Title pretty much says it all, I've got extremely sandy clay loam soil, east of Durant Ok. With a soil PH of 4.96 & 4.56

These samples were taken 10 weeks after a controlled burn with 2"+ of rain falling after the burn; I sent the samples off to OSU for full analysis for NPK and micro nutrients..... but I'm in the earth moving industry and wanted to double check the geology lab we use and OSU; so our private lab came back with readings of 4.56 & 4.96

One of those 2 samples is pond bottom mud(PH4.56) that I took for a 1+ac pond I'm trying to improve and the other is a consolidated soil sample from a 40ac pasture(4.96)-Both are way too acidic and its time to start spreading lime.

So you guys that lime.... How many tons per acre of powdered quarry Ag Lime do you think it will take per acre to raise the PH to 7 for the fields and the pond?

I'll have to wait for the OSU results to confirm the PH and tell if any NPK is needed

I had two plots tested- one was 5.43 and one was 5.74. I was told 1500 lbs/acre and 1000 lbs/acre respectively. If your soil test didn't tell you then I would go with no less than a ton/acre.

The local fertilizer source where you can get the lime will know. Also, if Okla. has a county AG agent program, but surprised they didn't give a recommendation on the soil sample report.

I put together a small spreadsheet from the information in this article, Tecomate ~ Get The Lime Out, and from a few other sources as the soil test that my Farmer's Coop provide is rather basic. Here are the results for your numbers.



I ran it for one acre, so the rates on the bottom of each calculation would be Lbs/acre. The rate changes significantly with the three types of soil, but you can also interpolate between the figures. As an example, I have sandy loam so with your test results I would apply approximately 1200 lbs/acre (average of the two numbers).

The spreadsheet will work with 1K Sq/ft (for a yard or garden) or by the acre. You can also enter the total area of your specified unit and it will tell you the total lbs of lime that is needed rather than the p/area figure. I'm an Apache Open Office user, so my spreadsheet is in the ODS format. Excel should convert it so if you would like to download a copy to work with; it is here: Lime Application Calculator. Of course, use is at your risk.

Thanks for the help Ranch Dog

The pond that was showing 4.58 is my main focus at this time for improvement; after taking the sample from this pond I put 1,500 lbs of sacked lime from Lowes into it, figuring that the ph was low and that its really hard to over lime a pond.

Its been raining so we are going to wait till August to lime the pastures

The pH is high in my pond, so I've been trying to get it down. I did find a recipe using white vinegar using 1 gallon of vinegar per 8k gallons of water. The recipe did not calculate the given pH vs. the target pH, so I'm adding the vinegar in 1/8s of the required amount per week.

I bought all the white vinegar at my small town Walmart, so word on the street is that there will not be an Easter egg hunt in the City park because there is no vinegar to dye the eggs!

I also learned something else about checking the pH of your water. If it is high and you are trying to work it lower, test it in the morning. If it is low and you are working it higher, test it in the evening.