Whats the difference in Dolomite and Hydrated?

Can anyone give me a simple answer to the difference between Dolomitic lime and hydrated lime? I've read so much, calcitic, dolomite, hydrated, I'm confusing myself. All I can get at my local co-op is hydrated or calcitic. Seriously, they look at me funny when i mention dolomite. Anyway, can i use one of these to buffer my PH? Or just eat the shipping and order some online?
Also, can either of these be used to buffer if watered into my plants from the top?

hi there,

dolomitic lime is dolemite lime. It is a ph stabilizer, which is comprised mainly of calcium and magnesium (it is used to make acidic soil's ph rise). Actually it is calcium magnesium carbonate or camg(co3)2 (sorry about subscripts). Unlike hydrated lime, which is Ca(OH)2, it contains mg.

hydrated line: the name says so much. It is instantly water soluble and therefore accessible to the plant. I would not recommend it, because one misstep and you can kill your entire crop. It can change you medium ph rather quickly in small amounts and is not as balanced as dolomite. plus it supplies not additional mg. However, unlike dolomite it can be leached out of soil in a matter of weeks. As of right now I having a mg deficiency probably b/c of high amounts of ca from flour dolomite lime which i can't get rid of. So i will not tell you that you can't add too much.

calcitic lime: quicklime. This has absolutely no buffering qualities like the top two choices it is unwise to use.

I would check out the bulk sections of your house and garden stores. They should have dolomite. It is usually in pebble/ kitty litter-like granules. Flour dolomite is better b/c it breaks down faster (more surface area). Not to worry, can't find flour dolomite. By the course stuff and break it down yourself. It is a little softer than limestone. I grind it up in an old coffee grinder.

hope it helps.

mm

I used calcitic, kinda looks like grape nuts, and it says it has buffering properties, and I added epsom for mag. My Ph seems to have stablized also as my runnoff is 6.8-7.0 and my girls have all started turning green overnight. I'm right in the center of the country and can't find dolomite anywhere. I've read you can use calcitic but have to add mag, we'll see i guess. I'm about to start 12/12 and hope this solves my prob, if not there's always next time, right?

Here's something interesting. The Product I used is called Pelletized Calcitic Agricultural Liming Material. Now, from my understanding hydrated is Ca(OH)2, Burned is CAO, and Dolomite is CaCO3+MgCO3, right? Well my bag says it is an equivalency to CaCO3, which is dolomite minus the mag. Does anyone have a clue?

CaCO3 is calcium carbonate; a liming material and the one most commonly referred to as just plain 'lime'. Calcium alone is an element: "Ca". Whereas calcium carbonate is CaCO3: one calcium, one carbon and three oxygens (calcium:'Ca' carbonate'CO3').
"Lime is Calcium, Calcium Carbonate"
If you dropped the first 'calcium' in that statement, you would be correct for most practical purposes:
"Lime is calcium carbonate". or "Calcium carbonate is a type of lime."
Calcium alone is not 'CaCO3'. However, there are many types of lime such as calcium carbonate which is CaCO3, hydrated lime which is Ca(OH)2, Burned lime which is CaO, Dolomite lime which is CaCO3*MgCO3, and more.
But everything that contains calcium is not lime, and calcium alone is not lime.

Excellent, thank you.