Regrinding Ag Lime

randallk

Member
It's a known fact that the finer lime is ground, the better it is. Most lime around here runs in the 400 lb/ton range of "Effective Neutralizing Material". It seems to me that if I could regrind the locally acquired lime that I could improve this factor considerably. Seemingly, it might improve it 100%. Question is, what kind of equipment would you need? In searching the web for lime grinding equipment....it's all "100's of thousands of dollars" stuff. Anybody got any ideas? Or is this perhaps another one of my "darn good idea....just won't work" deals?
 
Randall that 400/ton is in the first 12 months of application. The rest does active it just takes longer. So the simple thing to do is if you rally want/need more LBS in the first 12 months then just apply more tons. Then you are good to go for not only this year but you will carry forward the balance for future needs.

IF you really want to get more activity in the first 12 months then just bake the lime. That is all "activated/bag lime" is. You heat the ground lime up and it breaks it down into a more soluble form. You could do this like they make quick lime but you just do not need to get it as hot.
 

What JD seller says. I have always looked at lime as a three year proposition. it takes that long for it to break down and be fully consumed by acid in the soil. If you need more you need to increase your tons per acre.
 
the coop I used to lease to sold a pellitised limestone by the ton. It was supposed to be almost 100% available to use the 1st year. You might want to look into that before you spend big bucks to make your own.
 
A little bit of a side story. Up near the farm one of the neighbors had crop yields going down and finally got a soil test done. Showed a VERY low amount of lime. You know what I mean. Anyhoo he put ALL of the lime on that he need at one time not a couple of seasons! The field looked as if it had SNOWED! You guessed it....it rained a couple of days later and he went out the next day to work the field. Tractor tires with about four inches of white slime on them. John Deere was kind of white washed too.!
 
Did it look like this? A local guy got wet lime from a water treatment plant in Northern Ohio and they hauled it down (Sothern Ohio) in tankers and spread it with a liquid POO spreader. I don't think it cost him much at all, They needed a place to put it and he had 275 acres they spread it on, And they put it on thick. Bandit
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JD,
Last fall the farmer had 3 applications of lime added to his field before he planted his winter wheat.

The Ag lime in my area is made at a gravel pit about 35 miles away. I purchased this spring for local Co-op 7000# for $60. That's about 4x cheaper than going to Rural King and buying the fine power in a bag. I use mine in the garden and to mix in with horse poo.

I can't see how one could save much by crushing Ag lime. Just apply more and it will last longer in the field.

So, who does the soil become acidic? Is it acid rain?
 
I made a 5ft wide 5000# lawn roller. My tree trimmer got stuck in wet clay and made deep ruts. The clay was very wet and sticky. After he got pulled out, I took my roller and fixed the yard. In doing so I had to go across a sidewalk and make a turn around in white rock drive. Some of the white rock stuck to the roller. When I went across the sidewalk, the white rock exploded into a fine power. At first I couldn't figure out what was happening. It looked like white bird poo splattered on the walk.

So you could put the Ag lime on concrete and roll it. Take forever.
 
(quoted from post at 14:49:48 05/31/15) Fertilizers- both natural and chemical- are acidic. Some soils (like here) are actually more alkaline and get sulfur added to balance the Ph.

What is your source for that?
 
Fine lime gets used up (reacts) really fast. Coarser grades take longer. Too coarse and won't see any effect in our lifetimes.

We are so acid here and the soil type is clay so you need piles and piles of lime to shift the ph much.
 

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