CULT: LIME/GYPSUM

Listers:
       Following are quotes I'm taking from "Our Soils and their Management" 
re. LIME:     
       "Soil acidity is due to ionized hydrogen in solution.  When lime is 
applied to an acid soil, calcium in the lime replaces hydrogen ions in 
solution.  As the hydrogen ions in solution are neutralized by the calcium 
ions, absorbed (exchangeable) hydrogen ions on clay and humus particles go 
into solution to replace them.  This means more calcium ions are needed to 
eventually replace most of the exchangeable hydrogen before a major change in 
pH takes place.  It follows that at the same pH the greater the exchange 
capacity the more lime is required to raise the pH to a target pH.  This 
resistance to a change in pH is called BUFFERING.
       Lime applied according to a soil test to an acid, not-very productive 
soil brings about these major changes:
       a.  Increases the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, 
sulfur, calcium, molybdenum, and boron from soil minerals and from applied 
lime fertilizers.
       b.  Makes more readily available nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and 
molybdenum by microbial decomposition of organic matter.
       c.  Reduces toxicity to plants of hydrogen, iron, mangnese, and 
aluminum.
       d.  Reduces the solubility of heavy metals that, in high 
concentrations in the environment, may be toxic to plants, animals, and 
humans.  This includes arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, iron, nickel, 
selenium, vanadium, copper, and zinc.
       e.  Adds calcium and, with dolomitic lime, mgnesium as plant 
nutrients.
       f.  Encourages both symbiotic (Rhizobium) (legume) bacteria as well as 
non-symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
       g.  Increases desirable soil structure of clay soils directly by 
CHEMICAL FLOCCULATION (grouping of soil particles) and indirectly by 
enhancing growth of plants and thereby resulting in more humus.
       h.  Enhances the environment.  Plants on high-lime soils will absorb 
more calcium and less strontium 90, a long-lasting radioactive contaminant 
from atomic bombs.  Less strontium 90 in green plants means less chance of 
humans and livestock being injured or killed by eating the plants.
       i.  Makes clear water from muddy water by chemical flocculation of 
clay and humus particles.  The larger floccules settle to the bottom.
       j.  Increases the percentage of calcium in plant tissue, thus 
supplying more calcium for stronger bones in livestock and humans.
       KINDS OF LIME:  Almost all of the lime used to increase the 
productivity of acid soils consists of finely ground limestone.  ...Limestone 
occurs in nature as a sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of calcium 
carbonate.  Its origin is in the oceans by chemical and biological 
precipitation of calcium carbonate from the surrounding waters over the 
centuries.  Oceans receded, and the deposits were solidified into 
limestone....deposits that were not solidified are called CHALK.   ...Some 
solidified limestone may have been formed near ocean waters high in 
magnesium; in this instance, the limestone may be rich in magnesium as well 
as calcium and is called DOLOMITE or DOLOMITIC LIMESTONE.  ...Dolomitic 
limestone, a less-pure form than crystalline dolomite, is used as a filler 
and acid neutralizer and to supply magnesium as a nutrient in many fertilizer 
formulations....The lime requirement of a soil is the amount of lime of 
stated purity and stated fineness that is required to raise the pH of an acid 
soil to a predetermined level."

Taken from "The Fertilizer Handbook"...GYPSUM:
       ...According to one account, a German plasterer observed that the 
grass grew lush and green along a pathway where plaster spilled from his 
wheelbarrow.  So the practice of applying "land plaster" or  GYPSUM (calcium 
sulfate) became popular in Europe in the 18th Century.  Benjamin Franklin 
introduced the practice into the United States by applying gypsum to a 
hillside near Philadelphia, spelling out the words, "This land has been 
plastered."  The practice became popular with better farmers of Maryland and 
Virginia and in 1800, 30,000 tons of gypsum were imported from Canada for use 
on American fields.  ...The nine major nutrient elements (macronutrients) 
were identified by the mid-1800's and classified into three groups.  
Hydrogen, carbon and oxygen are obtained from air and water.  Nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potassium became the primary nutrients, supplied by 
fertilizers.  Calcium, magnesium and sulfur became the "secondary" elements, 
often supplied in fertilizers or in gypsum, limestone or dolomite.  These 
elements are not secondary in importance, however, and now they often are 
added to fertilizers intentionally when needed."
Len (OR High Desert)...who has the wonderful use of son Mark's Ornamental 
Hort. college books <G>

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