First Things First, Calcium Products Blog

True story, I went to the doctor with a dime sized bald spot on the back of my head. The doctor told me to quite rubbing the spot. A month latter I had not rubbed/scratched the spot, it had grown to the size of a half dollar. I sought out a specialist, a dermatologist, he diagnosed it as alopecia, gave me some shots, problem solved.

Another true story from a consulting company:

I wanted to share with you a story from a customer in the office yesterday. His father buys fertilizer from “Unspecified Fertilizer Dealer”. The customer however does the soil testing on his father's field and asked for a recommendation and we recommended 500 lbs. of Super 98G with the urea nitrogen for corn. This field has extremely high P & K levels and the base saturation of calcium is in the 49 to 53 percent range. The agronomist at the “Unspecified Fertilizer Dealer” told the customer he should only put on 200 lbs of Super 98G and add more phosphorous. The customer is not going to allow this to happen, as he understands the need for calcium in this field. I just wanted to share this story with you.

Pelletized lime products have been characterized as short-term, a quick fix, and even snake oil. If improper rates are reccommended and used most any product will have poor results.

Many professionals that sell products may not fully understand how to use them or recommend them. This is not just a problem in agronomy but in all aspects of life. From the parts man that sends you home with the wrong part, to the doctor that tells you "if it hurts stop doing it".

Certainly if a product is not used as it is intended poor results will follow. Glyphosate is was a great product. Improper use over the years has reduced its effectiveness. Proper use of any agricultural product is the only way to make sure it performs as promised. Making sure you have a consultant qualified to make recommendations is a topic for another day.