Extension Connection

Liming Your Soils
By Heather Benedict, Agronomist Specialist

Today I would like to remind you of the importance of liming your soils. The corn and soybeans will soon be harvested and the cool weather is bringing frost that will cause your pastures to go into dormancy for this winter.  Now is the time to lime your soils.  Liming is important because most of the soils in this region of Missouri are acidic, they have a low pH value.  Increasing the pH value of the soils to near neutral has many advantages.  The guide sheet at your local extension office is very informative on the advantages of liming the soil. 

Some of the benefits in liming are that the soil nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and others are more available for the plant use.  The fertilizers applied to the soil are also more effective as they will stay in an available form.  There is also more favorable microbial activity in the soil.  Liming even improves the soil structure.

Improvement in the soils leads to improved crops.  According to a study by the University of Missouri, Liming to raise a soil’s pH from 4.5 to 6.0 can increase soybean yields by 15 percent.  This is a significant rise in production.  An increase in pH also helps to increase the longevity of legumes in the pastures.  Longevity of legumes is important as the legumes increase the quality of pastures and decrease the amount of fertilizer needed for good production. 

The reason I am talking about liming now is that in no-till situations a minimum of 6 months is recommended for incorporation of lime into the soils.  This means that fields limed now would need until mid April before the advantages of the lime would begin to be seen.  If the soils are tilled the time needed for incorporation is shorter, but the more time given for the lime to incorporate into the soil before planting or fertilizing, the better.  It will save on fertilizer cost and allow your crops to grow in their optimum pH range.

More information and the research on the practices I have discussed as well as on many more subjects can be found in your local extension office.  So if you would like further information on this or any other topic contact your local University of Missouri Extension office.  University of Missouri and Extension programs are open to all.  Thank you for your time.

Source: Fortin, Francois, et al (Eds.). (1996). The Visual Food Encyclopedia.New York: MACMILLAN

 (Written October 20, 2008)

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Extension Connection Barb Ubben, Web Manager harrisonco@missouri.edu Last revised: 05/25/04