Well, our season winds down Jan.1st. Like to get a jump start on adding lime.
Can i broadcast it and let rain do the work or till it in. Our ground does don't freeze here.
This will be for mid august foodplot.
Also, your thoughts on a simple spring summer plot?
Thank you, Sarge

I always put into the ground with a disc.

Yes, now would be good as it takes time to incorporate and adjust the ph. Laying fallow over winter let's the winter rains work on it.

If you can do a light tillage to better work it in so much the better.

In some soils it can take as long as two years to see full effect so early is always better when it comes to lime.

I assume your liming according to a soil test?

Also if you have a recommendation on fertilizer that can come after the lime has incorporated because without the proper ph the fertilizer nutrients are unavailable to the plant roots. Soil ph determines whether the roots can take up nutrients. There's a chemistry of ions and cations behind that but I slept through that class, lol.

A good spring summer mix would be a vertical like field corn, sorghum or millet then come behind that with a climbing bean, pea or lab lab once the vertical is up tall enough to give support. You could also do a clover, crimson comes to mind, now as a nitrogen source for the vertical.

Warrior, small one acre plot smack dab in the middle of 130 acres. Rest in pines and hardwoods. I have more deer then i want to shoot.
Soil test done. Needs lots of lime. Thought about chicory for spring and summer to help the does and fawns.
I usually do rye grain and they love it. Tried purple turnip this year and didn't work. So, keep the kiss theory going.
Not trying to grow large racks, just a healthy population.
Sarge

2-3 tons per acre, incorporating it into the soil works faster, but just broadcasting and letting it mellow over winter is fine. This is for ag lime, If you use the bagged pulverized limestone it will react faster so probably won't need as much, but is more expensive...and you'd have to apply more often.

Pelletized lime and don’t look back . Been debated here before but most pelletized lime is 10 times the strength of ag lime . 200-250 lb PELLETIZED broadcast it .Do it again in September.

The thing about soil which needs lime is that it is not a one and done deal. It will need to applied annually.

Not necessarily, while undoubtedly it'll need it again my clay loam has held just fine now for several years, at least five plus, off a single application of lime.

Pell Lime is way mare expensive then bulk if you have the means to haul it. Spreading can be done a number of ways.

Most people have a walk behind or pull behind lawnmower spreader Ag lime is a pain unless your getting a lot and plus haul bill ag lime is lots more expensive because you need 10 TIMES MORE to do the job !
10 bucks a bag and 40 lbs a bag ! Pelletized would be cheaper than the fuel charge to get it there !!
He will need 5-6 bags

Depending on if you have a tractor or not check with your local soil conservation service, they often have lime spreaders and such for rent unless of course you already have one. They work 100 times better than the old style drop spreader and have a much higher capacity which probably isn't an issue on 1 acre. If you are going to use a 3 point fertilizer spreader you will have to use pelletized lime as they will not spread ag lime, it is too fine and dense and just stops them up but most will spread pelletized lime just fine.

Here you go . My yard is red clay , 3/4 acre . March and September I put 100 lbs of 19-19-19 and 120 lbs of pelletized lime. LATE APRIL I spread 50 lbs of crabgrass preventer that has an analysis of 32-0-0. Betcha that combo will grow your cover crop ! But don’t use crabgrass preventer just ammonia nitrogen

Very nice yard lime does wonders .

Jbyrd I forget he is talking about one acre, I stated if you have the means. We have 34 acres of food plots, so bulk is way more cost effective.

Everyone, thanks for the help. I dont have any equipment other then leasing. So, most work is and will be done by hand. Good exercise with a push type spreader and hand held.
Thanks again

Won't kill you, lol.

My quarter acre garden called for right at half a ton of lime and almost that of fertilizer. Hauled it all in bags and spread by hand.

BTW, what is your soil type?

That has a bearing on just how quickly the lime incorporates and holds over time.

Clay holding longer than sand. Sand is bad to leach out as water passes through and away so much easier through sand. Loams of either being better than pure clay or sand.

I have clay on 3/4 (not heavy) of it and sand on the backside. Well drained for the most part.
Push type spreaders won't kill ya, unless your doing it in aug or sept.

Probably good dirt that'll do you well. In clay any organic matter you can incorporate will help. A truckload or two of horse manure or chicken litter is good. Barring that cover crops of almost any type chopped and tilled in.

The other advantage of bulk line is residual is around 5 years compared to pell often bring yearly.