Reading a soil report
 

I just got my soil test back from the white tail institute. I am somewhat confused. There are to boxes at the top, one says what is in the soil, one says lime requirements - see table 3 for recommended lime requirements.

Ok all is good.

Then I read the paragraph "If your wildlife plot is over one acre you may want to purhase fertilizer from your local farm center. Refer to table 1 for recommendations for each nutrient of pure products. IF jusing bagged fertilizer refer to table 2 for application ammounts.

I'm not sure which I will use so I first look at table 1: Fertilizer to aplpy for bulk application
lb/acre lime 3000, nitrogen 30, phosphate 60, potash 120, magnesium 0

I then look at table 2: NPK Fertilizer to apply when using bagged fertilizer
3-9-9 lbs/acre 1000
8-24-24 lbs/acre 380

Now table 3: Lime to apply
Apply 3750 lbs of lime per acre

So now seeing the quantities I suspect I will have the coop come spread this stuff, so I'll use the bulk application, very good. But my quesiton is, how much lime do I need? table 1 says 3000 lbs/acre for bulk application, but the thing at the top says to see table 3 for recommended lime requirements and table 3 states 3750 lbs/acre. So do I need 3000, 3750, or 3000+3750=6750?

Also, any idea on how much all this is going to cost me?

Thanks for the help.

RE: Reading a soil report
 

Follow up, I'm planting 1 acre

RE: Reading a soil report
 

have 3 tons of lime applied. you are paying mostly for their time. the actual product is cheap. you could spread a few tons of lime yourself for less than a dinner for 2 at applebees.

RE: Reading a soil report
 

Isn't is possible to put too much lime on and have too high of a ph level?

RE: Reading a soil report
 

Don't worry about applying too much lime. Either have the coop do it. Tell them you want 2 tons/acre. They can set the applaciation rate to that. Or load it in a pickup (may take multiple trips) and have a buddy blow it out on the plot as you drive around the plot.

Lime should be applied about 6 months before planting to be effective.

RE: Reading a soil report
 

don't forget, the recommendation for lime is assuming it is 100% pure. around here it is 62% at a quarry. if the soil report says to apply 2000 lbs, you really need to apply 3225 lbs of what you can buy.

RE: Reading a soil report
 

You will be hard pressed to apply too much lime, farmers around here apply lime every 3 years...as stated, apply
anywhere from 3-4000 pounds per acre, or just take to Co-OP and let them tell you...

CO-OPs around here will not apply unless at least 8,000 pounds will be bought, so you might end up having to buy pellet lime and apply yourself....