Our Iowa customers tell me the University of Nebraska was my first mistake. After sitting though UNL's summer work shops, listening to researchers tell agronomists that 5.8 pH is adequate, it's nice to see someone who is starting to get it. (see Liming Key to Fertilizer Utilization).

Doug Beegle, PSU Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management Specialist has a great article on liming No-Till. His tips make great sense even for the guy doing tillage.

Key Points:

• lime on a regular basis and don't let pH get low in the first place
• maintain soil pH near to the optimum and don't let it get below the 6.0-6.5 range
• it took 9 years to raise the pH in the plow layer (6") from 5.1 to 6.5
• lime on a regular basis
• Acidity is constantly forming in soils
  

Where I disagree with Mr. Beegle is, tilling the lime in when you have extremely low pH. I feel the damage that is done to the soil by tillage is not worth the benefit. A better approach is to use a better liming product, like SuperCal 98G. It's fineness will work faster and move through the profile better than coarse ag lime.

The other point of contention is how often to lime. The reason to lime every 3 years with ag lime is; nobody will apply less than 1 ton per acre, nobody will haul less then 30 ton per load, it's expensive so you do not want to write a big check very often.

Using SuperCal 98G every year or every other year will cost you less, yields you more, and helps to create better soil. Every year you apply nitrogen, you need to be applying lime. 98G finally makes that cost effective and easy to do.

Calcium Products, lower input costs, higher yields, better lime