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Trenton, KY | We have been in your shoes a couple of times when we started farming some old hog lots and a couple of pasture fields. Usually the pH has been somewhere around 5.3-5.5 and we have been putting 4 tons on the first shot ahead of either corn or soybeans as the first crop in the virgin ground and then 18 months later after corn or soybeans we put another ton on and then the following fall the soil tests would show 6.7-6.8 pH. You do need to have pow wow with the lime truck guys, because we had a guy who was having trouble with the spreader bed on his truck (it was cutting off randomly) while he was doing a 4 ton rate for us and he continued to keep backing up and starting again. In my opinion the biggest bang for the buck is to get the pH balanced quick and the calcium levels up in the soil as soon as possible, and we've had good luck with this approachso Id say we would do it the same way next time.
Edited to clarify myself after I read ST320's post:
When the guys were spreading a solid 4 ton rate for us they would be in a lower gear than normal so they wouldn't be overloading the system, because a 4 ton rate looks like a gravel bar once they get done!
Edited by TrentonKY 3/31/2013 21:44
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Lime benefit vs. no-till benefit
