Aglime Basics  11/05/01 10:24:11 AM





Ag lime ~ The Key to Growing Any Indiana Crop



 



The key to the successful and profitable growth of any Indiana crop is total soil fertility management. This involves achieving and maintaining proper soil pH. Indiana Aglime is the best and the most natural way to achieve the correct pH for your fields. It's a well-known fact that soil acidity reduces yield and profit potential. Unless your soil's pH is correct, the fertilizers we recommend and sell are not fully available to the crop you have planted.



How Indiana Soils Become Acidic...

When fields are not limed regularly, they become acidic. Erosion, leaching, acid rain, even the normal growing of crops all contribute to acidifying the soil. Erosion and leaching physically remove calcium and magnesium from the soil. In addition, plants naturally consume calcium and magnesium as they grow. Rain containing debris from the burning of fossil fuels deposits nitric and sulfuric acids into the soil. Although the annual application of nitrogen fertilizer is essential to the efficient production of many crops, its continued use actually promotes the development of acid conditions in the soil. The result...Indiana fields can quickly become acidic!



        Proper pH Levels



 

Crop Desired pH Range
Corn 6.0-7.0
Soybeans 6.0-7.5
Alfalfa 6.5-7.5
Wheat 6.0-7.0

The pH scale is based on logarithms.  While difficult to explain, the meaning is this: a pH of 6 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 7!

Problems with Improper pH

Nearly everything we do with fertility, and weed control as well, is related to pH.   At too high or too low of pHs, nutrients are either tied up, making them unavailable for a plant's use, or taken up too much, resulting in plant sickness or in extreme cases death!  Additional applications of fertilizer on ground with improper pH levels are wasted, since the plant is unable to use it and it becomes bound in the soil.  The only way to release tied-up nutrients is th maintain a proper pH.

Weed control as well is impacted by soil pH.  Farm Fertilizers recommended soil applied herbicides can similarly be tied-up and unable to control weeds, or in some cases, carried-over to injure next year's crop.  Certain weed species are also better suited to lower pH's, causing them to prosper and become a problem if pH problems aren't taken care of.

Additional Benefits of Regular Lime Application

In addition to balancing pH to make better use of fertilizers and herbicides, aglime also supplies CALCIUM and MAGNESIUM, two essential nutrients for the plant.  Aglime is the most cost-effective way to apply these two necessary nutrients to the soil.

Despite these facts, many Indiana growers delay liming in an effort to hold down costs. They let their soils become dangerously acidic! If you haven't taken soil samples within the past three years, or if you haven't limed your soils to recommended levels, you are not getting optimum crop production... or optimum farm income.



Test Your Soil Regularly

The only way to make sure your pH is at the proper level is through soil testing.  We recommend soil testing on average of every four years, or whenever a problem is seen in the field.  Don't rely on things such as "abnormal weed pressure" or a "regular schedule" to tell you when its time to lime, rely on a soil test.  If you are unsure of how to properly test your soil, contact Farm Fertilizers.   We will either be able to guide you in proper soil testing, or do the testing for you!



The Best Time To Lime...

Fall and early winter applications are recommended even if tillage operations are not performed until the spring. Early spring is also a good time to spread aglime. Because aglime reacts with soil on contact, applying aglime at any time is better than delaying the application for another year.  Farm Fertilizers is the areas best source for aglime and its proper application.  Contact us today to have lime applied on your farm!



Lime
Aglime Basics
Lime is Lime...Right?
 
Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Powered By DTN