First Time Growing Outdoors. Does Lime Help?

[NCBuoy]

First of all I am a lucky amateur that has had good luck up to this point. However it's been a while since I've been able to grow and this will be my first attempt at outdoors. I already have a great soil mixture ready and an organic fertilizer that I like. I have used a soil medium for growing indoors before and followed the rule of thumb for tomato growing and did well. Plants now are almost ready to go in the ground and would like to add the lime if it actually works. I've only used lime for tomatoes and it boosted harvest immensely. Would it do the same in this case or be beneficial at all? Thanks.

 

[oldskol4evr]

I already have a great soil mixture ready and an organic fertilizer that I like. I have used a soil medium for indoors before and followed the rule of thumb for tomato growing and did well. Plants now are almost ready to go in ground and would like to add the lime if it actually works. I've only used lime for tomatoes before and it boosted harvest immensely. Was hoping it might help with this. Thanks.

do a slurry test and see if it even needs it,lime will put your ph at 7. and some times even goes higher if you have added bone meal

 

[NCBuoy]

do a slurry test and see if it even needs it,lime will put your ph at 7. and some times even goes higher if you have added bone meal

Ok will try. Thanks

 

[NCBuoy]

Ok will try. Thanks

Ok will try. Thanks

I dont want to burn them trying something I shouldnt.

 

[oldskol4evr]

I dont want to burn them trying something I shouldnt.

just take a jar and put some soil in ,shake it up and let it settle a little and stick your ph pen in and check your number,lime is some times confusing ,does work well in depleted soil,but always check perfect ph of plants you want to grow,all my garden veggies love 6.5,except potato and sweet potato,they enjoy the 5s,like i said few years back i limed out my garden at harvest on summer garden,let it sit to end of feb and forgot i had added the lime,put 15 lbs of bone meal and blood meal on it and month later planted corn stand went to shit quick,check the ph and i was 8.5 in the bed,researched why and bone meal and lime clash and fight each other causing a shop full of head ache haah,check it,do yall have big box stores that sell swimming pool stuff,you can find cheap ph and npk test kits for under 20 bucks here,but check it and best bet is a slurry test,there is a thread on this site were jmw2 shows step by step

 

[oldskol4evr]

i do all at one time with a quart size mason jar,i get the first 3in of soil from difrent spots of my bed,dig out all sticks and stuff,feel the jar 1/2 way,pour water in to about a inch from top of jar,shake the crap out of it for a min,then sit the jar down on a level surface,and all the sand settle to the bottom,take a marker and mark a line on the jar were it settled,then wait 30 min and do the same for your silt line,then let the jar sit for 24 hours,make a line were the clay line is,all that at the top is compost ,i spoon a lot of this away about 2 hrs before i do my test,to let it settle again,already have my soil texture test done and marked on the jar,so let the water settle again,then take a turkey baster and fill the tube,this is were that cheap kit comes in,do a test on NPK all have little pills to test and kit gives pretty decent instructions the ph test i do at the very beginning before adding water ,the test is dry,a ph pen with same fliud your testing is ok same readings,then you know exactally were to start if you even have too

 

[simcoesod]

adding dolomite lime at a tbsp per gallon will do nothing bad to the soil or plants....even if there is some lime already

and it supplements calcium and mag
make sure its powdered dolomite lime

 

[NCBuoy]

just take a jar and put some soil in ,shake it up and let it settle a little and stick your ph pen in and check your number,lime is some times confusing ,does work well in depleted soil,but always check perfect ph of plants you want to grow,all my garden veggies love 6.5,except potato and sweet potato,they enjoy the 5s,like i said few years back i limed out my garden at harvest on summer garden,let it sit to end of feb and forgot i had added the lime,put 15 lbs of bone meal and blood meal on it and month later planted corn stand went to shit quick,check the ph and i was 8.5 in the bed,researched why and bone meal and lime clash and fight each other causing a shop full of head ache haah,check it,do yall have big box stores that sell swimming pool stuff,you can find cheap ph and npk test kits for under 20 bucks here,but check it and best bet is a slurry test,there is a thread on this site were jmw2 shows step by step

I have a lot to learn and thank you for your input. I like your method of checking the ph. It makes it easy and exact.

 

[oldskol4evr]

I have a lot to learn and thank you for your input. I like your method of checking the ph. It makes it easy and exact.

when you figure your 3 levels in percentage,then you can go to the soil texture chart and see what you have,i had loam last year and had a good harvest,but seem to hold to much water,so i upgraded the soil to just outside the loam texture and went with sandy loam ,garden doing fine with the extra drainage by adding sand,it hot as hell here and it is better to give plants a little shot of water daily then soaking once a week,i give them just enough to takeup that blistering day and they sure love it better at least your cooling the soil a bit from 101 today so far,hahah

 

[NCBuoy]

when you figure your 3 levels in percentage,then you can go to the soil texture chart and see what you have,i had loam last year and had a good harvest,but seem to hold to much water,so i upgraded the soil to just outside the loam texture and went with sandy loam ,garden doing fine with the extra drainage by adding sand,it hot as hell here and it is better to give plants a little shot of water daily then soaking once a week,i give them just enough to takeup that blistering day and they sure love it better at least your cooling the soil a bit from 101 today so far,hahah

Where Im at I can water regularly and its not as hot here yet as is it there. Thank goodness cause I know its coming. Im starting late because I just found some good seeds worth planting. And I still can get 3 to 3 1/2 months of good hot sun here before flowering. I just wanna see how it goes this yr as a trial.

 

[oldskol4evr]

Where Im at I can water regularly and its not as hot here yet as is it there. Thank goodness cause I know its coming. Im starting late because I just found some good seeds worth planting. And I still can get 3 to 3 1/2 months of good hot sun here before flowering. I just wanna see how it goes this yr as a trial.

do you have winters there? never been to your homeland just curious,my grandbaby wants to come there one day she says,she only 6 hahahah,but when i came back from the sand box made a promise to myself never to step off american soil again,least when i die i be on dirt i farmed all my life hahah,but shit i thought it stayed hotter than hell there just from watching the tube if you dig