When someone ask you how high the PH level in your soil is what can you tell them? If someone asked you how high their PH level needs to be for certain plants could you give them the rite answer? If I told you I’m gonna plant clover in my field what would I need?
In this article I will talk about how your PH level in your soil can help produce more tonnage of food for you deer and turkey herd on your property. If you wanted to plant clover I would suggest that the first steps in doing this it to take a soil sample. Your local extension office should be able to help you on this. People sometimes will not use their local extension office cause they think it may cost them money. People that why you pay taxes and your local extension office is your tax money at work. They can provide you with a soil bag and all you have to do from here is put some dirt into it and send it off. Now the sending off part may cost a little but it will be worth every dime you spend.
Now back to the PH thing. So you plant some clover and you didn’t take that soil test what happened. It might have come up but it’s not gonna produce what you expect. Your PH level should be between 6.5 and higher. My soil on my land is roughly 6.0 and I get a very good stand of clover every year and mainly it is because of the red clay soil that is here.
Chicory is another big seed that has come to our attention that we see that deer love it also needs a PH level of about 6.5 to 7.5 in most places to have a great stand and to produce what it should produce. I have sent soil samples on many occasions to Auburn University to have them checked. I may send a many as 5 to 10 samples off at a time. Marking each bag as a field name or field 1 or 2 even. When marking your bags make sure they have a field name on them in case you forget what field needs what when your test come back.
The way you bring your PH level up is to get you test back and add the recommended lime needed to bring it up. I will say you can never have to much lime when it comes to putting it out. If you don’t have time to take a soil test then place 500 lbs to 1,000 lbs of lime to the acre along with the rite fertilizer. For clovers put about 400 lbs of 0-20-20 to the acre and add about 500 lbs of lime in with it until you can get a test done. Chicory is pretty much the same way it could take a little more fertilizer though. Just make sure that your first number in your fertilizer is as low as a number can get. If you use a 13-13-13 you may not have to use as much but still add a lot more lime to the mix. So make sure you do a soil sample and watch your food source take off.