Dear Michael your post could be very confusing Subject: Dor, Drought and Flood was re: lime and humus Michael wrote >
> Dear Allan, Hugh, etal, > > Please Forward, > > Recently, Lime and Humus has been a topic of > discussion that provides a basis for further > observation. First; What is lime? > We have been led to believe, for the > most part, that lime comes out of a > bag. The stuff we use for farming in Australia is called Agricultural lime - its crushed calcium carbonate from naturally ocurring limestone rock or in some cases coralitic lime mined from underground deposits that are the remains of ancient coral beds - still calcium carbonate though - CaCO3 - concrete it aint! (not in this form). In ancient days they burned chunks of limestone rock in pits - lime kilns - to get quicklime - hot stuff this and very active - Adding water to quicklime gets slaked lime via a pretty violent reaction - the modern equivalent of this is your builders lime or hydrated lime - used to be the bonding agent in bricklayers mortar and plasters of various types. These days the bricklayer uses some cement to give a stronger joint but still some lime for ease of working and fluidity and still needed in fireplace brickwork to stop the mortar from exploding. So the store bought lime is made for sticking things together and really has no place as a soil treatment (under most circumstances anyway). Just as you would not use Ag limestone to glue bricks together! (the house would fall down). These are two different (tho related and similar looking) materials. > Experiment: > > Materials; Clay, lime, sand, water, crushed stone. > > Take 2 parts clay, 3 parts sand, 1 part lime, and 1 > part stone. Mix dry carfully, then add > water while continuing to mix until a firm consistancy > is achieved. If kaolin clay is used > then think about adding a small amount of bentonite as > a binder. If the mix has become too-- > watery then add additional lime.-- Once this has set > up and ---hardened, it needs to be ----- > --buffed. While buffing, add water until a glaze like > surface is achieved. Great! this is exactly what you would expect to happen from using bricklayers lime but its not the same stuff that we would spread on our soils! I think we need to get this basic stuff correct in peoples minds before we go flying off into the stratosphere. Cheers all Lloyd Charles
