Dolomite lime and fertilizer

[justinopperman]

Question does limeing and fertilizing in the same week, in small amounts effect or harm containerized plants? I've read a lot online saying it don't effect them but also read it creats amoina in the soil which can kill some plants. Will it harm a palm?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

  On 10/30/2013 at 3:13 AM, justinopperman said:

Question does limeing and fertilizing in the same week, in small amounts effect or harm containerized plants? I've read a lot online saying it don't effect them but also read it creats amoina in the soil which can kill some plants. Will it harm a palm?

Dolomite lime is a buffer and may actually help mitigate having too much fertilizer. But I recommend using only slow release. I made the mistake of using some faster release stuff on some palms, and had the ammonia problem, which killed some seedlings and harmed some in-ground plants. I won't do that again soon. But it happened on palms where I didn't use dolomite. In other words, the ammonia problem is always there if using too much.

Best solution is to use calcium nitrate instead, especially in the Winter.

[justinopperman]

The fert. Is the miricale grow shake and feed palm pellets mixed with some Whitney farms organic palm stuff I only give the trees a few table spoons, I applied it a week ago than tested the ph in the soil today and noticed it was very acidic so I threw down two cups of some dolomite lime in my 45 gallon pots and watered it into the soil real good. totally forgot that I fertilized them a week earlier now I'm STRESSED I don't want to harm my babies

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

The dolomite lime will not hurt your palms, on the contrary, it will help them. It's a buffer and is not the same as actual lime itself. Dolomite lime releases mainly magnesium when it's added to the soil. It should not interefere with your fertilizer, and will not cause exessive production of ammonium.

What will cause excess ammonium is if you fertilize when the soil will be cool. The bacteria activity that usually break down ammonium nitrate decrease significantly in the Winter. It's better to fertilize with calcium nitrate and also keep a decent source of potassium because the K helps in making your palms more Winter hardy. If you don't have slow release calcium nitrat handy, then just stick with K and Mg supplementation in the Winter.

[justinopperman]

Thank you now I can sleep

[LJG]

  On 10/30/2013 at 5:36 AM, Axel in Santa Cruz said:

The dolomite lime will not hurt your palms, on the contrary, it will help them. It's a buffer and is not the same as actual lime itself. Dolomite lime releases mainly magnesium when it's added to the soil. It should not interefere with your fertilizer, and will not cause exessive production of ammonium.

What will cause excess ammonium is if you fertilize when the soil will be cool. The bacteria activity that usually break down ammonium nitrate decrease significantly in the Winter. It's better to fertilize with calcium nitrate and also keep a decent source of potassium because the K helps in making your palms more Winter hardy. If you don't have slow release calcium nitrat handy, then just stick with K and Mg supplementation in the Winter.

Good post Axel. The same works for palms in the ground.

[Alicehunter2000]

Yes.....Informative and easy to read. ...thanks