LIQUID LIME COST

[William Allis]

So the salesman says 3-4 gallon, $100, of his product is the same as a ton of ag lime, maybe $50 spread or $350 for a ton of pelletized lime at $7 for 40 lbs. But according to Penn State there is only 2-3 lbs of lime in a gallon of liquid lime. $100 for 8-10 lbs of lime is not cheap! There is some convivence with the liquid, it can be put on with a herbicide sprayer. Pelletized I put on with my cyclone 3 point spreader with my cereal grain. Delivered ag lime can be a hassle.

AGRITEC is going to get back to me with some literature that proves their product is nearly as cheap and better than ag lime. I'll report.

Has anybody used this stuff and have real world experience? Mollybunnie are you out there? "Something too good to be true, usually is"

 

[KSQ2]

So the salesman says 3-4 gallon, $100, of his product is the same as a ton of ag lime, maybe $50 spread or $350 for a ton of pelletized lime at $7 for 40 lbs. But according to Penn State there is only 2-3 lbs of lime in a gallon of liquid lime. $100 for 8-10 lbs of lime is not cheap! There is some convivence with the liquid, it can be put on with a herbicide sprayer. Pelletized I put on with my cyclone 3 point spreader with my cereal grain. Delivered ag lime can be a hassle.

AGRITEC is going to get back to me with some literature that proves their product is nearly as cheap and better than ag lime. I'll report.

Has anybody used this stuff and have real world experience? Mollybunnie are you out there? "Something too good to be true, usually is"

When it comes to plots, I've used pellet lime for years with success.

 

[MarkDarvin]

I don’t know I’ve ever heard guys like us having success. I’d lean towards getting the situation handled for good with old fashion lime.

That said, if you really want to know, get one jug and do a test area. The most important question is, if it does work, does the effect last like proper liming, or will you have to buy and apply this every year?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RGrizzzz]

So the salesman says 3-4 gallon, $100, of his product is the same as a ton of ag lime, maybe $50 spread or $350 for a ton of pelletized lime at $7 for 40 lbs. But according to Penn State there is only 2-3 lbs of lime in a gallon of liquid lime. $100 for 8-10 lbs of lime is not cheap! There is some convenience with the liquid, it can be put on with a herbicide sprayer. Pelletized I put on with my cyclone 3 point spreader with my cereal grain. Delivered ag lime can be a hassle.

AGRITEC is going to get back to me with some literature that proves their product is nearly as cheap and better than ag lime. I'll report.

Has anybody used this stuff and have real world experience? Mollybunnie are you out there? "Something too good to be true, usually is"

Beware of Liquid Calcium Products

Do the math and consider the chemistry before investing in a liquid calcium product for your soil.

extension.psu.edu

For those that haven't read the link. Do you trust actual scientists or "the sales guy". It's all just math.

I tried some years ago on my home lawn. It was really thick and a PITA to spray. Do it right and get pelletized or ag lime.

 

[William Allis]

RGrizzzz your link is the Penn State info. Pelletized lime at $350 a ton is too expensive for deer! We have deduced that for every deer we harvest we have $1000+ invested. Taxes just came and we bought a new tractor this year! No end to the expenses! And folks whine because we post.

 

[RGrizzzz]

RGrizzzz your link is the Penn State info. Pelletized lime at $350 a ton is too expensive for deer! We have deduced that for every deer we harvest we have $1000+ invested. Taxes just came and we bought a new tractor this year! No end to the expenses! And folks whine because we post.

I was posting the link for other readers.

How many acres do you need like for an how much do you need? Ag lime is a much better value if you have a way to spread it. You will have some delivery costs. Last July it was about $800 to have 22 tons delivered. We can get it for about $20/ton picked up, in our trailer that will hold one ton.

