Why Is Plot Dr Liquid Lime and Liquid Fertilizer Better Than Granular and Chloride Based Fertilizers

StrategicHabitat.com - Habitat Plans and Hunting Setups
Randy VanderVeen 616-560-7488 [e-mail]
HarperGrowingSolutions.com - Plot Dr Liquid Lime and Fertilizer
Brad Harper 616-403-0098 [e-mail]
Now that it’s early July, landowners are about 4-6 weeks away from planting Fall food plots. There is so much to talk about regarding food plots from what to plant, when to plant and how to plant, that it can be pretty overwhelming with all the videos out there.
So much depends on region of the country, local habitat and vegetation types, soil types, deer densities, and woody browse availability. All these factors come into play when deciding what, when and how to plant.
But in this video, I’m going to talk about why I and many other landowners switched from synthetic salt based fertilizers and lime, to carbon based liquid lime and fertilizers….and how to add them to your tank the right way.
So the first week of June on a client property in southern MI, the landowner and I planted corn with his Genesis 5 drill into winter rye grain and crimson clover which was terminated 3 weeks earlier.
Just before planting, I broadcast granular urea for more nitrogen and let the drill push some of it into the soil instead of broadcasting afterward and allowing it all to evaporate on the surface.
Even though there’s 8 tubes for seed to flow down out of the seed box, we covered up 5 of them with plates for wider corn rows, making it a 3 row drill.
After planting it was time to fertilize and lime.
Now since this field wasn’t in food production by the previous owner, the nutrient levels had a ways to go according to the soil sample results.
So I emailed the results to Brad at Harper Growing Solutions so he could figure out exactly what liquid amendments from Plot Dr I need.
This my 4th year using Plot Dr and I’ll never go back to using granular fertilizer again.
My good friend Jake Ehlinger has made the switch on his farm as well and we share pictures of our plots because we’re not used to the difference in how well our plants germinate and take off. We get the same feedback from our clients who started using it.
So if you’re gonna start using Plot Dr this year, there’s a certain way you’re gonna want to add these liquids to your tank.
First, you need to know how many gallons your spray tank puts out per acre. This is important and you should only have to figure this out once. If you don’t know, there’s a few different ways to figure it out which you can find on KZbin. But let me give you the quick easy redneck way to get close.
Just measure out a quarter acre of ground. You can do this with a laser rangefinder or laying down a track with OnX maps, or zooming in with Google Earth to draw out a quarter acre piece of your food plot.
Then put exactly 10 gallons of plain water in your spray tank and go spray that quarter acre at a set speed of about 4 mph. When you’ve covered the quarter acre, stop and check how much water you used. Take the number of gallons you sprayed times 4.
This will give you the amount of water your tank will spray per acre at the same speed of your test.
Easy Peasy.
Now when you’re ready to fill your tank, start out with about half the amount of water you’ll need. In other words, leave plenty of room in the tank for adding Plot Dr liquids because you’ll be mixing them with water in a 5 gallon bucket, and then adding them to the tank.
That’s because the lime and calcium are really thick and concentrated. If you poured it directly into your tank without mixing it with water first, it would sink to the bottom and probably clog your screens and nozzles.
Now I need to use this whole 2.5 gallon jug of liquid lime because the pH is pretty low.
So I put a couple gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket and pour in about a third of the jug and stir it up with a clean broom handle to make a slurry. Then I pour the bucket into the tank which is already circulating. This keeps the lime suspended in the water and prevents nozzles from getting clogged.
You can see there’s nothing left in the bucket like there would have been if I didn’t stir up.
I did that 2 more times in order to empty the whole jug. You can see the last third of the jug came out slower and thicker. If I would have only needed half the jug, I would have shook the jug better at first to really mix it up.
Most guys are surprised to learn that 1 gallon of plot dr lime has as much lime as 2000 lbs of
powdered ag lime. So the 2.5 gallon jug I just used is equal to 5000 lbs of ag lime.
And since powdered ag lime is a pain to apply and won’t go through a regular fertilizer spreader, which would you rather transport, carry and apply.
The other great thing about Plot Dr lime is that it helps seed germinate quickly in low pH soil whereas the powdered ag lime not only needs to be disked or tilled in the ground, it still takes a few months to raise the pH to where plants will benefit from it.

[@stevedenoyer5956]

Great explanation Randy.

[@NorthMissouriOutdoors]

Good video to explain the process of it

[@MinnesotaJake]

Love it sir! Thanks!

[@Blitz4688]

Good video, would have been nice to see a cost comparison between liquid and granular amendments for your screening plot.

[@tdawgcj7]

I might have to give it another try

[@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC]

Great video, Randy! Very helpful on how to use the products. In the process of working with Plot Dr myself and for my clients here in Wisconsin. Thank you for this video.

