Questions about using espoma organic garden lime from Osh

My friends leaves have been browning and getting necrotic spots, along with patches of yellowing in the middle of leaves. Ocean forest soil and ff nutes. Never seen this before with the same setup. Best consensus is cal/mag deficiency, so They picked up a bag of espoma, it's granulated.

Only instructions is per square feet. Everything is in ten gallon containers outdoors. Do we just cover the top of the soil, use a certain amount, or dissolve it in water? Don't want to overdo anything and cause more problems

Use a tablespoon per gallon of mix, since you're apply it late you'll need to mix it in to the top of the soil. Otherwise when transplanting use a tablespoon or two per gallon mixed in thoroughly before you transplant. It is difficult to over-do dolomitic\calcitic limestone.

If it is pelleted or whatever it probably just has some kind of binder in it. Let it sit in water to break down before you apply and then water it in thoroughly. It would help if you have a hose with a nozzle or some kind of pressure-sprayer, that would help you wash it into the soil.

Would dissolving it in water and then applying get it to the roots faster? I'm just wondering if there is a liquid form....like liquid nutes...that would (hopefully) be a quicker fix. If deficiency is the issue we'd know quick, if it is not, we could look at other reasons

obijohn said:

Would dissolving it in water and then applying get it to the roots faster? I'm just wondering if there is a liquid form....like liquid nutes...that would (hopefully) be a quicker fix. If deficiency is the issue we'd know quick, if it is not, we could look at other reasons

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The liquid form would be Cal-mag, but that takes a hydro store or mail-order.
You can slurry the lime in water as per Nullis' excellent advice, and work it into the top inch or so of soil. If you're sure it's magnesium, you might try a pinch of Epsom. A gram per liter is 100ppm Mg. In soil, i doubt it's a calcium problem.

However by the sound of it it could be pH, in which case there's no substitute for the lime.

It wont really 'dissolve' in the water, it is nearly insoluble. But if it is in the form of pellets or granules as opposed to a fine powder then soaking it in some water will dissolve the binder that is holding it together. Then you can pour that onto the top of your soil and work it in a bit. Afterwards water it in really good. Like I said a garden hose with a power-spray nozzle or a pump-up pressurized sprayer filled with plain water would really help you get it into the soil.

Basically the finer the particles of lime are the faster acting it will be. For example 'micronized' limestone has been crushed so finely and passed through a mesh such that the diameter of an individual particle is just a couple micrometers, or even nanometers... the particles are very very small. The product you have is most likely a pulverized limestone that has just been binded together for easier application outdoors. If you're having issues related to a pH that is too low, which is very likely considering Ocean Forest is sphagnum-based and doesn't come with tons of lime in it, then adding lime should begin to neutralize the acidity almost immediately.

It still takes a few days for the roots to assimilate the nutrients and sufficiently pass them onto where they need to go. You might try applying a Ca-Mg solution foliarly, or just mix epsom salts to water and spray that on the leaves.

yeah foliar & water with a liquid cal-mag for "instant" results and to quickly verify if that is the problem, if it's real bad and PH is actually the issue, it may be too far gone, been there done that, but still yielded good flowers.

I use the same brand lime from home depot actually and mix it in my soil @ 1cup per 10 gallons mix. I don't mind the pelletized (slow release) because i reuse my soil but you will not get quick enough release for the issues you are seeing with a dry calmag/lime product.