lime for trees?

[ousoonerfan22]

I know lime helps the soil for food plots but what about when planting trees would it help to throw lime in the bottom of the hole?

[wtnhunt]

Re: lime for trees?

Would not suggest throwing lime in the bottom of the hole without knowing anything about the soil. If the ph is off, would be best off to ask you local nursery what they suggest.

[dogdoc]

Re: lime for trees?

i planted a crabapple tree once and dumped a little lime in the hole--tree was dead 2 weeks later--so NO--- i wouldn't put lime in the hole. If you want to sprinkle some around the tree that wouldn't hurt.

todd

[Guest luckyman4]

Re: lime for trees?

You need to know the pH of your soil and the preferred soil pH for your tree, and definitely don't want to just place lime into the hole.

Many, if not most, trees prefer a fairly acid soil, especially when compared to legumes. If you take a pH test and are planting a tree species that prefers a more neutral soil, then work the lime into the soil you backfill with and/or spread it on top of the ground.

[ousoonerfan22]

Re: lime for trees?

So does lime burn trees and plants when it's not mixed in the soil?

Then you shouldn't spread it on a growing plot before a rain like fertilizer?

[wtnhunt]

Re: lime for trees?

[ QUOTE ]

So does lime burn trees and plants when it's not mixed in the soil?

Then you shouldn't spread it on a growing plot before a rain like fertilizer

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, lime can burn up an existing plot if not properly applied, and yes it is best to try to put it down just before rain.

[Guest luckyman4]

Re: lime for trees?

I didn't mean to give the impression that you can't spread lime on a growing foodplot. You don't, however, want to dump lime into a hole and plant a tree on top of it, for the most part.

As far as burning up an existing plot, you'd have to lay the lime on pretty thick to do that. Lime, in my experiance, comes as ground up stone, and basically "weathers" into the soil over a period of time, depending on the size of the particles. I suppose there could be some problems where existing vegetation touches the lime particles. Once it gets into the soil, if applied at proper rates, it will react with the soil acidity to raise the pH to the proper rates, not burn the plots up.

If you have really small particles (ground limestone) and apply it before a rain, like wtnhunt said, then much of it will go into the soil quickly, so that vegetation-to-lime contact is avoided and the plot is less likely to be burned up.

[LETMGROW]

Re: lime for trees?

Lime is for reducing the acid in the soil. It alone is not a miracle worker. Alone it is pretty much moot. The benefit of PROPER liming is to allow the fertilizer to work. Fertilizer is just not effective in acidic soil.

This is where the soil analysis is important. You could be spreading lime [ at an expense ] where it really isn't required. OR you might need a large amount to bring the soil up to a Neutral [ 7.0 ] condition. Guessing doesn't work well.

If I were to lime a tree it would only be around the canopy where the root system could benefit.