Differentiating Between The Various Lime Spreader Units

A lime spreader can be defined as a machine used for the spreading of the PH adjusting content on crops during the growing season. The machine is in the form of a tractor which pulls the spreader behind and is operated from the tractors point to spread the PH adjustor to the plantation. These distributing units come in different styles, shapes and features which define them in their areas of work.

Generally, the distributor units are divided into the Deluxe and Economic spreading units. For the economic units, one standing out feature that categorize them as economic is the single beater they come with that is always in rotation to drop off lime. For those who may not identify the beaters, you can easily recognize the economic spreaders because of their size which makes them fit for small scale projects.

The Deluxe Units are the heavy commercial spreaders, come with two beaters which are locked whenever the dispensing gates are locked and are not dropping the fertilizing content. Physically, they are larger and also come with larger wheels which add the double clearance advantage when spreading the PH increasing agent. Their hook ups consist of adjustable balls/pins and are manufactured with heavy gage steel.

The Deluxe units are further divided according to their weights; the 2000 lb units and the 1000lb units. 2000lb spreaders have a 6 foot wide clearance area, are manufactured with 11 gage steel and can work an area of 23.55 cm3 / feet at a go. Their wheels are normally about 26 inches, are pneumatic and have a clearance of about 11 inches.

The other Deluxe units are the 1000lb spreaders, which are smaller in features with a 5ft spread with and built with 14grade gage steel. In place of a pin hook up, these units are fitted with ball hook ups and their clearance potential is approximated as 13cm3 /ft. Their last defining feature are the heavily powered two beaters to pump out the PH adjustor then lock automatically when the dropping off is over.

Economic units on the other hand have a much smaller spread width of about 4 feet, way smaller than even the 1000lb Deluxe units. These economic units can work an area of 6.37cm3 /ft with pneumatic wills about 16 inches in diameter and a width clearance of 5 inches. Their dimensions and features render them small and perfect for small scale PH adjustor spreading.

There is one more way we can use to differentiate whether we are using an Economic or a Deluxe; resistance to the bridging effect. The economic units have a problem of bridging because they only have one beater to drop off the PH adjustor in. For the Deluxe units, bridging is never an issue as the two beater system takes care of it all.

This means you will have to be careful with the PH adjusting product you use to be spread out by the units. Ag lime often causes bridging and will not work on the economic units; bagged PH leveling product is recommended for these smaller units. For the Deluxe Lime Spreader with two beaters, they can work with both Ag and bagged PH adjusters and in case of accidental bridging the tractor can be driven on rough ground to dislodge the blocked lime blocks.