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Lime treating soil

Palmer78

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
133
Location
Valley Springs, CA
I'm putting an estimate together to lime treat some horse paddocks and had a question about how to compact it. I'll be scarrifying 6-8 inches, adding the lime, tilling it in 6-8 inches deep, adding water, and compacting. I was wondering what equipment I should use to get the best compaction. At just 6-8 inches I'm figuring on using a smooth drum roller (no sheepsfoot). Is it better to vibrate, or just roll? I'm also not sure exactly how much water to add to the lime/soil mix. If anyone has any experience doing this then please chime in. I'll be happy to hear any suggestions.
 

d9gdon

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
1,517
Location
central texas
Howdy,
That lime will eat your water, all you gotta do is spread it thin and water it and it'll heat up and turn that stuff to loam. We're doing it to clay that has a PI of 58 - 60 and it will spread like the best sandy topsoil you've ever seen. It will turn to rock in a 1000 years or so.
 

Dozerboy

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,232
Location
TX
Occupation
Operator
A smooth drum with vibration will be fine and it will take quite a bit of water.
 

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair...Thanks Turbo. What threw me was the reference to "horse paddocks" in the original post...I sorta associate horse paddocks with pasture.

I have stabalised road-base with cement and fly ash and have crushed and spread hundreds of tons of limestone on pasture and sugar cane paddocks and I can't get my head around what Palmer78 is actualy planning to do.

There is talk of compaction which is the last thing we would do on pasture...then d9gdon mentions that the lime will turn "stuff to loam"...what are we doing here...growing grass or stabilising wet areas?

Cheers.
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,943
Location
Lawrence, KS
Depends on if we're talking ag lime or quick lime. Altho i've never seen ag lime do anything but adjust the ph.
 

Palmer78

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
133
Location
Valley Springs, CA
The horse paddocks are just fenced areas where horses are kept. There is no grass there but lots of mud in the winter. The owner wanted to lime treat the paddocks in order to stabilize the areas so the horses aren't slopping around in the mud so much. But the owner has decided to skip the lime treatment idea for now.
 

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair...thanks Palmer. That's clarified things a bit... I reckon the bloke would be a bit optimistic though hoping to improve the situation just with lime.

Your soils may be different but I have never seen any place that would work over here in Oz.

Cheers.
 

CRAFT

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
929
Location
100 M H,BC,Canada
Occupation
30 yrs Owner/Operator

Thanx for this link Turbo ! ........ I think I may have just picked something up from this great info centre called HEF ....... it's an age old problem we seem to always have "getting rid of goo"usually means digging out and replacing with aggregate.

On the issue of using it in Paddocks? ... do you think it will cause any issues with horses feet/hooves ? .... if not then BOY can we put this to good use .....
 

Dozerboy

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,232
Location
TX
Occupation
Operator
I'm not a soil engineer, but lime makes the world of a difference in mud. Every road and parking lot is limed here because we have a heavy clay soil. I'm going to do my research before putting down pavers at my house and see if liming the soil is a good idea.
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,943
Location
Lawrence, KS
Thanx for this link Turbo ! ........ I think I may have just picked something up from this great info centre called HEF ....... it's an age old problem we seem to always have "getting rid of goo"usually means digging out and replacing with aggregate.

On the issue of using it in Paddocks? ... do you think it will cause any issues with horses feet/hooves ? .... if not then BOY can we put this to good use .....


We've had horses on limestone screenings in and around the barns for longer than i've been alive. Only problems we've ever had with their feet was the ferrier showing up on time.
 

Dozerboy

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,232
Location
TX
Occupation
Operator
Limestone isn't even close to the same thing as Quicklime. There are exposure concerns, but I'm not sure if they would be on going after its been mixed in and compacted.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Depends on if we're talking ag lime or quick lime. Altho i've never seen ag lime do anything but adjust the ph.

Ag lime will dry out a wet clay in order to achieve compaction. I have used it before and it works. Totally different animal than quick lime and soil stabilization though.

If you can get dry 8910 off the belt, not washed, it will do the same thing (dry up wet clay) but it's more expensive because you are paying for the rock fragments instead of just straight lime dust that you get with ag lime.
 
Last edited:

noah

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Messages
21
Location
ohio
Here in ohio we do a lot of farm work, drying up farms roads,paddocks,and heavy use pads. All we do is put down fabric and install 6 to 8 inches of 304 or 411 limestone mix.304 is #4 down to dust. #411 is # 57 down to dust. Just did a pad 140 ft x 80 ft. We just pushed off about 2 ft of cow manure and water and clay what a mess. Laid down fabric rolled in 500 ton of #304s last week. Tandem truck with lumber on it today turn around on it today and never left a mark. We call a heavy use pad a place where they turn out horses, cattle and ect, to feed on or to turn out on in winter or wet weather. Most horse farms like to use #411 because the smaller rock is easier on the hoof. It works very very well . It is NRCS specs. Have alot of pictures but dont know how to post.
 
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