Use dolomite lime powder if you want a faster pH change. Use dolomite lime pellets if you want a slower pH change over a longer time period. You can add dolomite lime to water to raise the pH and to buffer the pH. According to the University of Alabama Extension, dolomite lime helps to maintain pH between 7. It also makes nutrients more available to organisms in the water, such as algae. The best time to lime a pond is before you fill it.
Lime and dolomite lime both contain calcium carbonate, and they are both used to raise the pH of acidic soil known as liming. However, there are some differences between the two.
For example, dolomite lime contains magnesium in the form of magnesium carbonate , while lime calcite lime does not. The percentages by weight of various elements by weight also vary between these two types of lime:. The following table summarizes the comparison between garden lime and dolomite lime :. Dolomite lime is good for lawns because it raises pH and adds both calcium and magnesium to soil. Having the proper soil pH makes fertilizer more effective and makes nutrients available to plants.
Dolomite lime can also be good for citrus trees, tomatoes, potatoes, roses, and other crops that need a boost of magnesium or an upward adjustment to their soil pH. Now you know all about dolomite lime: what it is, how it is used, and when to use it. Remember to get a soil test to help you find out exactly how much of a soil amendment to use.
I hope you found this article helpful. If so, please share it with someone who can use the information. Hi, I'm Jon. Let's solve your gardening problems, spend more time growing, and get the best harvest every year! Some vines tolerate shade, while others thrive in full sun all day. There are even some sun-loving vines with dazzling flowers to add beauty to your home. So, what are some vine Some cacti take up lots of space and make a statement in your home.
Others stay small but spread out to cover a large area. So, what are some cacti you can keep as house plants? Skip to content Lawns and gardens tend to become more acidic over time, especially if you use nitrogen fertilizers. What Is Dolomite Lime? Dolomite lime can appear in nature as white, tan, gray, or pink crystals.
Most plants like a soil pH of 6. Dolomitic lime can help maintain an ideal soil pH level. Elemental sulfur will lower pH when added to soil. You do not even address the K:Ca:Mg ratio that many plants want. That is an important factor considering how important Ca is to plants, and the synergistic effect the three elements have to one another. Nor do you address that organic elements, especially those coming from rocks, but in general many, can and do have components that are undesirable for your health, such as flouride and even Polonium It is fascinating, when you actually are open to both sides of the equation, that water soluble fertilizers, typically being highly refined impurities being removed , can actually contain less undesired components than organics do.
I can appreciate your desire to inform people of common errors, of which over liming is one, but you make it sound so clear cut. I guess it depends if you want healthy soil or healthy plants. You should use it when a soil test indicates you need the calcium and magnesium. Thanks again for you comments, Phil. Do you have any other suggestions? But it is a difficult plant to get rid of. Improve drainage, fertility balance, the soil food web, and pull pull pull for years to come.
I live in the very lush and rainy willamette valley in Oregon. Every year until recently my tomaoto harvest has been poor and frustrating. When I planted my starts last year, I threw in a very small quarter cup helping of dolomite lime in each hole before planting. The crop was incredible. The tomatoes were large, juicy, and perfect. Before this crop, I was afraid that I did not have the green thumb.
Researching and understanding nutrient levels in soil definitely helped. I was not aware of the high magnesium levels in dolomite lime, but I can honestly say that I will continue to use it with my tomatoes and peppers.
I had more than I knew what to do with! I only used organic starts and organic fish fertilizer. Your soil must have needed magnesium and calcium. Great points you have shared in this post. Its really important.
Thanks for sharing this post with us. I am surfing for something like this. Keep it up in future too. Do you have any recommendations as far as applying lime at planting or maybe not at all right now? But in terms of the actual fertilizing, you can do it after you plant. I just wanted to dump there potting soil and grow my garden! As for a good fertilizer, kelp fertilizer is pretty easy to find. I use Earthboxes to grow veggies. Also the peat is very acidic and the pH needs to be raised.
Does this seem correct? Most all plants need a lot of calcium. Calcitic lime is better than dolomite for that. The peat may or may not be acidic depending on what kind of peat it is.
The lime is probably not a bad idea either. I have a paddock for my horses that is pH 5. The number of buttercups is increasing these can be toxic for horses if forced to eat them through lack of grass not at that stage yet but want them gone!! They were deficient in Selenium by blood tests as was the soil. I supplemented them with a proprietary product which contains selenium and vitamin E as an antioxidant and a spectrum of minerals. On second blood test the horses were too high in zinc which was tying up the copper…which they were slightly low in first time around.
