Tree dying due to to much lime. What should I do?

Question

I just bought a house. The previous owner left a pile of lime right on the base of a tree. I will be removing the lime asap. It looks as though it has been there maybe 6 months to a year. What can I do to help the tree? The top canopy is not producing leaves.

Answer 1

Your soil pH is to high in that area. Calcium by altering the pH has also limited the trees access to other nutrients including P, K, Mg & Fe. You need to take separate soil samples from the center and around the region to locate the extent of the spill. Litmus papers and deionized water from your pharmacy are cheap and accurate. You must use treate water so it doesn't impact the reading from the soil. Or you can get a soil testing kit from a nursery and do the nutrient analysis as well as the pH test. This kit will have instructions on how to test the soil and recommendations on fixing soil problems in general. If iron or other nutrients are deficient there are folage sprays to apply missing elements directly to the tree to compensate without going through the soil.

Iron is necessary as a micronutrient. Excess lime causes iron deficiency. Iron deficiency causes leaf yellowing while leaf veins stay green. It starts at the top ofthe tree as you have noted.

It takes a third of a pound of elemental sulfur to neutralize a pound of calcium oxide (lime). One way to get eventual pH modification is use acid fertilizers, such as ammonium sulfate or the new urea-sulfuric acid products.
This can be done by banding 2-5 pounds of sulfur (as determined by your soil test) in a channel on either side of the spill or in holes at the compass points of the spill. The elemental sulfur needs to be covered with soil so that microbes can do their work of converting it to sulfuric acid. The microbes slowly work on the sulfur, releasing acid over a number of years. Working with a prilled sulfur is much easier than powder, although the larger pieces of sulfur do not allow microbes to do their work as rapidly. A prilled sulfur mixed with bentonite clay is on the market. As soon as soil moisture soaks the sulfur lumps, the nugget dissolves, exposing the sulfur to microbes.
Sulfuric acid can also be used as a soil drench, but for safety reasons, proper attire is required. Using acid is a much more rapid way of getting acidification. Urea-sulfuric acid fertilizer (49% sulfuric acid) is safer than the straight acid and can be used instead, although proper gear is still important.

Answer 2

well definitely get rid of the lime.. get a bag of ironite and lay it on pretty heavily around the base of the tree and water it in.

are you SURE this is a lime issue and not something else???

Answer 3

This is absolute BUNK. You have just as much chance of getting hit by lightning either with or without the mobile phone.