Hey all,

I have been told I need to lime my pond. Here is my question. My pond is about 1 acre. I have no way for a truck to get down to my pond. However I can take 50 pound bags in my truck and get them close to my pond and carry them to my boat and then mix the lime into my pond. Can I lime like 5 or 10 bags at a time or do I have to do it all at the same time?

Thanks

What kind of bagged lime ? Look for this not hydrated. You can do a few bags at a time provided you get it all in in a couple mths.

Thanks Eric I am sure I can get it done in that amount of time. What do you recommened for a 3/4 acre pond IE: How many tons do you think it will take?

Thanks,

What is your alkalinity ? Any springs or heavy water flow ? What about soil tests ?

Last I checked my alkalinity was around 35 and my hardness was 80. These readings were taking out in the middle of my pond versus near the shoreline. My PH looked to be around 6.8. I have not done any soil tests at all.


Thanks,

Hey Eric I found a place 6 miles from my pond that I can get AG Lime for $8.60 a ton! They will also sell it by the truck load. I just have to figure out how the heck I am going to get it to my pond. I can only get about 60 feet from the shore with a truck that is. Other than a wheel barrel any other ideas to get it from the truck to the boat? Looks like I may have my work cut out for me! But at least I can get it and it's close by!

That AG lime they are selling is like a fine white powder. I see the trucks spreading it in the fields now locally, and they look like someone is behind the truck shaking a bag of flour as they drive down the fields.

The stuff that Eric posted is pelletized lime. It actually is made up of pellets of lime that contain even finer particles of lime than the AG lime.

Ask that place how much Pell Lime is per ton. It'll be more than the AG lime, but not near as expensive as the bagged stuff in the stores.

Hey Esshup,

Thanks for the heads up I will ask them. I didn't think of that. I may get to my pond and only have half a load by the time I get there with the powder stuff!

Thanks,

I was assuming you could not get a truck with either ag lime or pelletized lime in there - thus bags were your only option. If not the case then use ag lime and get it as close to the pond as possible and then shovel it in. A couple tons should hold you for a while.

well I did not think I could get a truck load sorry for the mis communacation. I just found out i can get lime from a place pretty close. So I will do my best! It's still good information to know though eric thanks I will keep the pictures for later use if need be. I am pretty excited that I can get lime by the truck load for that cheep! I will try and get 2 tons or a little more if I can.

Thanks a bunch!!!

FWIW, take a large waterproof tarp and spread it out on the ground where you want them to drop the lime. See if they can drop the lime in the center of the tarp, then cover it. If it gets wet out, it won't clump.

You'll be suprised on how small of a pile a ton of lime is!

Really? I didnt think about that? Lime must be pretty heavy then? thanks for the advise esshup, you too eric I am going to do this asap! I know I should have done it earlier. Should I wait now till fall or is it ok to still lime now???

Thanks,

Do it now if possible (over the next 2 mths). Best way , in your situation , is to add it over time. Add 1/3 now , and then about 500 lbs a mth until gone.

RC51 looks like it is time to hit the wife up for a 4wd tractor with a loader

make a friend with someone with a front end loader.

Yeah I hear ya!! That would be nice! I got to many fires in the pot now can't put that one in there at this point. One of my problems is I can't get down to the pond anyway with a truck. I can get about 60 feet from it but that's about it. I can get a 4 wheeler down there. I have not yet had time to make a wide enough trail to get down there. I will be doing that though also. It's not easy doing all of this on my own. It takes longer than I thought and a few more IB prophin than it used to!

I just made the mistake of letting a few bags of pellets get wet, doh! Some of the really soggy stuff I treated like crushed lime and it just mixed with water. $8.60 a ton is awesome; at $4/bag I'm glad this is a small pond

Wouldn't you know that in a place where you dont need to lime, it is 8.50 per ton. Where you do need to lime is runs about $45 with a 5 ton minimum.

What's so hard about liming? All you have to do is,

Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up, put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up...



It's getting late and I need to hit the sack.

Thanks, Harry.

Dang I don't have any coconuts either!! I new I was forgetting something...:)

Yeah what is weird is I am right in lime country. I really didn't think I would need to lime my pond but my water testing says otherwise. My ALK-was 35ppm and my Hardness was 80ppm. Is there an average number for these to tests I should be looking for? What should they be on anverage?? I took a sample a couple of weeks ago near the shore and my AKL- was like 7ppm and my Hardness was 30ppm. The second reading I took was out in the middle of the pond and it seemed to be better.

Thats weird, maybe someone else knows if it can fluctuate like that. What kind of test are you using, if its a strip test, maybe they just arent accurate? I guess you could test twice next time to see if the reading is the same to rule that out as the problem.

My guess is the first test was wrong as to alkalinity. At least 20 ppm but 200 is optimum.

Hey Eric I am going to test again tomorrow and I will let you know. The only thing I did different was the first test was on the shore in 5 inches of water, and the second test was out in the middle. So I will take a couple of test again tomorrow out in the middle and see what I get. Thanks for all your help!!

[quote=ewest]My guess is the first test was wrong as to alkalinity. At least 20 ppm but 200 is optimum. [/quote

Hey Eric,

I retested today 3 times in spots out in the middle of my pond. Each one was right at about this.

Total ALK = was right near 40.
Hardness was right near 75
PH was about 6.8
My NT's and NTR's were both 0.
That seems to be a bit better than my initial test. I am still going to lime I think but at least it's not as bad as I thought at first!