answerguy

Here is the physical and chemical...
...composition of the lime that I
can buy at a local sugar beet factory in Michigan.

Calcium 30.7%
calcium carbonate 76.8%
Magnesium 1.9%
magnesium carbonate 6.5%
calcium carbonate equiv. 62.0%
% moisture 30.0%

R.N.V. 89
E.N.V. 86

CaCO3 equiv. lbs/cu yard 1,529

% Passing Mesh Screeen

8 Mesh 20 Mesh 60 Mesh 100 Mesh
98.0% 96.6% 92.4% 88.8%

I have no idea what the RNV and ENV is about.
I'm also not sure how small of mesh 8 Mesh is.

What do you think of this stuff?

Let me add the cost is $30.00 per load, even a double bottom load. I have a guy that can deliver 30 tons for $120.00 giving me a total price of $150 for a 30 ton load or 5 dollars a ton delivered.


Edited by - answerguy on 02/04/2003 15:08:10

Edited by - answerguy on 02/04/2003 18:53:24

Dan O.

It looks like a good deal. Based on your CaCO3 equivalent of 62% you'll need to divide your soil test recommendations by .62 to determine the proper addition rate.

Dan O.

answerguy

Based on this: "CaCO3 equiv. lbs/cu yard 1,529" if I need 4 tons of lime per acre would I use 5.2 cubic yards per acre? Did I do my math right?

lunchbucket

I've sent a lot of people to the Monitor Sugar and other sugar plants in the Bay City area. Most lime in Michigan comes from Rogers City, the finest lime in the world. The problem is getting the lime off one vehicle and into a spreader of worse yet off the ground and into the spreader.... very nasty work. The next problem is that you will need a spreader with an auger because lime has an affinity for moisture and will cake. The cheap/free lime is great but they ain't no free lunch. Ever try shoveling 4-10 tons of lime? Lime in the northern part of Michigan is usually $20.00-$30.00 per tons spread, cheap when you consider the greif and time handeling it yourself...
Next, in the northern part of the state the soil is usually quite well drained. We suggest that you double or triple the lime dosage because if you do not you will have to lime again the next 2-5 years. Lime does more than add base to the soil, it also assists in the break down of some of the elements in the soil, unless your in a situation where you have a type of rubicon sand and nothing will break it down. We added 8-10 tons of lime when we did Rob Trott's Michigan Great Lakes Outdoors show a few years back and the planting finally did well after the fall rains came.

Romans 10:9 Psalms 42

Edited by - lunchbucket on 02/05/2003 08:58:40

answerguy

Lunchbucket,
Are you from the Bay City area?

I'm having the lime dumped in the front of my property. I have a tractor with a front scoop and a utility trailer that I will use to haul the lime to the spots that need it. Then I'll use the front scoop to unload the trailer and rough spread it. Then I'll disk it in. It will still be work, but fun work.
Gary

NorthJeff

Asnwerguy,

Brought this up on the last post in MI site, but can you keep the lime dry in the amount of time it takes to spread? That stuff is almost like cement when it gets wet, and gets very "clumpy", it won't spread well at all.

As I told you before, you are in for an awful, awful, amount of work the way you are doing it. Learn from the experience from the guys from this board.

I personally could do the same thing you are doing, but I feel the added 40 hours of hard labor can be spent in more profitable ways on my own property, and my time is worth more than a few buck an hour.

Good Luck!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

Dan O.

lunchbucket; was is this stuff? Is it a by-product from the sugar beet processing industry? Chemically and size wise it looks OK.

Dan O.

eyeguard

my god fellas, where do you guys live that you have to do all that work to grow a one acre foodplot? I really feel for you if you have todump 20 tons of lime to get clover to grow! I guess my Oklahoma red dirt has grown just about everything I've thrown down with a little 10-20-10. Hell, I can't hardly kill the clover out till about July.

lunchbucket

A.G. I live in Livonia. Are you going to the Deer and Turkey Spectacular in Lansing in March?
Dan-O, it's a by product of the process. The stuff is great but try handling it... YUCCH!!!!
Eyeguard, If you have a heavier soil you can get a way with specific limeing because the soil will retain the calcium and other nutrients, there's someting to bond to. However, the lighter soils will allow the lime and other nutrients to leech through modifying the soil below and becoming less available to the shallow rooted plants. This is some of the reason we suggest the quality organic fertilizers with a fish emulsion base, they stick. Try washing some olive oil through the sand and then try some salt... I have seen 10 tons of lime per acre look like 50 Lb. an acre after a good rain on the Northern Michigan soils... After the soil pH value is brought up to 7.0 and the soil is broken down to the lesser sizes you need to start adding the Fulvic and Humic acids for micro nutrients. We suggest that they be added initially and every 60 days or so to the lighter soils. Most fertilizers are limited to the N,P and K nutrients however there are many more nutrients needed for a plant to reach it's full potential and the fulvic and Humic acids answer that call, fairly enexpensively too!!!

Romans 10:9 Psalms 42