 

[yoderjac]

So the salesman says 3-4 gallon, $100, of his product is the same as a ton of ag lime, maybe $50 spread or $350 for a ton of pelletized lime at $7 for 40 lbs. But according to Penn State there is only 2-3 lbs of lime in a gallon of liquid lime. $100 for 8-10 lbs of lime is not cheap! There is some convivence with the liquid, it can be put on with a herbicide sprayer. Pelletized I put on with my cyclone 3 point spreader with my cereal grain. Delivered ag lime can be a hassle.

AGRITEC is going to get back to me with some literature that proves their product is nearly as cheap and better than ag lime. I'll report.

Has anybody used this stuff and have real world experience? Mollybunnie are you out there? "Something too good to be true, usually is"

I highlighted the key words in your post. By far the least expensive solution is ag lime. I typically rent a lime buggy from the coop where I buy the lime. I pay a few more $ per ton than I would having it delivered directly from the quarry, but it is far cheaper than pelletized lime.

Pelletized lime is they only credible option if you don't have a way to spread ag lime. You are not likely going to spread enough pelletized lime to do anything with you seed. We are talking tons per acre in most cases. Our soil test show we need about 4 tons/ac of 90% ag lime. Fortunately, we have heavy clay soil and lime moves slowly though it, so it is 5 years or more before we need to add about 1 ton/ac of maintenance lime.

Most cyclone spreaders hold a couple hundred pounds. It is not usually work the benefit for me to add lime at less than 1 ton per acre. The cost and hassle of making a trip to the coop and the time it takes to spread it are not worth it. So, I wait till my soil tests show I need at least 1 ton/ac. So, if a cyclone spreader holds 200 lbs, that is 10 trips to fill the spreader just to cover 1 acre at 1 ton/ac.

In my later years, with more resources, even the lime buggy which holds about 4 tons of ag lime is not worth it to me. When I need lime, I now pay the extra to have the coop come spread it for me. Their lime trucks hold much more lime than the buggy.

Liquid lime really isn't going to serve you well for food plotting.

One more thing to consider. We are not farmers, and yield is not really important for deer management. A farmer is planting a monoculture and harvesting it. His livelihood depends on yield. His crops are generally much less forgiving than many of the crops we plant for deer when it comes to pH. Having the right pH helps plants more efficiently make use of nutrients. Since we don't harvest, we don't remove nutrients from our fields and we can plant mixes of crops. Each crop in those mixes will do better at a slightly different pH and using the nutrients. This means our target for pH is more of a range than for a specific cash crop.

So, we generally don't want a pH in the 4s or low 5s, or above 7 or so.

The question of liquid lime comes up about as often as magic beans. If we only just believe...

 

[Mennoniteman]

RGrizzzz your link is the Penn State info. Pelletized lime at $350 a ton is too expensive for deer! We have deduced that for every deer we harvest we have $1000+ invested. Taxes just came and we bought a new tractor this year! No end to the expenses! And folks whine because we post.

Lime is powdered rock, the value of it is by weight alone, liquid is a ripoff, granules are 4x expensive.
Ag lime; $92 a ton in bags at our local ag supplier. If you have large acreage rent a spreader, if you have a half acre plot roll up your shirtsleeves, pour it into a 5 gallon bucket and sling it on by hand. I scatter the bags across the plot then throw it out of the bucket downwind. 2 guys can spread a ton in 20 minutes, 40 bags, 1 bag a minute.
Then take a shower afterwards.

 

[victory]

William it is way cheaper to buy premo beef than hunt deer. My God by the time you figure your hourly rate to drive out walk in wait and wait then shoot and find gut and drag out and then hang and skin and cut up and wash and bag it your cost is through the roof and that does not cover all the others fees for licenses and seed and food plot land prices taxes yada yada yada for 40 pounds of venison. I am sure some will say I'm wrong but frankly it's a loosing sport but I understand why you do it.

