Ok we have our lime ordered- we decided to do 50 tons which is about 2.5 tons per acre. We will probably try to put 10-20 tons in the beaver pond that feeds our lake. Since our water comes in through there and sits in there like a big stew-pot before it flows into main lake we are hoping this will have a longer term positive effect. We are also hoping by doing this much lime it may last a few more years versus needing to lime every year or so.

So this remaining 30 tons we will spread on the main lake. Probably putting 10 tons around the bank (bank only accessible to about 25% of lake) and the remaining 20 tons spread around.

My questions are-
1. We have a pontoon barge at our disposal so we are planning to spread the lime on the water by loading the lime onto barge with a front end loader, and then take the barge out and use a gas powered water pump to wash the lime off the deck. Does this sound like the right way to attempt this?

2. Is the lime dangerous or irritating in any way? In other words, do we need protective clothing, eye protection, and/or facemasks? A friend told me it probably will have the consistency of flour so we would probably end up covered in it.

Thank you for any help and please feel free to give any tips if we haven't considered anything. We are both excited and maybe a little tenuous about the amount of work involved and the logistics.

Thanks,
Tripp