Jolly Rogers

This weekend I am planning on starting to work on my food plot. This will be my first try and therefore I was wondering if it is too soon to lime the area. I have not taken a soil test yet as the ground is not thawed but I would assume that this specific area will need a lot of lime as it is back in the woods and is actual barren ground. There are only a few scrub oak saplings growing here and it is next to a swamp. I have no way to access this area except by foot so I thought the sooner I start humpin 50 lb sacks of lime back in there the sooner I can start planting. Do any of you have any suggestions or thoughts on what I am trying to do? Thanks, Aaron.

lunchbucket

No, the thaw should take the lime into the soil unless the area is on a slope. Do a soil sample!!!

Jolly Rogers

Hopefully I will be able to take a soil sample later in the spring, sometime around April, I' m just hoping that I can get a jump on the lime since it will be pretty labor intensive hiking the individual bags back into the woods. It is a very secluded spot where they travel through on the way to the fields.

greg-dude

I think I would take a soil sample before I would lime it. It generally takes a few months for the lime to change the soil pH (depending on lime type). If you lime it now, it would be hard to tell what pH effect a soil sample would have a month from now. You may get some type of false reading.

Dan O.

Scrub oaks prefer a pH of 4.5 to 6.0. A soil test is the only way to know how much lime you' ll need. The only worry with putting lime on the snow is the losses that you' ll get from runoff. The soil is frozen, so when the snow melts it tends to take materials with it.

Dan O.

Russ otten

Here' s a dirrect answer to your question. It is never too early to lime. But if you want to take soil samples, you could start getting your lime back to the plot and as soon as you get your samples, start spreading. I' d bet a dollar against a dead frog that you won' t overlime.

Jolly Rogers

Well due to time constraints I went ahed and started work this last weekend. Here' s a summary of the progress made. Spent three hours with the chainsaw cutting down smaller saplings and clearing the oak tops form when this land was logged about 6 years ago. Then we spread 320 lbs of lime by hand, this didn' t take too long, the hardest part was carrying the bags back through the woods. I did find that the cheaper bags spread quicker and seemed to cover better than the concentrated pellets. I think I' ll just stick to them in the future. They may be heavier and more awkward but it seems worth it. This ground is fairly level so I' m not too concerened about runoff. My next task will be to rake the leaves up (probably in May) and then spread more lime. Hopefully I can get in there and do some more cutting before then. I' m hoping I can get a soil sample at that time also, but regardless will be planting some sort of clover in June. I' ll hold out hope that I am able to ball park the PH and get some productivity this fall but realistically don' t expect it' s full potential to be realized until my second planting which will be next spring. The total size of this area is about 1/4 of an acre, just for an idea what would you think would be a good total weight of lime to spread on this to bring the soil from, let' s say 5.5 up to 6.8-7.0 range? I know it seems like an awful small size but realize it is way back in the woods and my main objective is to establish an area where the deer will browse earlier in the evening where they will feel realitively secure before moving out to the fields at night. Also there are three large white oaks bordering the area, any suggestions on how I could fertilize them to promote acorn production? Thanks guys, looking forward to your inputs, Aaron.