[@SeeMoreBucks]

Thanks Ryan

[@JP_BowHunter]

Great video like always

[@SeeMoreBucks]

Thanks Jeremy

[@travissmith-wz5nc]

I have used a bag of miracle gro to 3 gallon of water. I am thinking of trying plot dr foliar and calcium mixed.

[@chopperduke5998]

If you want raise your soil ph agriculture lime is hands down the way to go

[@sambilhorn9282]

Great info and I will be trying it on my plots! May I ask?... Your audio is excellent! What do you use to record sound/video? Thanks

[@RandyVanderVeen]

Audio-Technica ATR2100X-USB Cardioid Dynamic Mic

[@andrewcostello6739]

what you say may be true but and would like to try plot Dr it is super expensive to be shipped i have a so called dealer an hour 1/2 away but they had nothing in stock from central NY

[@magzfarms357]

Appreciate the video, but not sure I believe this is the right direction. Lime, when does right, can correct ph without having to address every planting. This product is pricey and will be needed every single planting… every single one. Never actually improving the soil, only effecting the plant you are planting. Does it work, yes, is it a better alternative, not for me, but maybe for some. Great video, but I’m not sure this tells the whole story

[@scottpulver4920]

Great job. Can you use city chlorinated water?

[@RandyVanderVeen]

Yes

[@JP_BowHunter]

If I do a summer plot with soil builder and add the liquid products by Brad do I need to add more for a fall plot?

[@SeeMoreBucks]

If you add the recommended amendments in the summer, you shouldn't have to again for the Fall if your soil has been getting fed for a few years. For newly established plots in subpar soil you can get to where you need to be quicker by feeding again at Fall planting. Same if you used granular

[@tracewisecarver4260]

Hey Randy, with the nozzle size on my fimco 25 gallon 7 nozzle sprayer work for spraying these solutions from plot Dr?

[@SeeMoreBucks]

Yes it will. Just be sure to premix the lime and calcium in a bucket of water. Make sure your inline strainer is clean. You can order bigger nozzles from Fimco for the long run.

[@tracewisecarver4260]

@@SeeMoreBucks my pump is only 2.4 GPM i think i need a bigger pump like a 4.5 to be able to run the bigger nozzles.

[@eastonmoring9224]

Is plot dr something you have to use every year or does it permanently raise ph levels?

[@glee181]

studied a bit of this method earlier this spring and what most are recommending are multiple applications (up to 3x/year), every year. I looked at the Plot Dr. and ended up buying 3 bags of the Mojo K20 liquid lime off Ebay. From what I'm reading, nothing permanently raises the pH level. You apply the liquid 1 to 3x annually or, apply the crushed/pelletized lime which takes longer to break down, but eventually is consumed, necessitating a reapplication (soil tests will tell you when it's needed). For this year, I did both- an initial application of the liquid to raise the pH "now" and applied pellet lime to carry me over for the duration of the year. I'll test the soil next year to see what resulted.

[@lukesgolfswingjourney6961]

I'm thinking of switching over to liquid products. From what I've read, Ag Lime typically has 50-80% Calcium Carbonate. How can a two gallon jug contain over 1000 lbs of Calcium Catbonate?

[@Chris-op7yt]

contains a proprietary blend of snakeoil. everybody knows that milling calcium finer makes it more available. so it's "the same" as applying a larger amount of regular ag lime. marketing talk. there are no data sheets on what's in the product. could be some ground up charcoal or ash in there, and now it's a super carbon product. lol.

[@brianwestberg3129]

short term will wash away with rain

[@justinkelley4984]

What is the percentage of calcium carbonate in Plot Dr?

[@glee181]

Good question. Unfortunately, Plot Dr. does not list this on their web site and their photos of the front/back of their jugs are of such poor quality you can't determine. I looked at this product earlier this year and settled on Mojo K20 which is a CCE of 68%. In full disclosure, one would think a copy of the MSDS sheets would be available on their site- which I did not see.

[@terryquinter8499]

Can I spray the liquid fertilizer on newly planted trees

[@RandyVanderVeen]

Young transplanted trees usually shouldn't be fertilized the first year

[@alanwhite4839]

How often should you apply the liquid lime?

[@SeeMoreBucks]

Your soil tests will let you know if you need lime in the future

[@glee181]

These liquid products have a CCE (calcium carbonate equivalent) percentage assigned to them. The range is wide among all of those selling liquid lime. Keep in mind that you'll only raise your pH by a small amount (generally, 0.5 to 1.0 pH per application from what I've read so far). It may be necessary to do 2-3 sprays per year if your pH is really low for the type of crop you want to plant.

[@carrollsanders9376]

Calcium carbonate will not reduce Carbolic acid and raise PH. It will neutralize sulfur, forming Calcium Sulfate. I can't see buying from a company that doesn't know basic chemistry.

[@billiebruv]

Try biology

[@davidbarrigear1266]

You all are to high tech lost that poor man feeling from the beginning guess it's about the money and equipment happens to everyone when they get famous