Thanks for adding that John.

I’m assuming the biological interactions will play to the favor of the new culture. That if, against all odds, you apply too much calcium carbonate on a plot at the initiation of the new culture, the grapes-and-micro-comrades will efficiently conspire to keep the calcium carbonate, pH, Eh, etc. where they want it. The new culture is not going to accelerate the dissolution of calcium carbonate, unless that’s what they need.
This is all to the point of…it’s highly unlikely(by chemistry or biology) that a big application of limestone will have a negative impact on the new culture(it will certainly have a negative impact on the old culture) Neither the chemistry or biology of the new culture will allow the pH to swing to an alkaline state (assuming reasonable management). The current chemistry/pH is a product of the old culture wanting to preserve it’s own dominance. Clearing the vegetation will definitely damage the dominant old culture/microbiome, adding calcium carbonate will further damage/decimate the old culture. This will open the door for a whole new culture to move in, and move in quickly with the farmer’s help. If you want to shift the pH from 4.5 to 6.5, that’s a completely different microbiome. There’s probably gonna be like 1% overlap in microbiodiversity? (maybe 10% or .1% or .01% ?). And there wasn’t grapes there before, everything is changing. Maybe the fear of overapplication comes from a desire to keep things “natural” and/or “native” and/or preserve the sacred microbiome? That’s not really possible the moment you clear land. At least for me, I always hesitate, it hurts my heart every time I make a decision for cultural change. Death and letting go is a big part of it, and I always wonder if what I’m doing is actually better for everyone. However, with proper management, the new culture can become just as symbiotic/seamless/integrated (dare I say indigenous) with it’s surroundings as the old culture, maybe even more so. consult community, take the leap of faith, be accountable to those organisms you’ve impacted, course correct, repair harm that was done, repeat. 🙂

just some thoughts…I’m happy to hear different views