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Reefinating Boosts Rooting Depth but May Require Higher Phosphorus Rates
Reefinating the soil crushes limestone and can increase the phosphorus buffering index (PBI) by exposing more carbonate and creating additional reactive surfaces to tie up phosphorus.
However, the benefit of increased rooting depth and access to more soil water and nutrients tends to outweigh the increase in PBI. Monitor soil properties after reefinating as increased phosphorus rates might be required to overcome greater reaction surfaces of lime and crop requirements.
2 comments
Andrew
Does this issue resolve over time?
Soils Connect
As the Reefinator is a relatively new piece of soil amelioration machinery, we don’t have the results to check what happens in the long-term. However, as the crushed limestone (calcium carbonate) is relatively stable, you would not expect the increased phosphorus tie-up to improve in the short-term (3-5 years). The degree of P fixation will depend on the type of limestone and the fineness of the crush. Soil testing will help monitor this over time and determine the amount of additional phosphorus that needs to be added.
A side note – there will also likely be tie up of iron and manganese so foliar sprays may be required.