No-till lime?

[PonderossaFarm]

Does anyone have experience with no-tilling lime?  We are putting on 1 to 2 tons and would prefer to no-till however are concerned about crop damage from residual herbicides because of high surface pH.  Also wondering if the lime will have a delayed response because of slow movement through the soil?

[Pupdaddy]

It's one of the trade offs of no-till. You can't move the lime down through the soil very quickly..so in effect, it does raise your surface pH. We continue to lime from the top around here...but I suspect we could probably do ourselves a real favor by using lime products that are very finely milled..so it would react quicker,and we should probably be applying it more frequently. I don't use a lot of products that have restrictions on pH...partly because of this..and partly because I haven't found them necessary every year. I only use some Synchrony when I have a problem with pokeweed in my RR soybeans...no Canopy...and when I burn down..I usually add both a metribuzin product and 2,4-D. I haven't read enough of the Sharpen label to remember if it's effected by high pH...that might be something I should look into next spring.

[milkman1]

One comment on the use of Sharpen...We used it on part of our acres this year because it does not have as long of a wait time before planting sotbeans. What a disaster the weed control was near zero maybe it was our weather last year but we will not take a chance again this year.

[Pupdaddy]

I believe Sharpen on soybean ground is limited to a 1 oz. rate...and it really needs some glyphosate with it to get any good burndown control. If you really want to see it work...apply 1.1 lb. of a glyphosate material, .25-.5 lb. of metribuzin, 1 oz of Sharpen...and MSO. I have a field with resistant giant ragweed in it...and that combination smoked it pretty fast. It almost looked like a heavy rate of Gramoxone had been used on it.