Have a pond in east Texas,3 acres in size. Had water tested by extension service. They said I needed 3 tons of lime per acre. Anyone know want this will cost?
Call your local co-op or farm chemical supplier. If a truck can back up to the pond in one or multiple spots, see if they can bring it in a spreading truck. Back the truck up to the pond and let 'er fly.
Ag lime for us is in the neighborhood of $8 per ton at the quarry. We have multiple quarry's 15-30 miles from us though. You might easily get three times that cost (or more) delivered depending on how miles of freight is involved.
Years ago we used to figure for us the hauling and spreading cost portion was about equivalent to the cost of the lime. But we have owned our own floater truck for so long don't have any idea of current spreader charges.
That might give you a ballpark range anyway, till you get the chance to do as suggested and contact a local ag supplier.
Something else you might consider that I really like doing. Use part of your lime budget to put limestone rock around the perimeter of your pond. I like to use what we know locally as AB3 (may have different designation in different states - lime has different grading systems in different states). AB3 is crushed limestone run over a screen and everything drops through that is amaller than about 1" in diameter. This means there is lots of "lime" as well as smaller rocks.
You can take a tractor and loader and spread this crushed rock from about 2-3' below water line to a couple of feet above water line. The "lime" or fines portion will wash out into the water over time via wind driven wave action. The larger rocks will remain behind to protect against bank erosion (and dirty water because of it) from wave action. The intermediate smaller stuff will wash down a ways and provide spawning gravel in 2-4 feet of water (on a 3 to 1 slope anyway - not so much if flatter banks).
This would not be "instead of" your lime program, but in addition to. You might end up putting 2 ton of lime/acre IN the pond and another 50 ton of crushed rock around the perimeter. So it may be way more expense than you want.
But it sure is "nice". We actually rocked a driveway all the way around our 3.5 acre pond as well as about 3' below water full pool level. Just depends on what you are willing to spend and how nice you want it. Just an idea, not a suggestion.
I actually experimented with various sizes of rock, using 2-3" septic latteral rock as a shoreline wave protection, then topdressing it with smaller stuff in a couple different sizes in different areas.
In addition we limed our soil in the bottom of the pond before it filled, and I also have shoveled probably 5 ton extra I threw in the water as far as I could with a shovel from the bank.
Edit: The road you see going all the way around the pond is actually on the flat "bench" portion of the dam area that was designed for bank erosion control. After building we decided to add the rip-rap and crushed rock for additional bank erosion control as well as a dry place to ride 4 wheeler and walk around the pond in any weather. The top of the dam is 2.5' taller outside the rock road in the overhead picture.
The rock road around the perimeter cost a lot of money to do, but it allows us to use the pond nearly any time we want. The grass is just getting established on and around the dam, and because of not wanting to "mud things up" we would not have been able to utilize the pond a fraction of of the time we already have if the road had not been there.
Thanks for the help, pond is surrounded by trees. Only open area is along dam, have a road going across that. The extension agent said I could back a truck up in pond and it would spread through the water. Feed store guy has a truck but said the lime would not spread good enough going in the deep end. He suggested using liquid lime. Lowchow ranch has a liming barge, just not sure of cost of that.
It will work off the dam (pic above is off side of dam) . Second pic is taken by me standing on the dam. It is best if spread around the pond but will work off the dam.
Lime costs are $5 to $8 a ton. However, the lime you want will come from the Austin area and the freight is about $1000 and the trucks generally haul about 25 tons. So, if you only need 9 tons then you are paying a full load when you need only a 1/3 of a load. You might want to add 12 tons (the extra will not hurt) and see if you can find a pond close by that would split it with you.
The labor to apply lime via barge is $1500 to $2500 a day and applying 50+ tons can be done in a day. Again you are going to pay the minimum to have someone bring the barge, pumps, and employees. FYI, the above prices assume you have access to a front end loader to load the barge.
It would save you a lot of money if you had a neighbor that is very CLOSE and you to split the freight and labor to apply.
Thinking out loud here. Have not thought this all the way through yet so this might not work.
In farm chemical spraying we something called an eduction cone to mix chemicals up for spraying. They can be used to mix liquids in the water stream or also powders. When we used Atrazine 9-O in pellets we would put the pellets in the induction cone, open the valve so the venturi would suck in the power, then use a garden hose to help the process along. The powder would mix in with the stream of water. I actually have a smaller extra one laying around in a shed we don't use any more.
What I'm thinking is, having a 6hp trash pump on the edge of the pond with an eduction cone on the intake side. Draw in water from the pond while feeding lime into the induction cone and inducing it in the water stream. Have an output hose with a suitable fire nozzle on the end that would shoot 30-50 feet out into the pond. This would essentially turn the dry lime into liquid lime and allow the pump to shoot it out much farther into the pond and spread it better than what a person could do with a shovel.
Probably would work too slow feeding the lime down through into the induction cone.
"9 tons through a cone would make one wish they had put it on the barge and had it washed into the lake with a pump."
Agreed. That was the conclusion I came up with by the time I had quit typing. Thought about deleting it instead of posting. Then decided to go ahead and post. Never know what crazy idea one person has that might lead to a good idea someone else has not thought of yet. So I posted it.
Lime would be much worse to feed through than most of the types of powder we were using in relatively small amounts. It would be a way to shoot it out further than I could throw with a shovel, but like you said, loading it (even on a small home made) barge and washing it off where wanted would be easier. Not like it is a precision operation or anything in a pond.
Now a larger hopper gravity fed with steep sides flowing into a stream of water.......................... never mind. I think too much. Too many "projects" have I built over the years.
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