I am spreading/tilling fresh horse manure into the garden today..........a friend told me i will get better results by adding lime. I have not checked soil ph, but have added the same horse manure for last couple of years, and vegetables seem to grow well. should I add lime? I
What kind of manure and is it composted manure... be warned, horse/cow manure is loaded with weed seeds, if it was hot composted most seeds would be dead. If you are going to till anyway I recommend first testing pH and add lime or acid as required. If you lime I recommend granular, powdered is too messy. Use peat moss for adding acid.
You must check the pH before adding lime. Where I live, the soils and water both tend to be quite alkaline. Lime is rarely seen in nurseries. Instead, I use significant amounts of sulfate fertilizers and elemental sulfur to acidify my soil.
Only lime if you need to raise the pH. Test first in several places about the plot. Some veges prefer a range a bit higher or lower but as a general rule about pH 6-6.5 is good. You can get a dye indicator kit that is easy to use and sufficiently accurate that will do hundreds of tests and is not expensive. I have one from Manutec but that might not be available where you are. I have no connection to them whatsoever I am just reporting what I have.
Why? Manure does not alter soil pH.
Never add a product to change the soil pH until you've tested the soil. If the test confirms that the soil pH needs adjusting, you then will be able to determine what to use, and *how much* of it to apply to achieve the desired result.
If you don't test ahead of time, at best you'll be wasting your money and time by applying an unnecessary product. At worst you'll be making your soil worse for growing whatever you plan to grow in it.
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