B-TechRapture

I have finally decided what to plant in my small, 1/4-1/2 acre food plot this spring. I want to plant a clover. What brand/company would you guys reccommend? I also just purchased 120lbs. of Biologics pHfertilizer because I got it on clearance for pretty cheap and I heard that lime would take at least 6 months to take effect. 120lbs of pHfertilizer is also easier to transport to my plot than 500lbs. of lime!! Do you think that 120lbs. of this stuff will be enough to raise my pH 1/2 point? It is at about 6 right now. Thanks for the help!!

doughboysigep

pH of 6 is ok for clover (a bit higher wouldn't hurt). you do not want to put down much, if any nitrogen with clover (P is most important nutrient at planting). as far as types of clover, there are hundreds to choose from. I would check with the local ag agent in your area and see what the farmers are planting in their pastures (prefereably rotational grazers). I would definitely say you wan to go with a pasture variety of Ladino clover and possibly a little red clover. I have used Alice and it is great (grew nice, tall, huge leaves. Jumbo is another variety I have used and like. Godd luck.

Criggster

I don't know the amount of lime in the phfertilizer, but if you expect 120 lbs of it to raise your soil ph half a point forget it! I believe the thought behind the addition of lime to a fertilizer is to offset the low ph of the fertilizer, not to raise the actual ph of the soil itself. In the 120 lbs you have I doubt that you have more than 40 lbs of lime. So, if you compare that to the recommended 500 lbs you can see that is just a drop in the bucket. But, a 6.0 ph should do OK for clover. You can add some lime at different intervals if taking it all in at once is too much work.

B-TechRapture

Thanks criggster!! I found some lime at Home Depot that is fairly cheap. Do you think that in addition to the Biologic pHfertilzer that I should still add 4-500 lbs. of lime to my plot?? I'm just worried that adding lime now will not have much of an effect on the soil pH when I plant my clover in April.

timbercruiser

Out of curiosity, can you post exactly what phfertilizer is. Probably nothing more than lime.

farm hunter

You can put lime down, it will only help - but 6.0ph should grow a nice clover plot "as is". Generally you will need about 1000 lbs per 1/2 acre to raise the PH 1/2 point. (more on clay soils).

Remeber that a point in PH means alot (10x). A Ph of 6.5 is 10 times less acidic than 5.5 ph - so it generally takes a decent amount of lime to have any effect.

B-TechRapture

timbercruiser,

pHfertilizer is from MossyOak Biologic. It is a 10-10-10 fertilizer with "quick acting" lime. They claim that the lime is quick acting and is more readily available to the plants.

RonM

B tech dont buy into all that quick stuff, lime takes a while to work, just use the lime you got at Home depot and forget the other stuff it might just be overpriced.. Just do it like we do it on the farm ,,

Kyler

B-Tech,

If you haven't bought the lime at Home Depot already, don't. I assume it's bagged lime. You are going to pay WAY MORE for it than if you take a truck or trailer to a place like a co-op that sells it. You get so much more if you buy in bulk. They charge $25 a ton by me in Wisconsin.

In regard to the phfertilizer, Biologic states that the lime in phfertilizer only lasts about 1 year and you are back to square one with teh acidity level. This is also stated by the Dougherty boys in the book "Grow "Em Right." I think you'll be much better in the long run with regular Ag lime.

I started just like you did with the bagged lime. Like Ron M said, do it like they do it on the farm. If lime truck can get into your plot, over even a dump truck it will be alot easier. SOme of our plots we can only access with a small trailer and ATV. We have just spread it around with shovels and rakes, but I will try the new idea someone suggested about the leaf blower and blowing it off the trailer.

Good luck

answerguy

The longer you debate how long it takes 'regular' lime to to take effect the longer it takes for you to get it spread out and working. (this is meant with good humor)