Calcifert

Calcifert

Calcifert offers a cost effective range of products to balance soil PH whilst improving quality and yield.

Calcifert Granulated Lime is suitable for all crops including grassland, cereals, fruit, oilseed rape and even hops.

Made from fine limestone flour combined with a water-soluble organic binder, Calcifert Lime consists of hard granules of between 2 and 5mm in diameter, produced in the UK from limestone mined in the Peak District.

Calcifert Lime is suitable for use on all farms including organic systems, forestry and horticultural use.

Calcifert Lime Benefits

Calcifert has many significant benefits over conventional lime. The biggest benefit to farmers is that Calcifert doesn’t need to be applied by specialist contractors- it can be supplied by you, using conventional farm fertiliser spreading equipment.

Calcifert’s benefits include:

• Limestone granules of a regular size and shape ensure an even spread ad rapid uptake
• Easy spreading with conventional farm spreaders
• Can be spread at any time of the year alongside other fertilisers
• Calcifert can be applied on bare ground or to growing crops
• Lower application rates than conventional lime make Calcifert a cost effective option
• Helps improve soil structure
• Approved for organic farming
• Can be used to spot treat ground- making it economical for treating small areas
• Can be applied in bout widths up to 36 metres
• Safe to use: non-toxic and non-hazardous
• Calcifert Lime Nutrient Chart

Application rates

Application rates vary depending on soil type, acid levels and type of crop.

Trials on sandy soil have shown that an application of 248kg per hectare (100kg per acre) increased pH by 0.9 within four weeks at a depth of 2-3cm.

Two years into the trial, the same single application of Calcifert Lime has increased pH by 0.6 at a soil depth of 14-15cm.

 

Calcifert Mag is a granulated dolomitic limestone that is manufactured in the UK and contains more than 19% magnesium as MgO. Granulated using dolomitic limestone flour and a water-soluble binder, Calcifert Mag is ideal for magnesium deficient soils that have a Ph imbalance.

Why apply Calcifert Mag?

Magnesium is an essential ingredient of chlorophyll, the green plant pigment that gives leaves their colour and enables photosynthesis. It is also important for phosphate and nitrogen metabolism, as well as being a key component for normal plant growth and protein synthesis.

Magnesium helps regulate a plant’s uptake of water and adequate magnesium levels are vital to establishing good crops.

Magnesium lime also balances soil PH giving:

• Improved crop performance
• Better crop quality and yield
• Better fertiliser efficiency

Magnesium deficiency is most likely to occur on light sandy soils, shallow chalk soils with low organic matter and soils with low PH. High levels of potassium caused by potash-rich soils or overuse of potash fertiliser, reduce the ability of plants to take up magnesium.

Calcifert Mag Benefits

Can be self-spread using standard farm fertiliser spreading equipment
High reactivity means lower application rates than standard magnesium lime, making Calcifert Mag cost effective
Granules of a regular shape and size ensure even spread and rapid uptake
Adjust your soil PH quickly and easily and get the benefits of applying magnesium to your soil
Suitable for all crops including grassland and forage crops, cereals and oilseeds, fruit, veg, vines and hops

Is your soil being supplied with enough calcium and sulphur?

Get your soil levels right and encourage better quality crops and forages with Calcifert Sulphur.

Calcium and sulphur are essential nutrients for crops and grassland and are often under supplied in many farmed soils. Soil lacking in either of these minerals can result in poor crop performance and wasted fertiliser application. Calcium deficiency normally occurs on acidic soils where native calcium has leached.

Sulphur deficiency occurs most often with high nitrogen fertiliser rates. If the supply of nitrogen is not balanced with adequate sulphur, the nitrogen available for crop use may be excessive in relation to sulphur and therefore under utilised.

Why choose Calcifert Sulphur?

Calcifert Sulphur is a quick and easy way to supply both calcium and sulphur to your soil.

With a typical analysis of calcium as CaO: 39% and sulphur expressed as SO3: 56%, Calcifert Sulphur is one of the purest calcium sulphate products available on the market. Calcifert Sulphur has a neutralising value of zero, meaning it won’t affect the pH of your soil.

Calcifert Sulphur is available in 600kg bags and can be self-spread, making it ideal to target specific fields and perfect for precision farming.

Sulphur is key to efficient nitrogen utilisation, and with rising prices, ensuring you are getting the most from the fertiliser you spread is essential.

Application

Application of Calcifert Sulphur is ideal for fields that have high magnesium levels due to over-use of mag lime. Calcifert Sulphur helps to redress the calcium:magnesium ratio, and open up the structure of the soil, which will have tightened due to the high mag levels.

Trials on these types of soils have shown an improved mineral balance when tissue samples have been analysed. Higher levels of phosphate, manganese, copper, zinc and boronin particular were evident.

Calcifert Sulphur trials have shown significant results in short periods of time. Crops in treated plots have shown adequate levels of nutrient uptake, compared to nutrient-deficient plants in controlled plots. Grass yields increased on several farms following the application of Calcifert Sulphur, and palatability improved – evidenced by livestock’s preference for treated paddocks.

Calcifert Sulphur Trials

Trials of calcium and sulphur application have shown:

Strengthening of the plant’s physical structure, helping to protect against disease and use sunlight and nutrients more efficiently
Improvements to wheat yield where there was a sulphur deficiency
Increase in grass protein levels in three consecutive silage cuts on grassland
Improved digestibility of grass forage
Improved soil structure and workability by reducing compaction caused by equipment and livestock

Farm Image SoilSolutions are now offering Calcifert Lime and Calcifert Sulphur with added Boron and Zinc. Specially formulated to meet the increasing problem of Boron and Zinc deficiencies in UK soils, Calcifert Lime BZn and Calcifert Sulphur BZn improves yield and crop quality, is suitable for all crop types and is applied to the soil, benefitting the crop throughout its life.

Applying Calcifert Lime or Sulphur BZn is a quick and easy way to supply Calcium, Boron and Zinc to your soil. It will buffer your PH and boost crop production.

Supplying the Boron and Zinc to the soil has the significant benefit of being available as soon as the plant is growing. It is also more cost effective than foliar applications and avoids the complications of tank mixing these products.

Recent soil tests have shown that both Boron and Zinc were deficient in 4,000 UK soil samples:

Boron is an essential element to help Calcium uptake in the plant. It is vital for cell wall formation, sugar transportation within the plant and the development of seeds and flowers. The presence of Boron ensures effective nitrogen fixation and nodulation in legumes and enhances the uptake of phosphate and potash.

Boron deficiencies manifest themselves as hollow stem in brassicas and leafy veg, crown rot in sugar and fodder beet and internal blemish in potatoes. It is an important mineral required in orchards, and aides starch movement in potatoes.

Zinc is essential for plant health. It aides the production of auxins – essential growth hormones – as well as starch formation and root development. Zinc is required for the formation of chlorophyll and carbohydrates, it increases the ability of the plant to absorb calcium, and plays an essential role in pollination and seed development.

Trial work conducted in 2016 has shown that the presence of Boron and Zinc has a significant effect on the level of a large range of nutrients present after tissue analysis. This is due to the improved vigour and cell development of the plants.