Best time to apply lime

[Tarw Coch]

I’ve got some grass fields low in lime, tested in the spring, ph 5.2/5.4 .
It was cut and baled a couple of weeks ago and is greening up nicely again now, will put some fert on next week, should get another cut before it is destined to be ploughed for wheat in the autumn .
When’s best time to apply lime , now or before ploughing?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I would put a Ton on now and then more when you plough , PH is low to go in with Cereals
If your not fixed up with lime PM me ,ive discovered a quarry with some good stuff. At last

 

[milkloss]

I vote for liming after it's been ploughed. Let the lime wash in with the fert etc. Ploughing lime into the profile is rubbish imo especially if the skimmers are set right and peeling it all off into the bottom.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I vote for liming after it's been ploughed. Let the lime wash in with the fert etc. Ploughing lime into the profile is rubbish imo especially if the skimmers are set right and peeling it all off into the bottom.

Be OK if he gets rain between spreading and gemination as lime needs rain to react . If not wheat will be germinating in acid soil
Also I don't know where the op is but he may be better getting the tanker gang on with burnt lime as that re acts very quick

 

[vantage]

I would put a Ton on now and then more when you plough , PH is low to go in with Cereals
If your not fixed up with lime PM me ,ive discovered a quarry with some good stuff. At last

You must be on commission if you cannot tell everyone?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You must be on commission if you cannot tell everyone?

That would be advertising . Against forum rules , they don't make lots loads of money then [emoji29]

 

[7610 super q]

In the 1960's when there was a grant.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I’ve got some grass fields low in lime, tested in the spring, ph 5.2/5.4 .
It was cut and baled a couple of weeks ago and is greening up nicely again now, will put some fert on next week, should get another cut before it is destined to be ploughed for wheat in the autumn .
When’s best time to apply lime , now or before ploughing?

Get the lime done after ploughing, so the wheat can take advantage of it. I reckon you will want 2 tonne/acre or whatever fits wagons.

Take the opportunity to sort P and K if there is an issue.

It's not ideal applying lime and then burying it.

 

[upnortheast]

On the ploughing is best in your situation, then it gets mixed in with the cultivater.
Last autumn we had a grass field destined for winter wheat ph 5.5. Managed to get it ploughed & drilled end of sept Due to the incessant rain the lime spreader never got here until april
It`s one of the best crops we have ever grown

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Plough and roll, wheel marks from the spreader will then be less of an issue.

Put 2 or 2.5 tonnes per acre of a good quality ground lime on before drilling.
Wheat will be fine, it’s reasonably tolerant to pH as long as it’s near right.

Sample again next year to see where you are. Sometimes an application will get it right in one go, sometimes it’ll need a bit more.

If you particularly want to plough it down, then do so, plenty of people do, but only if you’re planning on ploughing again next year. Definitely don’t plough it down if you’re not ploughing again.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I only plough 4 inches so I'm only going down one flight of stairs not the whole block [emoji3]
The old ways is dieing fast, wheres Merlin[emoji25] when you need him

 

[Derrick Hughes]

OK things that help . The finer the lime the faster it works and mixes in better. So if you want to work the land well or not you have no choice . Think the only lime that's like dust comes out of Buxton area
If you use course lime and don't mix it in correctly and worse still it stays dry you will have problems. Slag is fast acting but I have no idea how much of it is immediately available, fair bit of burnt lime in it
Do no harm to stick 3 ton on if using GL , far better chance of mixing through the soil then

 

[Cab-over Pete]

No Derrick, sorry to say you’re wrong there.

Buxton is quite definitely NOT the only place to produce a fine agricultural lime. There are many others.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I've had lime from there that runs down the yard like water it's so fine . Do others do it that fine , absolutely no grit, like flour in a bag , Put that on PH will be 7.5 in no time . I've never found any other as fine

 

[Cab-over Pete]

You may well have had, but that’s not practical at all is it? Unless you have no properties for literally a mile around, that sort of lime can’t be spread.

I would imagine what you had there was a load of filler from a different industrial process that was dumped in the Aglime store.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You may well have had, but that’s not practical at all is it? Unless you have no properties for literally a mile around, that sort of lime can’t be spread.

I would imagine what you had there was a load of filler from a different industrial process that was dumped in the Aglime store.

I used to spread 200 ton a year plenty of houses here . Never had one complaint. Just don't spread on a windy day . Years ago when Curtis and Co were selling lime nation wide thats all they sold 1000 ton a week . Every farm used it down here
I can get a load Monday if I want but don't use it anymore, its fast acting but leaches out to quick . But when I was growing wheat and barley used nothing else

 

[Tarw Coch]

Plough and roll, wheel marks from the spreader will then be less of an issue.

Put 2 or 2.5 tonnes per acre of a good quality ground lime on before drilling.
Wheat will be fine, it’s reasonably tolerant to pH as long as it’s near right.

Sample again next year to see where you are. Sometimes an application will get it right in one go, sometimes it’ll need a bit more.

If you particularly want to plough it down, then do so, plenty of people do, but only if you’re planning on ploughing again next year. Definitely don’t plough it down if you’re not ploughing again.

Problem with doing it after ploughing is contractor is usually pretty close behind with the drill whereas it can be put on soon at limespreaders leisure and weather depending would hopefully penetrate soil some.

However I’m now having second thoughts on cropping, plan A was wheat drilled in autumn with maize the following year, probably a crop of stubble turnips in between.
However in the past I have seen wireworm cause problems in maize second year out of grass, it has been suggested to me that wireworm can be worst in second year as first year they will live on the ploughed in turf so could leave it till spring and put maize in followed by wheat which has more options on seeed treatment

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Why don't you get the lime on now and direct drill turnips . It will have the winter to settle then

 

[Tarw Coch]

Why don't you get the lime on now and direct drill turnips . It will have the winter to settle then

My biggest concern would be could there be a wireworm problem in maize next year, will they all be gone by then or will they have lived on the turf up until then an just getting hungry for some tasty maize roots.

 

[deleted user 837354]

My biggest concern would be could there be a wireworm problem in maize next year, will they all be gone by then or will they have lived on the turf up until then an just getting hungry for some tasty maize roots.

In that situation maize followed by wheat makes more sense. The wheat will go in a bit later but you can up the seed rate and use a fast developing variety which will run away from any wireworm and it's less vulnerable to it anyway. It also doesn't make much sense to harvest wheat and then have the field empty for near 6 months until putting maize in in the following spring. A grass reseed would make sense in that scenario.

Or you just up the seed rate on the maize, make the best seed bed you can and drill slightly later so it gets up and runs.