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Winston Salem, NC

I recently added 40 lbs of lime and 40 lbs of 10-10-10 at the same time. I just read somewhere that may have been a bad idea or at the very least ineffective. What is your opinion on this one? Is there anything I can add to the soil now to counter act the negative if it is truly a negative?

4/18/2013 3:45:11 PM

Foley, Minnesota

I don't see any problem with that application. When we bag 10-10-10 we use pelletized lime as filler because 10-10-10 doesn't make a full ton. 19-19-19 would be a full ton without filler. Whenever you apply triple 10 you are gettting a mix of lime and fert. Adam.

4/18/2013 4:09:21 PM

Germany

There´s a reason for keeping some delay between the applications of lime and other fertilizers, but this applies to the combination of burnt lime (caustic lime) and nitrogen fertilizers which contain ammonium. The reason is the following: Caustic lime will cause a local increase of pH (to values such as 10 or 11...maybe even 12, depending how much CaO or CaO/MgO you put on your patch and how soon you till it in), and this causes deprotonation of ammonium ions (and turns them into ammonia, which is quite volatile). Then, some of the ammonia (which is a crucial N-component of your fertilizer) will evaporate into the air, and you lose some % of your N-fertilizer. Most of us will probably use limestone powder and/or dolomite powder (CaCO3 or CaCO3/MgCO3) or some equivalents (like crushed oyster shells) as liming agents. They don´t cause that dramatic local temporary increase of pH, and therefore you can apply them in combination with N-fertilizers.

4/22/2013 5:38:40 PM