I have reduced the supplement to reduce the zinc and thus not tie up the copper…also giving the horses a herbal copper blend and will blood test again in the autumn. Any advice to get rid of the buttercups without harming the other grasses and plants would be appreciated…. Increasing pH will be a byproduct of balancing out soil fertility, but the pH number should not be managed directly.
They will tell you exactly which nutrients you need to balance out your soil so that it favors grasses over weeds, balances the pH, and gives your plants and horses more nutrition in general. But yes, lime is probably called for — not dolomite lime, you just want calcitic lime for the calcium. And then there will be other issues the soil lab will tell you about. How much dolomite lime and potassium should I use on two lavender plants? I am growing the plats in a large pot will I hope they will grow.
I have been growing veggies in earth boxes. The directions always say to add one pound of dolamitic lime to the top inches of soil and work it in before re-planting….. Did the lime cause this? I was thinking I needed to add more lime until reading this.
Now I wonder if I was using too much? I use a very good potting mix in my boxes…. Dolomite probably makes more sense in potting mixes, although I still tend to go for calcitic lime. Phil, I stumbled onto your site. I am expanding a growing area for vegetables that is still very much a yard.
My plan is to make boxes, drop cardboard in, cover with straw, then come a bit more with leaf mulch that I was able to get for free. I plan to use blood meal, or at least I did until i read your other post on kelp, as I have had great success with gardens in the past.
I would wait at least a year for everything to break down before you do a soil test. I have a sq ft vegetable garden. I just got another soil test back from UMass listing a 5. CEC is Their recommendation for a target pH of 6. So, my question is, how can I increase pH without adding a significant amount of calcium or magnesium? That calcium base saturation is low, so I would add calcitic lime aka calcium carbonate , not dolomite.
I look at the base saturation percentages more than the absolute numbers. I just scrubbed the moss off my terrace with acid. Too late I realized that I would have to wash it down and that was straight through my garden. I just washed it over and over to try and dilute the acid. Someone suggested I use dolomite lime , dig it into the soil and water it. Is this not going to do the garden more harm than good? Any suggestions…. The terrace looks great but I fear for my garden.
Nice piece on lime in general. Keep on Smiling…. But also have 3 questions, please. Thanking you in advance. There can be many reasons for lack of blooming, the most common being not enough sun, improper moisture, frost damage, too much fertilizer, too much or improper pruning, animal damage. Those are the main ones that come to mind. I plan to have a straw bale garden and I have a recipe of minerals to treat the bales with before planting seeds.
I am having trouble finding dolomite meal in powder form. I have cut down a 50 ft. I have fertilize it and last year added dolomite to the area. The grass is still very sparse and does not want to grow. What should I do other than make a flower garden where the tree was. Hi, just been searching online for dolomite, i have an olive tree that doesnt hold its flowers and falls off before it fruits…so i cant enjoy any olives from that tree, i been told by few ppl that its a male tree and i should cut it down.
But I recently got in contact with famous tv gardener that not to cut the tree at all and just add dolomite to it. It will fruit like u wouldnt believe and enjoy ur olives he said. Is this true? The surer solution is to test your soil and fertilize based on that soil test, and also to improve the soil biology. Horsetail is very tricky to get rid of. It tends to favor wet and poorly draining, low fertility soils, so if you can boost fertility and not overwater, that will help.
Thank you show much!! I was doing a science fair project on Ph of soils and added lime to some of my soil. Thank You!!!! I also added Aluminum Sulfate to my soil and nothing grew in that either.
Do you know why this is? In the south with the warmth and humidity in Houston, I can produce nutrient rich compost in less than a month with a open compost pile.
I want to create an area for lime-loving plants an alvar. Is calcific lime the additive I need? I spread some dolomite lime around my standard roses in early summer, as I understood roses needed lime. Could this be why by late summer on many of these previously healthy roses the leaves have turned yellow and why new growth is discoloured — a pinkish yellow and wrinkled? I have light soil but enriched with home-make compost. Thank you for this informative article. There is a point you make that could benefit from clarification.
The process by which fertilization acidifies soil is that the oxidation of ammonia-equivalents to nitrate yields a net proton. So, for an equivalent amount of nitrogen fertilization, will be equally acidifying compared to any ammonia or urea based synthetic fertilizer. Nitrate fertilizers like calcium nitrate are not acidifying, but have a greater risk of fertilizer burn. Personally I find using or recommending fertilizers that derive from the slaughter of animals, or from stripping animals and materials from natural ecosystems, morally reprehensible.
And frankly doing so when there are synthetic fertilizers that do not carry that burden of death, suffering, and habitat destruction seems mean-spirited. I realize this is personal opinion and that well intentioned people can view the situation with different priorities. However, the fact that proteins and ammonia acidify soil in the same way and to the same degree is not subject to debate. Thanks for your comment, Chris. I agree with all of your points. Thanks for taking the time to share.
