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Topical Issues : : To Lime or Not to Lime?
Lime is as essential to the land of today as it has been for hundreds of years. Without lime the land will neither respond to fertiliser nor produce the quantity or quality otherwise achieved where lime is applied regularly.
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Benefits of applying GRAN - LIME
Lime is the basic requirement for soil to maximise response to all fertilisers. Dating back hundreds of years, lime has been known to enhance soil fertility and productivity.
Crops and grass yield improves where lime is applied regularly. Certain crops need more lime than others. Crops like barley and beet need more lime than grass does, because they are vigorous growing crops and use up more lime. If the correct amount of lime is not applied the resulting crop yield will be poor or may even fail.
Most Irish land is lime-deficient. Many of the soils are sour and acidic, and in need of occasional dressing. This is a situation that can be easily corrected by applying GRAN - LIME.
Fertile soil has a full supply of nutrients such as P (Phosphorus), K (Potassium) and other trace elements like Mg (Magnesium), S (Sulphur), Ca (Calcium), B (Boron) and Cu (Copper).
GRAN – LIME "corrects" (i.e. neutralises) the soil acidity. The ideal pH for potatoes is 6. Grassland requires 6.3-6.5. 6.5 is optimum for cereal crops while a pH of 7 is required for beet crops, legumes and oilseed rape.
Crops respond better to fertiliser when the soil is neutral or slightly acidic. This is because, in these conditions, the nutrients already in the soil are converted to a form which plants can utilise.
Using GRAN - LIME improves the "life" of the soil. Farmyard manure contains valuable plant foods which, when rotted, become available to the growing crop as nutrients. Using GRAN - LIME increases the rate at which these nutrients are broken down and made available for plant uptake.
Application of GRAN - LIME makes tillage cultivations easier, and drainage and soil aeration better by causing small particles of soil to stick together into larger particles.
Using GRAN - LIME will improve the microbial activity in the soil. Earthworms are more active in a neutral (i.e. 6.0 - 7.0 pH) environment, thus improving aeration and drainage, and enabling better use of organic matter by the earthworm in the soil.
Using GRAN - LIME also helps to overcome "Sod Pull". This can occur in grassland when the cow pulls at the grass during grazing. After the cows leave the paddock, if the pasture has a lot of up-rooted sods around the field, sod pull has occurred. Low pH is one of the main reasons for sod pull. This happens when the roots begin to turn up and lose their hold on the soil due to poor aeration and surface acidity. Over a period of time root development deteriorates. Applying GRAN - LIME will help the proper branching and overall development of roots.
GRAN - LIME provides a valuable source of available calcium. The calcium in GRAN – LIME is 100% water soluble and available to the soil and plants. This is hugely beneficial to the soil and especially to farmers with min-till systems or vegetable crops. It also is a source of Magnesium, which can help to reduce the risk of grass tetany.
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How is lime lost from the soil?

Lime can be lost from the soil in many ways:
Rainfall
Lime is lost from the land mainly through rainfall. Rain and soil water are charged with carbon dioxide (carbonic acid), which dissolves the lime contained in the soil. Some of this dissolved lime finds it way down into the soil drainage system thus being lost from the soil. Teagasc figures state that from to 2 and 5 cwt per acre of ground limestone per annum may be lost, depending on the rainfall, soil type and the amount of lime initially in the soil.
Crops
An average crop of hay or silage utilises 190kgs of lime per hectare (1.5 cwt per acre).
Livestock
A mature bullock utilises nearly 25kgs of lime per acre according to Teagasc trials.
Fertiliser
Continuous use of fertilisers, such as Sulphate of ammonia, and to a lesser degree, Urea, tends to use up lime in the soil.
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