LIME SPREADER FOR FOOD PLOTS

[flINTLOCK]

I needed to lime our food plots. I searched all over the net, talked to tractor salesmen, combed ther classified listings, rental agencies, etc., to find a lime speader that would handle pulverized lime pulled behind ATV or small tractor. Found a listing for a small company in central Pa in a food plot acticle in the net. I don't know of another source for that type of unit. It handles about half a ton at a time and works great in the woods where I have to maneuver around on our woods trails. I provide the phone # to anyone in similar predicament.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

EZ Flow made a ton of small lime spreaders a long time ago. You can find them usually in the junk yards because they are too small for most operations now. They would work well behind a small tractor or large ATV. I have one up in the woods, we fixed the handle on it a couple years ago and freed it up again and put her away because we don't have a use for it. I know around grape country you can find them quite easily and should be able to buy them cheap. I will try to get a pic of it soon. It is just a drop spreader but is great for small jobs and you don't dust yourself like you do with the large spreaders.

 

[EddieWalker]

Would a seed spreader be the same thing? If not, why wouldn't it do the same job?

It seems they are everywhere, from Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply to the catalogs like Nothern and Cabalas. Did you look on Ebay?

Maybe I missed something, but for a few hundred bucks, you should have all sorts of options.

Eddie

 

[millsnhills]

Check with a few local farmers or larger farm stores. Around here you can get a truck to deliver and spread the lime via the truck and its cheap. The truck usually carrys around 3-5 tons and broadcast as it drives around the field.

I tried to get one to do my 2-3 acres yard but understand why they stopped doing residential (crushed lines & septic). I ended up renting a pull behind spreader with 3 tons for under 200.00 full from a local chemical plant that sells fetilizer and lime. It was much cheaper than buying the bagged lime.

 

[millsnhills]

Oh BTW thats how we do our 4 acre food plot every year.

 

[flINTLOCK]

You guys raised good questions and provided interesting solutions. The seed spreaders I've see are broadcast types and only work for pelletized lime, not pulverized lime. If we only had small plots to lime, could use a walk behind spreader like I use on the lawn. All of the spreaders I came up with on the net or elsewhere were broadcast types which would be OK except pelletized lime costs at least $1 per 50 lb bag more than pulverized. Since we were working about 5 acres, it would require about 15 tons to do the job. About 15 x 40 = $600 more. No local farmers in our area to help. The guy from Agway where we bought the lime wanted $1200 to deliver and spread 4 tons. No limestone quarries in our area, so had to buy bagged product at about $2.20 a bag. Expensive proposition, this food plot business. I thought someone might benefit from the extensive search I've already done, but I guess not.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Post a pic of your setup if you can as well as the contact info. The more information in this one thread the better it will help others in the future.

 

[flINTLOCK]

Sorry I don't have a picture to show. Spreader's at deer camp now. Probably won't be getting up there this month. Hope to frost seed clover toward end of Feb. The gentleman I bought my unit from was Norm and his # 717-201-2640. Very knowlegeable guy from working his own food plots. Also sells a beautiful machine that will run rings around the plotmaster equipment, IMHO. Hope this info is useful. I did some research after the responses I got and all of those spreaders were broadcast types as far as I could determine, and would not work for my situation. But thanks for the suggestions.

 

[millsnhills]

Both the truck and the 5kLB tow behind I rented were broadcast spreaders capable by adjustment for 30 foot or more throw.

When I said check with farmers I did not mean they did it but may know someone who did. There are a few guys in our county that do it for the farmers. Southern States, Tractor Supply or other larger outfits may be a choice as well. Just trying to think of some ideas for ya. I could not imagine trying to broadcast 3 tons on a food plot but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do..

Good Luck Jeff

 

[flINTLOCK]

Actually, the spreader we used would drop about 1/2 ton per load in about 5 minutes on lowest setting. Whole process went pretty quickly, although we looked like ghosts afterwards, our coveralls completely white. Local tractor suppy places, Agway, you name it--nobody had any leads for us until I came across the phone # in an internet article. Large part of the problem is all farms up that way have sold out to developers or just stopped farming. Nice thing about the 5 foot wide drop zone of the spreader is you can lime narrow woods roads without broadcasting into the surrounding brush.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Here's an idea. Take a look at the Ferguson "Yardmaker" seeder/spreader. A cousin of mine bought one last spring. I've used it a couple times to spread fertilizer. It's essentially a drop spreader that's driven by a spike-tooth roller/aerifier that's mounted behind the seeder portion. They come in 4', 5', 6', 7', and 8' widths, both pull-type and 3-point. John bought his at Sweet Equipment, who advertises here on TBN. The one I used is a 7', 3-point model. It spreads lime, fertilizer, and grass seed (or any small seed I guess) It would be excellent for seeding food plots as well as spreading lime. The drop spreader part is very much like the old E-Z Flow spreaders in the way it works.

 

[flINTLOCK]

Spreader can be pulled by tractor or ATV. Very solid construction. Big tires roll easily, even on rough ground. Although I don't know how to post a link to their website, if you Google "GROUNDBUSTER", it will get you there. Good luck

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Is this it? Ground Buster page

If so this is a lot like the E-Z Flow spreaders that I was talking about.

 

[MarkV]

Looks like a nice spreader but for $2100 I would need to spread a lot of lime to make up the difference between lime cost. Thanks for the info though, I would like a spreader that would work pulverized lime.

MarkV

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Look for an old E-Z Flow. You should be able to buy one for $100 in good shape. If you find one at an auction it might go cheaper.

 

[flINTLOCK]

With the difference between the cost of pulverized and pelletized lime in our area being over $1 a 50 lb bag, it will take us about 50 tons to recoup the cost of the spreader. At the rate we are establishing plots, that should take about 4 years or so. And that doesn't count the cost of a broadcast spreader. I wish I had been able to locate the used equipment that seems to be available everywhere but northeast Pa. I could have saved enough to buy a used tractor.

 

[flINTLOCK]

Robert in New York, thanks for the picture that I could not come up with. Some of the guys in my camp are thinking of hiring out the spreader to neighboring hunting clubs that are putting in food plots. Since the local Agway wanted $ 1200 to spread 4 tons for us, we should be able to pay it off a lot sooner.

 

[nobull1]

Here is a pic of a drop spreader that I used last summer to spread 35 ton on 10 acres. There are still a few around for a reasonable price at auctions and farm sales. Although I used my tractor last year I have spread lime with this spreader with my Honda 300 4 wheeler in the past.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If you were in North West PA you would have found a lot of the EZ flow spreaders near Lake Erie. You just chose the wrong side of PA to live /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It happens to all of us, when you really want something you can't find what you want for the price you want. After you pay top dollar for a new unit you find them all over the place for a lot less.

As for renting the machine out, just remember, other people don't always treat equipment well. They don't own it and have no incentive to be careful. We only let trusted friends use any of our equipment. Others we will run our equipment for them and help them that way. Good luck though no matter which way you go.

 

[Scozz]

Here's one that would get-er done quick!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/John-Deere-drop-spreader-excellent-condition_W0QQitemZ7577807575QQcategoryZ66884QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem