I've been thinking about getting some lime for my pond. I'm having a hard time finding bulk. I can find bags but that would cost a lot per ton. I talked to a guy today that can get me what they call lime screenings that is fine with a little bit the size of pencil lead. He can deliver me about a 8 ton load for about $120.00, which is a lot less than 1 ton of bags. Do you guys think it will work? I wasn't planning on using all of it on the pond. Some will be used to treat soil, but most of that is in my watershed. I can save some if I don't need it all.
My area would probably be considered outer suburbs and just starting to get into mini farms. If you keep going out farther you start getting bigger, but most of them are horses and cattle, not much crops. I'm sure the farther out I go the easier it will be to find, but will cost more. The guy I talked to yesterday told me where he gets it from so I could check it out first, so I looked them up last night on line and they have another quarry a little farther out that claims to have high quality agriculture lime. I'm sure it will cost a lot more with being farther out, but I plan to check into it Monday. If it's not crazy more I'll just get the best I can.
I didn't get a chance to check into things more today, hopefully I can tomorrow. If I get a load of bulk lime, is there anything wrong with just having it dumped and use it as I need it,when I can?It will probably take me a while to do everything I want with it.
Ag lime is often dumped in pile in fields until it is spread. Of course, the spot where it is dumped will be very basic for a while. Did you find a farm supplier for bulk ag lime?
Not a professional but I think you will find the screenings with the coarser chunks to be less effective as the larger chunks can't really dissolve and be utilized to the same extent as fines, Lime itself is usually almost a byproduct of a rock quarry and not that expensive, most of the cost is usually the cost of hauling and spreading and most quarries will have a quality test report sheet on their lime to let you know the contents of the product, for instance between two local quarries here, one has a lime that tests a lot higher for ag use then the other, a much purer and whiter crushed limestone where the other is more of a shale rock byproduct, which you would have to spread twice as much to get the same result. hope that makes sense
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Thanks Guys! I talked to the quarry today and they said to get it from the other branch and that they have what they call extremely high quality agricultural lime. I talked to the hauler, and he will get it set up. It will probably take me a while to get it spread and the way my land is, it will be hard. I'm hoping to get some of it in areas that the spring rains will help wash it in.
All the feed stores in my area, at least the ones I could find, only had bags. The land around my pond is so steep and rough, that I won't even try to get my truck or my 4 wheeler near it, except for the spillway. Unless I waited till things are really dry, I don't think I would want them driving on my spillway, I'm afraid they might mess it up.
If I would of thought someone could drive by the pond and spread it, I would of spent more time looking. I always figured I'd have to do it more the hard way. I'll take my time, and at least I know it will keep getting better. I'm sure I'm getting more than I need, but I figure if I leave it piled in my watershed it might help maintain long term.
The guy delivered my 8 tons of lime today. I got him to dump it in 3 different piles, 2 on top of the hill above the pond and the largest one on the top of the hill above the sediment pond. That should make it a little easier to treat some of my watershed.
Thanks Ewest! The only place something like that could get to would be my spillway,maybe. I started to tell the guy that delivered it,that I have a small tractor with a front loader that I might try to bring over. Before I could tell him that I was just thinking of trying to move some to a few other areas in my watershed, he started freaking out telling me that my hill was to steep to get near the pond with the tractor.lol! Probably about the only thing that could get very close is something with tracks. I plan to try and get a fair amount in areas that will wash in easy and also throw out a lot straight into the water, all around the pond. At least the areas I can get to. The one side is so steep I will probably have to spread more on the banks and let it wash in. I'm sure I'm in for a lot of hard work. Lol!
I have spread a lot of lime by hand - hard work. A front in loader would help a lot if it is safe.
I know what you mean, I threw some around on my watershed with a shovel today. Not much fun. Lol! I'm going to start filling some buckets I guess, and start getting some in the pond. That should be even more fun. Lol!
Well I've spread a fair amount of lime so far. I tried a wheelbarrow but after two trips down the hill with its I gave it up. I did use it to transport some 5 gallon buckets across the dam so I could lime some on the far side of the pond. After carrying many buckets around the hard way, I took my 4 wheeler over and put a carrier on the back that could hold 4 buckets. That made things a little easier, but I still couldn't get very close to the pond and still had to carry them as much as 50'. I've probably put about 2/3 ton or more straight into the pond, over a 1/2 ton in the sediment pond, probably another 1/2 ton in areas that will wash in pretty fast, and over 1 ton spread higher up the watershed that will take longer. I probably won't do much more for a while, other than putting some on the areas that I'm having a hard time getting the grass to grow.