It was still around 5.7 last fall with 900 lbs/ac of Ca……There’s more to pH though than just the simple lime buggy discussions that we often have on forums. It actually fluctuates naturally throughout the different seasons and is influenced by a number of factors. I’ll admit I was disappointed when the pH didn’t jump right up to 6.8 after that first application, but a silver lining in it all….. and what I’m very pleased to see happening for the long term…..is that my topsoil is actually holding onto the Ca very well over time.

Once I do get my Ca levels up to 1500 ish lbs/ac or whatever my balancing point is now…..then I won’t have to worry about bottoming out at 200-300 lbs/ac again every year or two like happened with heavy tillage. It should hold onto and continue to recycle most of that 1500 lbs over time. I’m not saying that will be the end of ever adding lime again but it will definitely be under much different circumstances than what I’ve dealt with in this rebuilding process. Hopefully, my OM% will continue to grow and with it so will my nutrient holding capacity. If that happens then I’ll add more lime because I can now hold say 2,000 lbs/ac of Ca. That’s a far different growing environment for a plant than the sand pit I started with that only had 300 lbs/ac of available Ca for plant growth. That’s a more important long term objective to focus on instead of getting too hung up on whether my pH the next round ends up being 5.9 or 6.5……if my Ca concentration goes up another 600-700+ lbs/ac then we are headed in the right direction.