Food Plots Newbie Help!! - Lime Application

[NewGuy]

Good Afternoon Everyone. I just recently got my results back from soil tests on my food plots. One is existing (that I did nothing besides till and throw clover in two years ago) and another in my woods that I cleared a spot for.

Open field is a little under a half acre. Kill plot is quite a bit smaller.

I need to throw down 170 lbs of lime and 600 pounds of fertilizer. I'm curious what the best way to do this is. I havent tilled my field just yet so should I till first then throw all this down and then cultipack in? I'm trying to get this stabilized so I can plant clover/winter wheat in a few weeks. I'm located in Middle TN. Would love any tips or advice anyone might have.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Do you have a cone spreader to hook on your tractor to spread? That amount is too little for justifying getting a buggy from the co-op.

Yes, with that method, I would till, spread lime/fertilizer, then cultipack. When you do plant, make sure there isn't weeds already established. If there are, lightly disk, sow seed and cultipack. May be able to sow seed, then lightly disk depending on how it looks. Best of luck!

And editing to say, know that pelletized lime takes about 3 months to really take effect. And it doesn't last as long as ag lime

 

[backyardtndeer]

I havent tilled my field just yet so should I till first then throw all this down and then cultipack in?

Yep, till first and then spread your lime and fertilizer. If you can catch just before a good soaking rain, wouldn't even worry a lot about running a drag or cultipacker over freshly tilled soil. The existing clover plot, just spread it before a rain and it will do just fine.

 

[megalomaniac]

600lbs fertilizer on under an acre total???

You sure it's not 600lbs lime and 170lbs fertilizer?

Cone spreader is the way to go.

 

[NewGuy]

600lbs fertilizer on under an acre total???

You sure it's not 600lbs lime and 170lbs fertilizer?

Cone spreader is the way to go.

I thought the same thing. These are the results I got from my test.

 

[NewGuy]

Do you have a cone spreader to hook on your tractor to spread? That amount is too little for justifying getting a buggy from the co-op.

Yes, with that method, I would till, spread lime/fertilizer, then cultipack. When you do plant, make sure there isn't weeds already established. If there are, lightly disk, sow seed and cultipack. May be able to sow seed, then lightly disk depending on how it looks. Best of luck!

And editing to say, know that pelletized lime takes about 3 months to really take effect. And it doesn't last as long as ag lime

I was under the impression that pelletized line works faster than traditional lime.

Can AG lime be spread with the cone spreader?

 

[megalomaniac]

I thought the same thing. These are the results I got from my test.

Throw thier interpretation away. I have no idea how they are coming up with their recommendations.
You need more N and K than P... no idea why they would recommend generic 10-10-10. And you def don't need 600lbs of it. You want around 100lbs of 20-8-10 or so... that's more than enough for your small plots.

As far as lime, with a pH of 5.6, you will need around 3 Tons per acre to get it up to around 6.4 or so. Ag lime is the cheapest, but you won't find anyone to spread it since you will only need around 750lbs or so... and it won't go through a cone spreader... you have to have a drop spreader.... Next best option is pelletized lime. That is easy to spread with a cone spreader, but can also be spread by hand.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I was under the impression that pelletized line works faster than traditional lime.

Can AG lime be spread with the cone spreader?

Correct - pelletized does work faster than ag lime. Ag lime takes about 6 months to take effect. We spread ag lime in April for our fall plots.

Cone spreader won't spread ag lime, just pelletized

 

[skipperbrown]

How did you take your soil sample and where did you send it? The results don't look right at all. I'd get another sample (look up how to get a good sample from UT) and send it to UT ag center in Nashville. If you don't want to do that, put down a ton of lime and 400# of 15-15-15 or 13-13-13 per ac. If you use ag lime, 2 guys can shovel it out the back of your pickup as you drive slowly around (it's much better to be in the truck with the windows up and a/c on full blast than to be handling the shovel-always delegate this task). Otherwise use pelletized lime and spread with a cone style spreader.

 

[NewGuy]

Correct - pelletized does work faster than ag lime. Ag lime takes about 6 months to take effect. We spread ag lime in April for our fall plots.

