Author Topic: Lime (Read 3372 times)

sabrina · « **on:** July 07, 2014, 03:14:20 pm »

Is it possible to lime a small paddock in the winter. Its bad for buttercups and I have heard that lime would help. I don't use this paddock in the winter months.

midtown · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2014, 05:59:57 pm »

First thing before you go spending money - get the pH checked!
You may wish to consider using calcified seaweed as a liming agent. It's slow release and you can continue using the paddock following application.

sabrina · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2014, 08:16:00 pm »

That's good to know, thanks.

Womble · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2014, 11:42:38 pm »

Has anybody checked soil pH themselves? I'd imagine it's just a matter of slurrying some soil up in water and then using pH paper, or is there more to it than that?

pgkevet · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2014, 07:37:55 am »

You can buy soil pH meters for very little..just a pair of prongs stuck in the ground and read the result. However even though my chemistry is pretty rusty I'd guess that it's obe think to read the pH for averages on days of differing soil moisture and quite another to really know the effect of additions to modify it. I'd guess there has to be a variable buffering effect. At a simple level you could probably slurry a weight of test sample and read against increasing additions of lime to the level desired?

I'm also pretty sure results will vary with rainfall, run-off from hills and streams and even seasonally??

I waked around this place before i bought it.. digging small holes to test depth of soil and assess quality and take pH readings - just using what I thought was common sense. General pH overall was slightly acid (around 6) with pockets of greater acidity and (suprising to me) it was actually more alkaline near the boggy, marshy bits.

Whilst i didn't actually measure the pH where I panted a few vines - but in a few places in the same garden - they didn't do well. Retesting recently and pH was 8.

Pehaps borrowing a book on soil analysis from the library would have been a better move..

midtown · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2014, 11:30:40 am »

pH testing is not a one off thing. We test probably 2 or 3 times a year over an average of at least 5 samples from designated areas of the fields.
The accuracy of cheap battery powered testers available at garden centres or off flea bay, are questionable in my experience.
Much prefer to use the old BDH type i.e., soil indicator, barium sulphate, distilled water, and a pH colour chart for making comparisons on the field chart with previously taken recordings.
The accuracy of your own recordings can be checked easily by sending random samples off to a soil lab occasionally.

HesterF · « **Reply #6 on:** July 10, 2014, 02:39:04 pm »

Back to the original problem as well - we have a high pH (7.8 average) as a result of being on chalk hills but still have tons of buttercups both creeping and otherwise. So I'm not sure liming will get rid of them - or were you looking to attract them

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sabrina · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2014, 03:51:20 pm »

We have sprayed them for the past few years. It was my farmer friend who suggested lime. The paddock in question can get flooded in the winter months hence not used. I pull up all the buttercup runners when I come across them but still they thrive.

Mel Rice · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2014, 09:40:24 pm »

I HATE BUTTERCUPS TOO.....no they are quite nice to look at but I wish they were not ALL over the field!

devonlad · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2014, 09:28:35 am »

whilst Buttercups will tolerate a low ph far better than grasses and can therefore out compete them it does not always automatically follow that the minute you raise the ph the buttercups disappear. Once established and widespread it may well be necessary to spray them off. buttercups thrive in soil that is acidic, wet and compacted simply because grass doesn't. It may pay to check soil for compaction too. take a spade and dig a hole, that will soon tell you.