My plots have all been between 4.1 and 5.0. ALL of my tests came back with roughly a 4 ton per acre recommendation.

What could possibly be the difference? Could it be because I have very little top soil and I only ever work it to 4" with the tiller? I did put that I would be working it to only 4" on the soil test.

Also, as you said, getting the lime to the field can be a problem, especially if you are limited to an ATV/Tractor such as myself. If you get bulk lime delivered, that' s a lot of work to shovel it into a trailer, and then to shovel out. I' ve put out about 28 tons in the last 4 years, and I can only go with bags. Guys will try and give me other advice on how to get it spread, but trust me, and save the advice, it' s the ONLY way I can do it. I pay around $50.00 a ton.

I personally think your recommendation must have been based on a greater soil working depth, or something, but a couple tons of lime can be spread easily by 2 to 3 guys in pretty short time. I' ve spread by hand, shovel, hand-spreader, and PTO mounted broadcaster, and when I don' t feel like getting the tractor out, I do it by hand. It is much easier than it sounds. I had a friend help this spring for example, and we put out 2 tons in less than 2 hours. We used 2 ATV' s, and put 500#' s on each ATV, each time. That' s 4 trips in and out, at 15 minutes round trip(including loading lime by bag on ATV racks), with an hour to spread. It' s easy, you just open the bag 1/2 way across the end, and walk and spread as wide as you can, with the angle of the bag regulating the flow. Walk at normal speed, and go around 4' wide, and you are spreading at about a 4 ton per acre rate. Literally, it took us under 2 hours, with an hour of driving, to spread 2 tons. Last spring I spread 4500#' s with 9 trips with the ATV, over about a weeks time, with each trip taking a total of about a 1/2 hour. Really, not a big deal.

By the way, all of my soil tests came back this year at 6.5 to 7.3. Must be working!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan