I started working on my plots this past week. I got the required lime down, 8.9 tons spread by shovel with two pickup trucks, quite a job. I then tilled the ground and ran over the entire plot with an old gate, weighted with RR Ties to smooth the plot out. Grasses were starting to grow in the plots and when I tilled it left some clumps of grass and roots. My questions are: how long should I wait until I apply roundup? Will the clumps of sod hurt the seed bed and if so how can I further break up the clumps of sod? This plot is geared toward a fall clover and brassacis plot. I appreicate your comment and or opinions.

Next time you apply lime, use a leafblower to blow it out the back of the pickup instead of a shovel. Unless of course you like doing the extra work.

The lime sold in my area of Pa. is wet and it cannot be blown out with a leaf blower believe me I tried.

how does the leaf blower work spreading the lime. won't it suck it up into the blower. can you spread it evenly this way. thanks

I think I would check and see if I could find another distributor of lime. If they are selling wet lime sounds like they are jacking the weight up.

you just have .5~1.0 ton of lime dumped into the back of your pickup. sit it the back with a leaf blower while someone else drives around your plot slowly (3-5 mph). you just blow the dry ag lime out the back of the truck. it has the consistency of fine sand. when i used a shovel, i always had clumps unless i really flung it. it's alot of work to fling a ton of lime. the leaf blower basically spreads it out evenly.

when I was done spreading the lime with the leaf blower, i couldn't tell it was there.

when i was done spreading the lime with a shovel, it looked like a pock marked landscape of different colors because the lime usually ends up in clumps and streaks.

The clumps won't hurt anything....I use a off-set dozer disc on my plots and it doesn't always work everything down real fine if there was already vegetation present...Next time try spraying round-up on it first though and then wait 7-10 days then tear up the ground...The root will have begun to shrivel up and die causing it to somewhat let loose of the soil...The ground will then in turn work up a little better...If your soil is worked up pretty loose drag your clover in with something very light or you can also just broadcast it on top just before a good rain and that will be plenty...It only needs seed to soil contact and you don't want to get it worked in too deep...Hope some of this helped...Good Luck

A biologist told me not to disc my lime into the ground. He said to spread it on top of the groud, let it desolve (1-3 mo.) and then only lightly disc beofre planting. He explained that you only need to treat an inch or so in depth because that is where your seed is going to be planted. Any comments of suggestions?

Everything I have read and been told says your biologist told you wrong. Lime doesn't move much within the soil and should be incorporated into the top 3-6 inches of soil. If your lime does happen to leach 1 inch and your forage grows roots 6 inches deep, the acid soil below 1 inch would have to be a problem for your crop. I'm not an expert but this makes sense to me.

I was also told to add the lime as far in advance as possible to allow the ph time to come up. If you are planning to plant a fall plot, soit test now and add the lime needed now.

Also incorporating the lime is obviously an option only before planting and if additional lime is needed later it is better to put it out right over the top than not add it at all.

I agree 100%.