Gypsum

jom

Well-Known Member
Any sources of bulk gypsum?
I am looking to try a few load spread over some heavier ground.
Seems to be a mine in co.Monaghan but not sure if they sell or if its only for their own use.
 
Any sources of bulk gypsum?
I am looking to try a few load spread over some heavier ground.
Seems to be a mine in co.Monaghan but not sure if they sell or if its only for their own use.
I have been looking for few loads myself and as of yet no luck. So importing from UK might be my only choice. St gobain is as close as I can get or British gypsum
 
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I live beside that gypsum mine in Monaghan it’s just used In their own factory to make plaster board never heard of anyone every getting it off them to spread on land.
 
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I live beside that gypsum mine in Monaghan it’s just used In their own factory to make plaster board never heard of anyone every getting it off them to spread on land.
Thanks.
I did email them the other night asking if they sold bulk loads but have yet to receive a reply, so was guessing that was a "no".
 
Nothing to do with gypsum but I found it an interesting read about improving soil fertility.

 
Just got a response to my e-mail from st.gobain in co.Monaghan and no, its not something they are able to do.
 
Any sources of bulk gypsum?
I am looking to try a few load spread over some heavier ground.
Seems to be a mine in co.Monaghan but not sure if they sell or if its only for their own use.
Do you mind telling what the benefits of spreading it on heavy land.
 
The gypsum mine in Monaghan used for making plaster board is quite close to the lime quarry owned by limestone industries, must be at least somewhat similar a product from the bowls of the earth, I would think given how close to one another they are.
 
The gypsum mine in Monaghan used for making plaster board is quite close to the lime quarry owned by limestone industries, must be at least somewhat similar a product from the bowls of the earth, I would think given how close to one another they are.
The only similarity is appearance and calcium content. Gypsum is calcium sulphate and limestone is calcium carbonate.
 
The only similarity is appearance and calcium content. Gypsum is calcium sulphate and limestone is calcium carbonate.
Isnt the mine in Monaghan almost depleted a lot of the raw material is now imported I thought?
 
Do you mind telling what the benefits of spreading it on heavy land.
Just from what bits im finding out on google etc it is good fertiliser/soil conditioner. On the heavier, higher Mg soils it helps break down the Mg in the soil which water particles stick to and in turn helps drainage on heavier soils and also possibly making a finer seed bed achievable.
Still have not found a source of gypsum over here in Ireland though.
 
Leslie has moved on from Trimble, with Top-Con now, afaik he's not spreading anything either but may have the necessary contacts.
 
It's to do with your cal:mag ratio. The gypsum will strip excess magnesium and move to restore that balance.
View attachment 94522
Do an Albrecht/Kinsey soil test as said above. Calcium needs to be above 60% before using gypsum or else the sulphur will take both calcium and mg with it probably making the problem worse.

So Albrecht, get calcium to 70% base saturation then test again to see where mg is and see if you really need gypsum.

We were on a zoom call with Kinsey earlier in the year and he said people with high mg has been know to get the ca up to 80 % to get mg down around low tens.

The test can give exact answers we can't
 
Any suggestions where to send the sample to to get the Albrecht test carried out on it?
 
How come people are happy to apply gypsum at high rates, that has I think 150kgs of S per ton, but don't recommend S at higher rates. Im at 40units on grass and this isn't recommended as it locks up a good few micro nutrients.

I understand the excess S that isn't needed to grow the crop, goes into stripping one of the Cations most in excess and turning it into a salt, but does it not cause huge lock issues in the year of application?
 
How come people are happy to apply gypsum at high rates, that has I think 150kgs of S per ton, but don't recommend S at higher rates. Im at 40units on grass and this isn't recommended as it locks up a good few micro nutrients.

I understand the excess S that isn't needed to grow the crop, goes into stripping one of the Cations most in excess and turning it into a salt, but does it not cause huge lock issues in the year of application?

This is interesting.
A neighbour , intensive dairy farmer was telling me last week , that his vet had advised him not to spread sulphur more than once in the year , maybe twice at a push , as it was causing a condition something onto the style of laminitis. Grass was too rank .
 
This is interesting.
A neighbour , intensive dairy farmer was telling me last week , that his vet had advised him not to spread sulphur more than once in the year , maybe twice at a push , as it was causing a condition something onto the style of laminitis. Grass was too rank .
well I would be up on 40 units a year of S per ac for a good number of years and cant link anything really to it. I think the recommended at the moment is 25units and 40 for silage, but I dont think that takes into account that we are getting zero S from the sky anymore. Kinsey has written that he doesnt believe micro nutrients will be locked up with moderate levels of S. I have had the odd animal with Cobalt deficiency, but even the most recent one of them, was indoors.

I would like to find out what micro-nutrient the Vet was concerned about. I think there was talk about embyro issues with S, but I would think this is more linked to N. Maybe thinking along the lines of excess Protein produced by the grass using S ?

I have 15 ac of grassland that is now on 60units of S for the year, after a mis communication, so will see what issues that throws up. I think in NZ, they were going with up to 75units per ac, but i was looking on the internet over the last few days and not finding any evidence
 
It's to do with your cal:mag ratio. The gypsum will strip excess magnesium and move to restore that balance.
View attachment 94522
It's an interesting read, but I do often wonder if there's a financial return on going that last 5%. To the best of my knowledge there are no labs in this country doing the tests, there's one in Scotland, a Dutch company we deal with were sending the samples to Kinsey's own lab in the US but they were planning on establishing their own way of doing them. They're not cheap tests either.
 
It's an interesting read, but I do often wonder if there's a financial return on going that last 5%. To the best of my knowledge there are no labs in this country doing the tests, there's one in Scotland, a Dutch company we deal with were sending the samples to Kinsey's own lab in the US but they were planning on establishing their own way of doing them. They're not cheap tests either.
The difference in soil structure when you get the ratio right is hard to believe. Plenty of theories out their about the benefits and also that going this route is pointless, so who knows.
 
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