How Should Lime Mud Be Used?
The effectiveness of lime materials is measured by the calcium carbonate equivalent or the CCE. The CCE percentage tells you how much neutralizing power each pound of that material has compared to pure calcium carbonate. A CCE near 100 percent means that a pound of the lime material has nearly the same ability to raise soil pH as a pound of pure calcium carbonate. Because the percentage of calcium carbonate in lime mud is high, the CCE of lime mud is also high, usually around 99 percent. The particle sizes found in a lime material affect how the material can react with the soil. Materials with many fine particles raise the soil pH more quickly than those with a higher proportion of coarse particles. Lime mud typically has a high proportion of fine particles and, consequently, reacts quickly with the soil. This means you need to treat lime mud with care to avoid high pHs that can prevent good crop growth. Agricultural limestone has coarser particles that react with the soil over a longe