Cone spreader won't spread ag lime, just pelletized

Thanks. I just got back about a month ago from a overseas deployment this last year. Got me behind the power curve.

Thanks for the help!

 

[NewGuy]

How did you take your soil sample and where did you send it? The results don't look right at all. I'd get another sample (look up how to get a good sample from UT) and send it to UT ag center in Nashville. If you don't want to do that, put down a ton of lime and 400# of 15-15-15 or 13-13-13 per ac. If you use ag lime, 2 guys can shovel it out the back of your pickup as you drive slowly around (it's much better to be in the truck with the windows up and a/c on full blast than to be handling the shovel-always delegate this task). Otherwise use pelletized lime and spread with a cone style spreader.

I pulled samples from numerous locations and stirred them together in a bucket so it was a "all encompassing" sample.

May try to redo it

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I took about 10 small samples of each different plot and combined, then took them to Ellington Agricultural Center (UT Ag extension Office) and each sample was $15. You get a copy of the results mailed to you and emailed to you. We plan on fertilizing tomorrow. We have the pull buggy from co-op booked.13,700 lbs worth of fertilizer . Good thing we have 5 people pitching in

 

[megalomaniac]

I took about 10 small samples of each different plot and combined, then took them to Ellington Agricultural Center (UT Ag extension Office) and each sample was $15. You get a copy of the results mailed to you and emailed to you. We plan on fertilizing tomorrow. We have the pull buggy from co-op booked.13,700 lbs worth of fertilizer . Good thing we have 5 people pitching in

GULP... 7 tons of fertilizer...

My wife would divorce me!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

GULP... 7 tons of fertilizer...

My wife would divorce me!

that's when you tell her that 5 guys are chipping in and remind her of her new "whatever you just bought recently" . We are talking 30 acres worth of fertilizer

 

[NewGuy]

I took about 10 small samples of each different plot and combined, then took them to Ellington Agricultural Center (UT Ag extension Office) and each sample was $15. You get a copy of the results mailed to you and emailed to you. We plan on fertilizing tomorrow. We have the pull buggy from co-op booked.13,700 lbs worth of fertilizer . Good thing we have 5 people pitching in

Holy Crap! Whats the total area you are working with?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

30 acres. Just got done spreading half of it. Cousin is going back in town now for the last load. Will finish up this afternoon

 

[Popcorn]

Hey guys!
You have to make certain they know what crop you are planning.
Those numbers resemble establishing a lawn!

In some of the sandy bottoms I plant we don't do soil samples cause it just washes out anyway. Put down what the crop needs after it has germinated and if it's a long season crop then hit it with half at emerging and half at 60 days. Use the minimum amount that crop needs to produce, less in good soils

 

[Popcorn]

I took about 10 small samples of each different plot and combined, then took them to Ellington Agricultural Center (UT Ag extension Office) and each sample was $15. You get a copy of the results mailed to you and emailed to you. We plan on fertilizing tomorrow. We have the pull buggy from co-op booked.13,700 lbs worth of fertilizer . Good thing we have 5 people pitching in

Wow! 456 lb per acre.
We need to talk soil building crops for you.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Wow! 456 lb per acre.
We need to talk soil building crops for you.

These are newly logged/dozed ridge-top plots (fields). Talking 21 new acres of fields - some around 4 acres in size. A few were 4.91 ph. Limed per recommendation in April. We plant many blends and went by recommendations from the UT Ellington ag center office by giving them examples of what we're planting.

We tried soil building crops when the dozer work was done in march. Planted buckwheat and sunn hemp. Buckwheat never got higher than 10-18". Sunn hemp is just now about 18" tall - planted in may. Of course, the drought didn't help, but literally nothing was growing well. Also, looking at our acorn production for fall, it looks dismal. That was an added incentive to get our plots full throttle and not skimping. Will spray and drill this fall. As soon as my cereal rye comes in, I'm ordering the roller crimper for spring.

 

[TNTreeman]

that's when you tell her that 5 guys are chipping in and remind her of her new "whatever you just bought recently" . We are talking 30 acres worth of fertilizer

This man is king of his castle! Rock on JC!