4 ton would take years to bring up with that treatment. I wonder what his PH is.
Where was your PH before you started that treatment

Our ph's were correct. And you are right in what you say. Bulk lime is the best way to correct them.
The stuff we use is more than bag lime though, it's seaweed based and a soil conditioner as well.
I have a PH probe here. Wouldn't rely on it 100% but it gives a good indication of what ph land is at.
Handy if your taking on land and you want to see what it's at

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Just to be clear, Granlime and bulk lime are the same thing. Granlime is just ground finer so gets to work quicker.
Bulk lime will stay working longer.

Yes and no bulk lime is as it is stated spread in bulk at a rate of 2T+. Granulated lime is spread yearly. As well granulated lime has a TNV that is totally available from the moment it is spread while bulk lime takes longer to act. In general bulk lime need to be spread in the autumn especially on silage ground. On silage ground you cannot spread it in the spring as it residue will prevent silage from preserving. I have even heard of issues with silage after autumn spread bulk lime. Even on grazing ground it has issues in the spring it leeches minerals from cattle and cattle can get very scoury on grazed ground after it. As it need to be spread in the autumn there is large losses in the first winter. most of the losses will be the more valuable lower sized particles which will get washed too deep to be any use or completely leeched away from the ground.

Another issue with bulk lime is you cannot use Urea for about 24 months after it is spread and you you will lose the total N value of any slurry spread for 12-18 months. This is not an issue with granulated lime. Granulated lime can be spread on silage ground as long as the ground is bare. Urea can be spread at the same time.

Bass Reeves

The Nutty M wrote: »

Have a look at Growmax too. I was having the same dilemma as you in August. It was for maintenance moreso than lowering PH. I was going to go with granlime but said I'd try growmax to see. €288 for a pallet,4 X 375kg bags. Spread it at 70kgs/acre in September with the manure spreader. It's not looking half bad after it. It will be around March before it gets soil tested to see.

That is the quicklime product it is about 50% more active than granulated lime and as it is hrdrated lime(burnt lime) it is an active alkali. It needs rain fairly fast after application. Not really a fan of using granulated products late in the year as they are so soulable you could have very high losses. However this autumn was ideal for Growmax if spread as you did. Growmax works out cheaper than gran lime type products as it has a a neutralizing value of 1.6 time normal granulated lime if I remember right. 70kg/acre is equivlent to 110kgs/acre of granlime

degetme

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Yes and no bulk lime is as it is stated spread in bulk at a rate of 2T+. Granulated lime is spread yearly. As well granulated lime has a TNV that is totally available from the moment it is spread while bulk lime takes longer to act. In general bulk lime need to be spread in the autumn especially on silage ground. On silage ground you cannot spread it in the spring as it residue will prevent silage from preserving. I have even heard of issues with silage after autumn spread bulk lime. Even on grazing ground it has issues in the spring it leeches minerals from cattle and cattle can get very scoury on grazed ground after it. As it need to be spread in the autumn there is large losses in the first winter. most of the losses will be the more valuable lower sized particles which will get washed too deep to be any use or completely leeched away from the ground.

Another issue with bulk lime is you cannot use Urea for about 24 months after it is spread and you you will lose the total N value of any slurry spread for 12-18 months. This is not an issue with granulated lime. Granulated lime can be spread on silage ground as long as the ground is bare. Urea can be spread at the same time.

I taught the rule with urea was not to spread 3 months after bulk lime

wrangler

2 ton spread here every 5 years keeps the land here above PH 6 so it's very straight forward, just spread and forget about it.
PH 6.3 is good enough here because of molybdemum levels

patsy_mccabe

Guidlines for spreading lime and fertiliser from Teagasc;

patsy_mccabe

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Yes and no bulk lime is as it is stated spread in bulk at a rate of 2T+. Granulated lime is spread yearly. As well granulated lime has a TNV that is totally available from the moment it is spread while bulk lime takes longer to act. In general bulk lime need to be spread in the autumn especially on silage ground. On silage ground you cannot spread it in the spring as it residue will prevent silage from preserving. I have even heard of issues with silage after autumn spread bulk lime. Even on grazing ground it has issues in the spring it leeches minerals from cattle and cattle can get very scoury on grazed ground after it. As it need to be spread in the autumn there is large losses in the first winter. most of the losses will be the more valuable lower sized particles which will get washed too deep to be any use or completely leeched away from the ground.

Another issue with bulk lime is you cannot use Urea for about 24 months after it is spread and you you will lose the total N value of any slurry spread for 12-18 months. This is not an issue with granulated lime. Granulated lime can be spread on silage ground as long as the ground is bare. Urea can be spread at the same time.

For a man that claims to be good with figures, how can you justify the cost of Granlime? It says here that the spread ratio is 3:1.

"Granulated lime is spread at a rate of 3:1, Ground Limestone to Granulated Limestone."

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/soil--soil-fertility/soil-ph--liming/types-of-lime/

Muckit

Cheapest fertiliser you'll ever spread. Every man has a fert spreader.
The logistics with regular lime can be hard to work around. 22-23tonne on a load. Weather has to be good. You have to have fences open/down ready for contractor. They want to be sprwading 2t min to acre. Might not suit if animals out either.. Also precautions with silage ground.

A lot of lime got spread this back end cos of ideal ground conditions but this was an unusual year.

