Aglime
- The Key to Growing Any Indiana Crop
|
|
This document is available as a
PDF (portable document file) -
Click Here |
The key to the
successful and profitable
growth of any Indiana crop is
total soil fertility management!
|
|
Aglime
is the key to achieving and maintaining proper soil pH,
and Indiana Aglime
is the best and the most natural way to achieve the correct pH
for your fields. It's a well-known fact that soil acidity
reduces yield and profit potential. Unless your soil's pH is
correct, the valuable fertilizers you apply are not fully
available to the crop you have planted. |
|
How Indiana Soils Become Acidic... |
|
When fields are not limed regularly, they become
acidic. Erosion, leaching, acid rain, even the normal growing of
crops all contribute. Erosion and leaching physically remove
calcium and magnesium from the soil. In addition, plants
naturally consume calcium and magnesium as they grow. Rain,
containing debris from the burning of fossil fuels, deposits
nitric and sulfuric acids into the soil. Although the annual
application of nitrogen fertilizer is essential to the efficient
production of many crops, its continued use actually promotes
the development of acid conditions in the soil. The
result... Indiana fields can
quickly become acidic! |
|
Aglime
for Healthy Soils and a Better Environment! |
| In addition to neutralizing soil acidity,
the benefits of the regular application of aglime often include
the addition of needed calcium or magnesium. Further, the
effectiveness of certain herbicides is enhanced and the total
soil environment is made more favorable for soil organisms. All
this leads to a more healthy soil condition where the potential
for the leaching of harmful chemicals into your groundwater is
greatly reduced or eliminated. Yes, the application of aglime is
an environmental issue. Aglime is
especially critical in minimum tillage operations. Farmers who
practice reduced tillage methods should test their soil and
apply aglime more frequently in order to avoid surface soil
acidity. This is essential to ensuring proper fertilizer
efficiency and herbicide effectiveness.
Despite these facts, many Indiana growers
delay liming in an effort to hold down costs. They let their
soils become dangerously acidic! If you haven't taken soil
samples within the past three years, or if you haven't limed
your soils to recommended levels, you are not getting optimum
crop production... or optimum farm income. |
|
Aglime Gives You Your Money's Worth! |
|
Maintaining proper soil pH with aglime is a
basic necessity for growing anything well. It's the foundation
upon which expensive fertilizers and some herbicides may achieve
optimum results. If your soil pH is not correct, applying more
fertilizer will not optimize yields and profits because your
crop cannot fully utilize the nutrients in the fertilizer you
purchased. Therefore, the application of aglime could increase
yields as well as provide greater fertilizer efficiency to boost
the profit potential of your farm.
Most Indiana crops
achieve optimum yields when grown in soils which are slightly
acidic to slightly alkaline. Regular application of aglime is
the best way to achieve and maintain the ideal soil pH! |
|
Effect of pH on the Yield Potential of Indiana Crops |
|
Relative Yields at various pH levels:
Acidic Range from 1 to 6.9+ - Neutral 7.0 - Alkaline Range from
7.0+ to 14 |
|
Crop |
Acidic
4.7 |
5.0 |
5.7 |
6.8 |
Neutral
7.0 |
Alkaline
7.5 |
|
Corn |
34% |
73% |
83% |
100% |
|
85% |
|
Soybeans |
65% |
79% |
80% |
100% |
|
93% |
|
Wheat |
68% |
76% |
89% |
100% |
|
85% |
|
Oats |
77% |
93% |
99% |
98% |
|
100% |
|
Barley |
0% |
23% |
80% |
95% |
|
100% |
|
Sweet Clover |
0% |
2% |
49% |
89% |
|
100% |
Sources: A & L Mid West Agricultural Laboratories, Inc.
Omaha, Nebraska
|
|
Conducting soil tests on every field of your
farm at least once every three years (and applying aglime when
you need it) is the only way you can be sure that your fields do
not become acidic.
Remember, aglime is not an instant fix.
Depending on the gradation of the aglime available in your area,
the time required for aglime to have its full impact upon the pH
of your soil may be one to three years.
Your soil fertility consultant or fertilizer
dealer can make an aglime application recommendation required to
achieve the optimum pH for your crops. |
|
The Best Time To Lime... |
|
Fall and early winter applications are
recommended even if tillage operations are not performed until
the spring. Early spring is also a good time to spread aglime.
Because aglime reacts with soil on contact, applying aglime at
any time is better than delaying the application for another
year. |
|
Call Your Indiana
Aglime
Council...We're Here To Help! |
|
The Aglime
Council of Indiana is a not-for-profit organization of aglime
producers. Its members are dedicated to providing the highest
quality aglime. In addition, The Council publishes aglime
application information, research findings and other facts to
help growers achieve optimum yields. Each year, the Aglime
Council publishes a free analysis of the purity and chemical
composition of the aglime produced by each of its participating
members. |
