Soil pH

[doc623]

At what soil pH - via soil testing - do you need to add lime for mixed grass hay field?
And where is a good place to find this information on the net?

[Lazy J]

Collec a representative soil sampe and send it to a reputable laboratory for analysis. When they rerutn the results they will include both the tested nutrient content of the sample and fertilizer redommendations.

Jim

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Lazy J

Collec a representative soil sampe and send it to a reputable laboratory for analysis. When they rerutn the results they will include both the tested nutrient content of the sample and fertilizer redommendations.

Jim

Our local extension office has envelopes for submitting soil for testing. I just looked over the envelopes, and it appears to be a free service.

[Bearfootfarm]

Originally Posted by doc623

At what soil pH - via soil testing - do you need to add lime for mixed grass hay field?
And where is a good place to find this information on the net?

Most seed companies tell you the best Ph for a particular plant, but a good general rule is if it's below 6, you need lime.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

If you live west of the Mississippi River and not in the Pacific NW you probably have alkaline soil and NEVER need Lime. Likewise if you get on average over 42 inches of rain a year you have acid soil, less than that you have alkaline soil. This does not hold true for the Pac NW.

[Allen W]

[QUOTE=YuccaFlatsRanch;3873718]If you live west of the Mississippi River and not in the Pacific NW you probably have alkaline soil and NEVER need Lime. Likewise if you get on average over 42 inches of rain a year you have acid soil, less than that you have alkaline soil. This does not hold true for the Pac NW.[/QUOTE

Thousands of acres of Oklahoma cropland need Lime.

[Old Vet]

Usually when you send a soil sample in they will tell you what you need to do to the soil. Different kinds of fertilizer will do the trick but you may need to lime also. If you are trying to figure out what kind of PH you need in a garden you may also be stuck on what kind of crops you can grow they are many that must have low or high PH to do a good job of producing.

[Wisconsin Ann]

http://overton.tamu.edu/soils/Alfalf...0on%20Acid.pdf is quite good at an explanation of alfalfa hay, using 6.8 to 7.0 as needed PH.
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uc038.pdf is another good paper on general hays and grasses.

Other grasses (timothy, etc) can grow 5.5 to 7. They're pretty forgiving.

biggest problem is heavy rains leaching out nutrients from soils, I think. And alfalfa doesn't do well in humid regions. It really likes Wisconsin, I know. Humid for a short time, but generally the alfalfa grows late spring, early summer, and kinda stops growing during July (our hottest/humidest month usually) and then perks up again before it goes dormant at frost.