Oyster shell replacement help

[Bio boy]

I have been grinding and smashing now for the whole day and I have 4 cups of flour if 24 needed
bloody hell is the ag lime in bnq the same stuff ?
what els can I use I’m not even going to Finnish grinding this for my soil before I harvest at this rate and no flour for sale locally or online all shells

https://www.wilko.com/wilko-garden-lime-35kg/p/6104840?gclid=Cj0KCQiAq5meBhCyARIsAJrtdr5pxHcB5oUtGcE5IU8eBkDPMW_5o8mqfZugvvMZeAj8Lwaf_U0TlDQaAjQoEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

or this stil the dolomite shit ??

NAF Limestone Flour for Horses, 3KG https://amzn.eu/d/1OqzyrW

 

[Bio boy]

Everything except Rockdust and lime is added for 5days it’s cooked up hot and cooled down
I still haven’t finished smashing oyster shells but ordered limestone

I just don’t think I need the full 20 cups to 760 litres as my ph is 5.9? I don’t wanna shoot to 7 do I eh and calculators do hectares and it’s field calculated not indoor

howbloody much do I add , it’s slow release so I can’t gauge it like ph up n down

 

[YellowCanaryConsulting]

Oyster shell has phosphorus. Lime is not a substitute. 25 cups would be fine for 730l. I've added 5 times that. Many other factors determining ph, so much so that I ignore it. When you add 6 cups and have 6.4ph and add 1 cup and get 7.5ph, that's all you need to realize pot soil recipes are just hand me down copy paste with no real understanding of soil chemistry. Don't overthink some recipe you read off a pot website, none of them are balanced or considerate of variables outside the original authors garden.

Tldr: Plenty of limestone is fine but you'll need to bump up PK and trace minerals to match it. A sprinkling of calcium carbonate will raise 3 ph to 5, but it might take a truckload to get from 5 to 7. Ph is progressive but even applying that math it doesn't always pan out. Different microbes different acids, etc.

 

[Bio boy]

Oyster shell has phosphorus. Lime is not a substitute. 25 cups would be fine for 730l. I've added 5 times that. Many other factors determining ph, so much so that I ignore it. When you add 6 cups and have 6.4ph and add 1 cup and get 7.5ph, that's all you need to realize pot soil recipes are just hand me down copy paste with no real understanding of soil chemistry. Don't overthink some recipe you read off a pot website, none of them are balanced or considerate of variables outside the original authors garden.

Tldr: Plenty of limestone is fine but you'll need to bump up PK and trace minerals to match it. A sprinkling of calcium carbonate will raise 3 ph to 5, but it might take a truckload to get from 5 to 7. Ph is progressive but even applying that math it doesn't always pan out. Different microbes different acids, etc.

Limestone is caco3 and phosphorus same as oyster bro like they are identical
oyster shell is limestone


i think ya confused as some lime is a dolomite mix
but this is limestone the same thing as oyster shell

Liming Agents: What's the deal with all these products?

I get asked questions about liming agents all the time and was excited to find this old quote from ClackamasCoots dug up by TreeDog on LivingOrganicSoil.org. Here is the full Quote with a few updates by me. "I just got back from a ride in the country to clear my head and I was thinking about...

buildasoil.com

there is a lot online confusion as dolomite lime is called lime but limestone is oyster shell ver different

 

[KIS]

Oyster shell flour is 97% or higher calcium carbonate, the same as agricultural lime. It is not high in phosphorus like someone else in this thread claims. It's also a mined product, just from old marine deposits.

20 cups is way too much, especially if your pH is already 5.8.

I can't tell from your link what the product actually is. Somewhere on the other side of the label it probably has a guaranteed analysis. If there's no Mg and it's 97%+ calcium carbonate then it's what you want.

You don't want to add too much either though because you can end up with high bicarbonates or free calcium in your mix which you don't want either, along with too high of a pH.

I replied to your DM with a more conservative recommendation.

 

[Greenfingers420UK]

"Oyster shell can be used as an alternative to lime. Both are composed of calcium carbonate, which is an alkali, and therefore raises the pH of the soil, increasing the plant’s ability to take up other micronutrients such as zinc, iron and manganese."

 

[Bio boy]

Will start with 3 cups and see 5.9 isn’t bad ph so will see what happens little n often eh if I need more guess I can add chicken shit too