News Feed › Forums › Soil Health › Liming effects on soil microbiology › Reply To: Liming effects on soil microbiology
-
00224
Hi,
I had the same question when I was doing my planning this winter. So here are my thought :
-From what I learned at school, it is recommended to add a maximum amount of 5 to 6 tons per hectare which should be something like 3 tons per acre. This value is good if you considered adding it in the first 20cm of soil. If you do not plan to till to this depht the value should be change proportionnaly (like 2,5 to 3 ton/hectare if you mix it in the firts 10 cm)
-In a talk from Dan Kittredge, he suggested not adding more than 2 tons/acre per year whit low tillage wich is pretty much the same than above. I found this value in others sources too.
– About the 100 lbs per acre, I have also heard it before. My thougt on it is that you may not kill a lot of good biology whit higer value. If you are just starting, there is good chance that the soil does not have a very robust microbiology so you will not hurt a lot. By providing calcium you will help the plant grow well and they will nourish the soil microbes after that. Using microbial inoculum will also help to built the biology. So it may be better to correct any physical or chemical problem (mineral balancing but also correction compaction is very important) in the soil and then built the biology. It could be very difficult to do the opposite.-According to a lot of regenerative grower, you should add the lime not for addressing a pH problem but for correcting a calcium defficiency in soil.
I am not a specialist on the question and it is just my second year having my own farm but I hope it can help you reflexion. For the context, I am doing this on a small market garden.