Spreading lime on winter wheat, now

[Zippy768]

Ok, so in our keenness to get on drilling, we made a mistake by drilling a 57 acre block before we had soil tests back. Of course that was the one block that needed lime .
Put at the back of my mind and thought "do it in the spring".
Of course so far a pretty rubbish and wet spring .
32 acres of the 57 is flying and is already pretty tall, a foot high - drilled 23rd sept. The rest not quite as forward but looking pretty well.
Question is do I get the lime spread?, the following week looks good at the mo. Light ground but is v wet as of yesterday evening.
All results are between 5.9 and 5.3. I am a little worried about damaging so much of the forward wheat with the spreader.

 

[Iben]

Just spin some pellets on, then lime properly in autumn.

I have had lime spread on wheat here today, but it is way behind yours.

 

[HAM135]

Wouldn't bother now,leave it until after harvest.

 

[chaffcutter]

Spin enough Calcifert on for this crop then follow with ground limestone in the autumn as above, calcifert is about £100/tonne

We had some done on wheat last week but it wasn't as tall a yours and on dry block, driver was careful and hardly made a mark.

 

[DrWazzock]

Get some ground chalk on. It will be working in six weeks. Nothing to lose and it's a job done. Wheat will stand a lower pH anyway so don't worry.

 

[Zippy768]

@chaffcutter how much califert per acre would be sufficient?
How far does a lime spreader spread? 12 metres?
How lower ph level would wheat take? What kinda drop in yield would I get by leaving the lime to after harvest

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Perfect scenario for prills. I'm spreading on wheat later this week but it's hardly even ankle high. Put some prills on yours asap.

Then lime properly after harvest. Make a note to self not to leave it again!!

 

[neilo]

Perfect scenario for prills. I'm spreading on wheat later this week but it's hardly even ankle high. Put some prills on yours asap.

Then lime properly after harvest. Make a note to self not to leave it again!!

I'm glad you posted that, I've been feeling guilty here.
I have a field of Winter Barley that came back as pH5.9 recently (surprisingly low to me). Soils chap advised I put 1t/ac of lime on as soon as I could travel this Spring. He was adamant that the lime would more than compensate for any loss from the wheelings from a lime spreader.
Unconvinced, I ordered a bag of Calcifert with a mixed load of fert coming, with a view to doing the job properly after combining.

I was thinking of you (& grinning) @Cab-over Pete when I unloaded the lorry the other morning.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

You know my thoughts on the overpriced nonsense and bull crap sales pitch, but if you're in a pickle it will keep the job on an even keel.

 

[Brisel]

@chaffcutter how much califert per acre would be sufficient?
How far does a lime spreader spread? 12 metres?
How lower ph level would wheat take? What kinda drop in yield would I get by leaving the lime to after harvest

@Cab-over Pete and @Mounty are better people to answer this but I had your dilemma in clubroot infested osr in patches of pH 5.7 so I spun on 1 t/ha Calciprill to tide it over then will sort it properly with mag lime after harvest. I'm on 30 tramlines which is theoretically possible from a spinning disc according to the Amazone spreading charts but chose to do it at 15m instead, accepting a bit of crushed osr in return for a better spread pattern.

Wheat is far more tolerant of low pH than osr/barley so maybe 0.5 t/ha would get you out of jail? I bought 9t of Calciprill from Omya UK for £124/t delivered in January.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Do well

 

[Mounty]

Funny enough, couldn't reply earlier as been out sampling wheat land. All similar pH levels to yours @chaffcutter - I think @Brisel has said enough. I would do try and do the granular at the very least. If you've ever had acid indigestion, you'll know what the soil has got to put up with until harvest. 2nd and continuous wheats more effected than 1st wheat.

For bulk lime applications, there is a question mark over damage from wheels at 12m intervals. However, theres a lot more damage in my opinion from the crop being starved of essential nutrients which will undoubtably effect the overall yield far more than a bit of wheel damage every other tramline.