Liming acidic soil before planting !!

[Mark Bolam]

2 hours ago, markieg31 said:

Bit like farming and spreading lime. Better of accepting a lower productivity and saving the money!

Utter crap.

[Stubby]

There is always a cut off point between the type of ag you choose to use . ( this told to me from a farmer ) and mostely it depends on how much you think the end price of the crop is going to be . If you think its going to make £200/ton ( malting barley ) then its more profitable to plough , make a seed bed and drill  as the yeald will be at the max .  If it only makes £120/ton then its more profitable to just run a " scratchit " drill over the stubble . The yeald will be less than the former method but you will save on time and fuel as less use of tractor . Its a gamble . 

Edited Monday at 09:19 by Stubby

[markieg31]

7 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

Utter crap.

Farmers spend a lot of money trying to get new herbs to grow and the field always want to revert back. Mate up the road has run the maths on it, yeah sure he was getting more bales with inputs but the inputs, when costed along with his time, didn't stack up.

[Paul in the woods]

On 17/01/2026 at 15:12, BruceWayne said:

Need some advice for liming soil for tree planting.

 

I am going to plant 2 year old trees in soil which is a bit acidic. I was thinking of mixing lime with the soil used for filling up holes when planting. Or will it a better option to spread lime around the land as a whole ? 

 

Both. I remember people planting truffle trees talk about liming and they just link to this RHS article: https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/lime-liming

 

It may be worth talking to a local agricultural merchant and see if they recommend anything. Round here I have noticed crushed seashell used by some farmers and a bit of googling shows some of the coarser material may last a few years before needing to be redone.

 

[AHPP]

Man plans, god laughs. 

[Mark Bolam]

1 hour ago, markieg31 said:

Farmers spend a lot of money trying to get new herbs to grow and the field always want to revert back. Mate up the road has run the maths on it, yeah sure he was getting more bales with inputs but the inputs, when costed along with his time, didn't stack up.

Was he smoking the herbs?

 

You should be looking at at least a 4-1 return on investment on grass.

 

It’s not magic, like.

You can’t grow pineapples.

[sime42]

The Victorians were growing Pineapples.

 

 

[Mark Bolam]

Not in fields they weren’t.

[markieg31]

1 hour ago, Mark Bolam said:

Was he smoking the herbs?

 

You should be looking at at least a 4-1 return on investment on grass.

 

It’s not magic, like.

You can’t grow pineapples.

 

Quite rough ground here. We have herbal leys that have needed re sowing, they were great but only last 5 years then some of the dominant grasses have taken over. So have to redo it. Well we have attempted to stitch in what has gone over time. Will see in the spring how successful that has been.  

[sime42]

23 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

Not in fields they weren’t.

 

I know. They were damned ingenious with their pits and greenhouses though.