 

[yoderjac]

Lime is powdered rock, the value of it is by weight alone, liquid is a ripoff, granules are 4x expensive.
Ag lime; $92 a ton in bags at our local ag supplier. If you have large acreage rent a spreader, if you have a half acre plot roll up your shirtsleeves, pour it into a 5 gallon bucket and sling it on by hand. I scatter the bags across the plot then throw it out of the bucket downwind. 2 guys can spread a ton in 20 minutes, 40 bags, 1 bag a minute.
Then take a shower afterwards.

Last time I rented a buggy lime cost me $40/ton

 

[Mennoniteman]

William it is way cheaper to buy premo beef than hunt deer. My God by the time you figure your hourly rate to drive out walk in wait and wait then shoot and find gut and drag out and then hang and skin and cut up and wash and bag it your cost is through the roof and that does not cover all the others fees for licenses and seed and food plot land prices taxes yada yada yada for 40 pounds of venison. I am sure some will say I'm wrong but frankly it's a loosing sport but I understand why you do it.

Here's an alternative viewpoint to the cost of hunting: Back in the 80's I would take time off from my $15 an hour construction job to go deer hunting. Years later I looked back and realized that the time spent deer hunting paid better per hour then my coworkers were getting paid slaving away back at the jobsite.
Why? Because I bought some acreage specifically to go hunting on, real estate that I wouldn't ever have considered buying otherwise, and the value of the land increased exponentially in the next 15 years.
Ok, I do realize that things aren't going to work out this way for every hunter, but there are hidden returns that have a dollar value in other ways that help offset the cost of lime, such as the value to one's sanity for the hours spent out in God's creation

 

[yoderjac]

Here's an alternative viewpoint to the cost of hunting: Back in the 80's I would take time off from my $15 an hour construction job to go deer hunting. Years later I looked back and realized that the time spent deer hunting paid better per hour then my coworkers were getting paid slaving away back at the jobsite.
Why? Because I bought some acreage specifically to go hunting on, real estate that I wouldn't ever have considered buying otherwise, and the value of the land increased exponentially in the next 15 years.
Ok, I do realize that things aren't going to work out this way for every hunter, but there are hidden returns that have a dollar value in other ways that help offset the cost of lime, such as the value to one's sanity for the hours spent out in God's creation

I like the way your think! I'm gonna try that one on my wife the next time she thinks I'm spending too much on hobbies!!!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Last time I rented a buggy lime cost me $40/ton

The biggest problem with a lime buggy is that they can be hard to find, in some areas they are not available.

 

[yoderjac]

The biggest problem with a lime buggy is that they can be hard to find, in some areas they are not available.

Absolutely true. I wouldn't do it myself, but I have heard of guys using a blower to apply lime from the back of a pickup.

 

[victory]

Menn that's very true about the price of land rising in value great perspective. Kudos

 

[William Allis]

This whole FOOD PLOT/ HUNTING thing is just a hobby for our family. Wife and I live on the old family farm and our youngest son and his wife are our neighbors. Granddaughter and her husband are outdoorsmen and bought 10 acers adjoining. I paid for my college education raising replacement heifers back in the 50's. My Dad and I worked the farm the hard way, our first tractor was a Jeep, my Dad rigged a "neck yoke" in the back of it and we used horse drawn equipment. We filled our gable roofed barn with man power and pitch forks. I bore the kids with stories while they are sitting on a new $30K tractor pulling a mower that cost more than the farm in 1948! $6000! I remember the good things and try to forget the bad. Original farm was a Holland Land Grant 90 acre. We have added as local farmers go out of business and now have 175 acres. That has ended, the last 7 acres cost $30K and was abandoned grown up hay fields with 4 inches of top soil. Only farming is WNY is 1000 milking cow farms. They are farming the bank, not the land. I can't buy bulk ag lime, and get it spread, within 75 miles. The big guys have their own suppliers who won't deal with us little guys. We drove 50 miles to get winter rye by the bushel.

We retired young and have lived a dream, however, I keep track of how much it costs. My folks lived through the depression and didn't let me forget it!

