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Jun 20, 2016 7:52 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
With lime, usually all you have to do is spread it on the surface. Rain will carry it down, and if it doesn't, that's good, because then the lime will dissolve slower and benefit the soil longer.

In some areas, the soil is "always" acid, and "everyone" has to add a layer of lime every few years. Clerks in feed stores should know that "local soil is usually acid", or anyone connected with farming. Not knowing where you live, I can't guess at your soil or climate. If the "feed store" has rows of pallets of lime, your area usually needs lime!

Calcium carbonate is a form of lime, but I'm used to using "dolomite lime" that has MgCO3 as well as CaCO3. Where I lived, Magnesium was "always needed".

I think the problem some people have referred to is that lime or CaCO3 is going to make your soil more basic (less acid).

If the soil is acid and NEEDS its pH raised that way, fine and good.

Once you know the actual pH of your soil, you can apply the rule of thumb that "sandy soil has very little buffering capacity for pH changes" and add the LEAST amount of lime that will counteract your soil's excessive acidity.

BUT, the problem is that if your soil's pH is on the basic side already (widespread in many parts of the country), adding lime will make it worse, and bad pH is very bad. Worse than having low levels of a micro-nutrient.

If you add more CaCO3 than your sand wants, it could possibly push the pH as high as pH 9.4 (VERY basic). I don't think many plants tolerate pH above 7.7 or 8, but I never had to look that up. I aim for 6.5 to 7.0 (very slightly acid).

If you don't have a soil pH measurement and don't want to buy a kit to check it yourself, use very little lime (or none).

Did they calculate how much you need to add to supply the missing Ca? Start with half or 1/4 that much, and only apply it to one small part of your garden, where you don't mind killing plants and making the soil too basic. Each year the plants in that area DON'T die, you'll know it's safe to add that much to the rest of your garden. When the test area starts dieing, that was too much lime. With very sandy soil, it might recover through water flushing the soil and dissolving excess lime. Or stop liming the rest of the bed and mix the over-limed spot with everything else, and hope the average pH is OK.

But the "rule" of conventional wisdom says:
Never add a nutrient unless you KNOW it is needed.
Slight excess is usually worse than a substantial lack.


You probably need some Ca, which is halfway between a macro-nutrient and a micro-nutrient.
You might not need very much, in terms of pounds per acre or grams per 10 square yards.
Hopefully that amount is much less than will poison your soil with high pH.

But applying lime to basic soil would very bad for any plants you tried to grow there.

If your soil is on the acid side for what you want to grow, charge ahead adding lime per the pH recommendations.
But if you don't know the soil pH, or it is OK, basic, or slightly basic, avoid adding lime. Sandy soil has very little buffering action and you might wind up with =sand that is too basic to grow anything.

How about gypsum, hydrated calcium sulfate? That should be fairly close to pH-neutral, but add Ca and SO4.

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