Does grinding limesand increase its effectiveness?

2004 - 2007

Research organisaton
Funding source

Trial details

Researcher(s) Lyn Dohle (Rural Solutions SA)
Year(s) 2004 - 2007
Contributor Agriculture Kangaroo Island Incorporated
Trial location(s) Kingscote, SA
Parndana, SA
Does grinding limesand increase its effectiveness? locations
Aims

To look at the effectiveness of grinding our local limesands and comparing the changes in soil pH against unground lime.

Key messages
  • Grinding the limesand does make it more effective (i.e. increases pH more rapidly) and increases pH at a greater soil depth compared with using the same rate unground
  • However, unground lime applied at a higher application rate can have just as much of an effect on soil pH as ground limesand applied at lower rates
  • Ultimately it comes back to cost-effectiveness. To make it worthwhile applying ground product (and overcoming some application difficulties i.e. the stuff blowing away!) we will need to get grinding costs down to less than the cost of about 2 t of lime.
Lead research organisation Agriculture Kangaroo Island Incorporated
Host research organisation N/A
Trial funding source NLP
Related program National Landcare Programme
Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the trial funding bodies/sponsors: 

• National Landcare Program
• Kangaroo Island Sealink
• Little Sahara Limesands
• Howard’s Pit Limesands
• J & J Symons and G Nutt


Other trial partners Rural Solutions SA
Download the trial report to view additional trial information

Method

Crop type None: No crop specified
Treatment type(s)
  • Soil Improvement: Form
  • Soil Improvement: Rate
Trial type
Trial design

Kingscote 2004

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Kingscote 2005

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Kingscote 2006

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Kingscote 2007

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Parndana 2004

Sow date Not applicable
Harvest date Not applicable
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Parndana 2005

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Parndana 2006

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified

Parndana 2007

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified
Download the trial report to view additional method/treatment information
Trial source data and summary not available
Check the trial report PDF for trial results.
Observed trial site soil information
Trial site soil testing
Not specified
Soil conditions
Trial site Soil texture
Kingscote, SA Not specified
Parndana, SA Not specified
Derived trial site soil information
Soil Moisture Source: BOM/ANU
Average amount of water stored in the soil profile during the year, estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system.
Year Kingscote SA Parndana SA
2007 517.4mm477.3mm
2006 548.2mm520.8mm
2005 529.3mm534.6mm
2004 547.0mm542.9mm
2003 566.0mm558.0mm
2002 537.5mm529.3mm
2001 562.3mm532.0mm
2000 553.7mm526.1mm
National soil grid Source: CSIRO/TERN
NOTE: National Soil Grid data is aggregated information for background information on the wider area
Actual soil values can vary significantly in a small area and the trial soil tests are the most relevant data where available

Soil properties

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Climate

Derived climate information

No observed climate data available for this trial.
Derived climate data is determined from trial site location and national weather sources.

Kingscote SA

Parndana SA

Kingscote SA

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Parndana SA

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Some data on this site is sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology

SILO weather estimates sourced from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo/
Jeffrey, S.J., Carter, J.O., Moodie, K.B. and Beswick, A.R. (2001). Using spatial interpolation to construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data , Environmental Modelling and Software, Vol 16/4, pp 309-330. DOI: 10.1016/S1364-8152(01)00008-1.

Trial report and links

2004 trial report



Trial last modified: 20-01-2023 09:30am AEST