I read an article to use dolomite lime to change the PH to get rid of them. I answered another question about horsetail in the comments above. Instead, balance overall fertility and then the pH will follow. When I first put a lawn down from seed, it was on hard, rocky, clay soil. I had brown patches in the lawn everywhere. I sprinkled dolomite lime on the patches and they almost immediately went away.
I have never had to use it since and sprinkle seed out every year and have a lush green beautiful lawn. Thanks for sharing, Tiffany. The calcium and magnesium must have been needed! Possibly, they were neutralizing something acidic, like animal urine.
In our storm last night. The dolomite fell over some going into our dogs waterbowl. Now he has just vomited x 2 1 xyellowy colored sputem then a very bubbly yellos vonit. Do you think this Dolomite was poisonous and caused him to be sick. He is now sitting very quietly close to me. Poor little bloke. Sorry for your troubles. Hi, I have planted an English box hedge in compost soil and added a little blood and bone to the soil a few months ago.
I have been watering it once a week over this winter. I was wondering if I added dolomite lime would it fix the problem and also as we are coming into spring soon should I fertilise also? I have Chestnut trees that are three years old. All twenty trees are growing well. However,four of the trees always have light colored leaves, and are not as tall as the rest of the group.
Soil sample a couple of years,of the soil in three areas,varied widely. What type of lime would you apply to perk-up the growth and make the leaves dark green and full like the other 16 Chestnut trees. Good compost could be very helpful as well. It is hard to add so much lime that it causes problems.
Yes, the ratios are wrong, but nutrient content is probably the least of the reasons that people use lime. Lime contains only a couple of nutrients, but the addition of those nutrients does more than just supply calcium and magnesium for the plant to take up. Those nutrients being available helps make other nutrients more available as well. If you have a PH problem then you are in worse shape than a slight nutrient imbalance.
I will agree that lime is over used, but its not evil. But if you keep some lime on hand for occasional use, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Thanks for your comment, but I disagree. We have an area where buffalo grass is grown…. Hi, I currently have 5 Earthbox containers. I have been ordering their soil kits which contain dolomite.
They start out great for a month then everything goes down hill. I am 75 and not sure what I should order from your lists. If you can, I would appreciate your help immensely. Thank you, Ginny. As for products, a little bit of calcium carbonate will probably be more appropriate than the dolomite. Other things that may be very helpful are a microbial inoculant and a broad-spectrum fertilizer such as ocean water or liquid seaweed. And in the end, the main thing comes back to good soil, good organic matter compost and mulch and proper watering.
I know this is a gardening site… but I stumbled upon it as I am researching how to control dog urine odors on an outdoor concrete dog run. I have heard Garden Lime aka dolomite, calcium carbonate would be great for this.
Do you have any knowledge about this, and if so, how to use it on concrete? It could work, Monique. I would just worry that all of that lime would gradually wash over onto the soil, causing an excess there. And it could be a bit cumbersome to apply if there is urine all over the place. You can mix it in water or use a hose-end sprayer to spray it over the whole area. Mike jawson from madison Wisconsin march 27 Phil i need help.
I have three little dogs. There is a large part of my yard that is yellowing from my dogs. I work hard to keep my yard very nice. I was told to try dolomite on the part of the yard that is yellow. One is this good or not? And if it is when should I put it down? March, April? It depends on whether your soil needs magnesium or not. You can apply it any time.
Instructions tell me I should use Dolomite garden lime. Should I? Depends how much magnesium is in the potting mix. Thank you for your advice. Very much appreciated. I have a big bag of lime with magnesium after being told it can help remove Horsetail weed which is rife in the garden.
A million and 1 other weed killers have failed in the main so can you advise how I should use this bag on garden borders without affecting mature plants, thank you.
In my view, getting rid of horsetail would actually be worth having too much magnesium in the soil, but again, I doubt it will make a difference. Hi Phil Is it a good idea to use dolomite lime at all?
Cause it sounds like everyone has problems. On the pH scale, which ranges from , 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic, and above 7 is alkaline.
Many gardeners know that productivity of the vegetable garden decreases as the pH falls below 6. Routine liming applications maintain a balanced pH level. On the West Coast, heavy rains can drop the pH level of the soil and turn it acidic, so liming is an important aspect of garden maintenance.
The only way to know the pH level of your garden soil is to test it. Use a digital soil pH meter — sold online or at our store-to test several areas of the garden to get an overall scope of the soil condition.
Apply lime as needed, based on the soil test results.
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