Thanks for reading and humoring an old guy. I'll only have memories to take with me. It's Labor Day so I am going to get on the new tractor and York rake the roads. Can't turn my arthritic neck, so I build a front mounted rake!

Bill

 

[Mennoniteman]

This whole FOOD PLOT/ HUNTING thing is just a hobby for our family. Wife and I live on the old family farm and our youngest son and his wife are our neighbors. Granddaughter and her husband are outdoorsmen and bought 10 acers adjoining. I paid for my college education raising replacement heifers back in the 50's. My Dad and I worked the farm the hard way, our first tractor was a Jeep, my Dad rigged a "neck yoke" in the back of it and we used horse drawn equipment. We filled our gable roofed barn with man power and pitch forks. I bore the kids with stories while they are sitting on a new $30K tractor pulling a mower that cost more than the farm in 1948! $6000! I remember the good things and try to forget the bad. Original farm was a Holland Land Grant 90 acre. We have added as local farmers go out of business and now have 175 acres. That has ended, the last 7 acres cost $30K and was abandoned grown up hay fields with 4 inches of top soil. Only farming is WNY is 1000 milking cow farms. They are farming the bank, not the land. I can't buy bulk ag lime, and get it spread, within 75 miles. The big guys have their own suppliers who won't deal with us little guys. We drove 50 miles to get winter rye by the bushel.

We retired young and have lived a dream, however, I keep track of how much it costs. My folks lived through the depression and didn't let me forget it!

Thanks for reading and humoring an old guy. I'll only have memories to take with me. It's Labor Day so I am going to get on the new tractor and York rake the roads. Can't turn my arthritic neck, so I build a front mounted rake!

Bill

I enjoyed your great little story of buying the land grant farm and farming with a jeep for horsepower.
My dad farmed with a John Deere M and a farmall M on steel wheels, so I grew up with hand sewn patches on the knees on my pants, raking hundreds of acres of hay with an 18 horsepower tractor on steel wheels.
Poor topsoil is a thing in areas of western PA and Western NY, I think it grew better crops when farmed with horses and a lot of manure in the old days, modern machinery has too much weight and power unless farmed notill.
As far as the budget, I think most of us are a similar budget, farming for deer is on a shoestring, with inputs carefully thought out. My hunting farm has one advantage, it's a timber farm with income, that's where the money for my equipment comes from. Some hunting clubs are also fortunate enough to have mineral rights income to spend for equipment and lime.

 

[yoderjac]

Hunting and wildlife management is a hobby for me as well and I suspect, for most on this forum. Some of us dive deeper than others into our hobbies. We all have resource limitations, and every location has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I wish there was a magic bean to deal with pH, but there isn't.

I'm not sure what your approach to food plotting is, but mine has evolved over the years. I started with traditional tillage, soil tests, planting monocultures, applying a lot of commercial fertilizer according to soil test recommendations, and spraying the crops for weeds. Over time, I learned a lot about soil and deer. I have abandon traditional tillage. I've increased my OM by planting complementary mixes of high carbon and nitrogen fixing crops and not burning it at a high rate with deep and frequent tillage. I've become weed tolerant except when a single noxious weed begins to dominate. I have not used fertilizer for many years. I plant more acres at a lower intensity and lower cost. Deer use is as much or more. Fertilizer was a big percentage of my food plotting cost.

I'm spending as much or more on the hobby, but as I learn and evolve, I'm able to save in some areas of the hobby and invest them in other areas. I have no solution for your lime issue. I will say that I find pH adjustment on a gross level much more important than commercial fertilizer. First, fertilizer recommendations are for farmers planting monocultures depending on maximizing yield. Planting mixes of complementary crops don't all extract the same nutrients from the soil. Since we don't harvest, we don't remove the nutrients like farmers. With good OM and a healthy microbiome, natural nutrient cycling provides sufficient fertilizer for the low fertility requirement crops I choose for my mixes.

Depending on the pH you start with and the crops you choose, lime can make a significant difference, but it is not always necessary when plotting for deer.