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

For a man that claims to be good with figures, how can you justify the cost of Granlime? It says here that the spread ratio is 3:1.

"Granulated lime is spread at a rate of 3:1, Ground Limestone to Granulated Limestone."

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/soil--soil-fertility/soil-ph--liming/types-of-lime/

There was UK research that showed that Lime losses spreading at 2 Ton/acre in the Autumn was around 500kgs/acre in the first year alone. It was in an article I saw a few years ago Lime was leeched away or washed too low into soil to be effective. UK rainfall levels is much lower than ours.

I checked up on the Urea and Slurry I was wrong it is 3-6 months for both. However if you have to replace N from slurry spread with an dribble bar or trailing shoe @2K/acre by can it is costing you 8 euro/acre. If early N on silage ground for grazing and silage your extra cost is about 15-18/acre.

All I know is that I was spreading at a bag/acre over4-5 years and now by ph's are hitting 7. I stopped spreading about 2 years ago and tested last spring and PH's still high.

wrangler

Bass Reeves wrote: »

There was UK research that showed that Lime losses spreading at 2 Ton/acre in the Autumn was around 500kgs/acre in the first year alone. It was in an article I saw a few years ago Lime was leeched away or washed too low into soil to be effective. UK rainfall levels is much lower than ours.

I checked up on the Urea and Slurry I was wrong it is 3-6 months for both. However if you have to replace N from slurry spread with an dribble bar or trailing shoe @2K/acre by can it is costing you 8 euro/acre. If early N on silage ground for grazing and silage your extra cost is about 15-18/acre.

All I know is that I was spreading at a bag/acre over4-5 years and now by ph's are hitting 7. I stopped spreading about 2 years ago and tested last spring and PH's still high.

Some land never needs lime, I've some here that never got lime. what was your ph before you started, I used to spread in the autumn so wouldn't effect either slurry or urea, It's just management

Bass Reeves

wrangler wrote: »

Bass Reeves wrote: »

There was UK research that showed that Lime losses spreading at 2 Ton/acre in the Autumn was around 500kgs/acre in the first year alone. It was in an article I saw a few years ago Lime was leeched away or washed too low into soil to be effective. UK rainfall levels is much lower than ours.

I checked up on the Urea and Slurry I was wrong it is 3-6 months for both. However if you have to replace N from slurry spread with an dribble bar or trailing shoe @2K/acre by can it is costing you 8 euro/acre. If early N on silage ground for grazing and silage your extra cost is about 15-18/acre.

All I know is that I was spreading at a bag/acre over4-5 years and now by ph's are hitting 7. I stopped spreading about 2 years ago and tested last spring and PH's still high.

Some land never needs lime, I've some here that never got lime. what was your ph before you started, I used to spread in the autumn so wouldn't effect either slurry or urea, It's just management

Tested it for Reps around the mid noughties and it was around 6

wrangler

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Tested it for Reps around the mid noughties and it was around 6

Be lucky here to maintain levels with bag to the acre, we used it here for a trial for a few years.
Ironic as we're on millions of tons a of limestone rock

patsy_mccabe

Our place was neglected for years for lime. I had tests come back at 4.9. This land also tested index 3 for p&k. Too much bagged fertiliser over the years didn't help. The first time it got lime it was like spreading urea. The change was that good.
I try to spread mid summer as land is wet enough. It's either after first cut with no second cut or on grazed land I let grass grow strong and don't graze it that bare.

Hard Knocks

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Our place was neglected for years for lime. I had tests come back at 4.9. This land also tested index 3 for p&k. Too much bagged fertiliser over the years didn't help. The first time it got lime it was like spreading urea. The change was that good.
I try to spread mid summer as land is wet enough. It's either after first cut with no second cut or on grazed land I let grass grow strong and don't graze it that bare.

How long did it take you to get the PH above 6?
I guess you were only spreading 2T/ac on a rotation

patsy_mccabe

Hard Knocks wrote: »

How long did it take you to get the PH above 6?
I guess you were only spreading 2T/ac on a rotation

Not there yet. I bought a field recently and it was 4.9 too. Never ever got lime, id say. I'd say a huge amount of land in Ireland needs lime.

patsy_mccabe

Guys I've one field here that I'm going to spread Gran Lime on. It's a small field away from the home place and so spreading ordinary lime doesn't suit.

What settings should I use on the wagtail? Compared to say 18.6.12, should I go slightly higher or lower?

Omallep2

Is it not late in the year spreading gran lime?

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122415223#Comment_122415223

It probably a bit late in the year gor granulated lime in that you will get limited benefits. However a light dusting 20kgs/acre will give e a certain amount of benefit to fertlizer.

On the rate it goes out faster than 18-6-12. What ever rate you use for 35-40 kg og 18-6-12 should be fairly OK for approx a bag an acre

Sugarbowl

can you spread gran lime on top of fertilizer? Should you wait an appropriate number of days? Thanks

ESetter

as far as i know you can spread granlime anytime and can mix it with fertilizer. i find granlime slow to act

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122424379#Comment_122424379

You can spread granline directly with fertlizer, there is actually product with Urea, Can and granlime in the same bag

orm0nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122415223#Comment_122415223

If the gran lime is any bit dusty it will break your heart in a wagtail.. 1 option is to mix with can or some compound fertiliser