My soil pH is fine but you are still recommending lime! Why?

This is a very common question!

Optimum soil pH does not always mean the soil is well balanced. For example, if magnesium is in excess, and calcium is low, then you could still have “optimum pH” even though the Calcium:Magnesium ratio is out of balance. In such a case, calcitic lime would be recommended to balance the soil by supplying calcium. Another common example of pH misleading farmers is when sodium levels are high (from poor quality irrigation water) and calcium levels are low – the pH will still be high, yet calcium will be deficient, so more calcium will be needed as lime or gypsum. As mentioned in the previous answer, we use a well recognized soil balancing systems, which aims at correcting the Ca:Mg to optimum levels in the soil to improve soil structure and soil aeration. When a soil is well balanced we can grow growing higher yields with lower inputs, and we have seen this again and again on our clients farms over the past 20 years.