Well I am glad you did not kill the tree.  I did a experiment in my greenhouse with 4 cuttings from the same tree.  I treated one with lime and have just watered the others.  I will take my camera tomorrow and show the difference in leaf growth.  The cuttings were all in the same mix 50% Perlite 50% potting mix.  Incidently all cuttings were from the same tree.  Like you I don't know how much is credit to the lime.  However, temp conditions are all the same for my cuttings, and they get no exposure to direct sun.

I used quicklime to treat some straw so I could grow oyster mushrooms. I thought I would dump the soak water on the tree of heavens to kill them. They, nor any other plants it got on were phased one bit. I only use limestone on my trees though.

The addition of agricultural lime is not likely to show quick results.  It takes around 6 months for lime application effects to be fully realized.  For more immediate results with pH problems you can use hydrated lime (pickling lime in the grocery store is hydrated and comes in 5 lb. bags). 

I recommend getting a soil test.  Most states have an entity that will do testing for a nominal fee.  This will tell you if you need to apply lime as well as fertilizer recommendations for the crop being grown. 

Most of the time these test will give recommendations on a per acre basis.  If you get a test and this happens let me know and I can break the recommendations down for any size area for you.

Good luck with your tree. 

Here in the Northeast, Agway will do a soil pH test for free.  Several of the local nurseries will also.  (I'd expect they'd all balk if you wanted lots of samples tested).

Thanks guys.  

Soil ph was tested at three locations in the yard.   A more complete soil analysis may be in order if they don't start showing a little more growth.   My backyard soil is a mix.  It is basically clay with lots of rocks, but a lot of inch and a half crushed drain rock was added to the rear of the lot, some sort of sandy low ph fill was added to the west boundry area, and the entire lot was covered in either landscape cloth or clear plastic, then burried under two layers of different kinds of landscape gravel.    The gravel and sandy areas test in the mid to high 5's, and the clay areas in the mid 6's.  

Anyway...it's a diverse mix of different soils/materials.  I'll give these trees a little more time.  If I don't see the growth I'd like in a couple more months, I may get a more thorough soil test.  

So thanks for the offer Womac. I may be wanting to take you up on that.

NOTE:

Not all lime is the same as garden lime.

some types of lime are used in building cinder block cons.

I would never put either of the following products on any of my trees.

They are very dangerous to handle.

Quick lime is used in barns to dry wet floors and gutters.

Hydrated lime can cause a fire if the bag gets wet.

You need to research what you are using.

Note 1—Quicklime and hydrated lime act upon clay soils and may render such soils suitable for highway construction and for other load-bearing applications. In most cases, lime causes finely divided clay particles to agglomerate into coarser particles which improves load-bearing properties and subsequently the lime-treated soil hardens by chemical reaction.

Al

Burlington County NJ

I am no expert but there is something happening to the two plants I watered with some lime added.  Leaves are brighter and more erect.  It is full blown summer here and daytime highs are in the 90's and nights dropping down to around 70.  These plants are kept in the greenhouse and get misted every 3 hours for 5 minutes.  This is strictly used to help regulate the high temperatures and raise the humidity to about 70%.  As I stated earlier I used a 50~50 mixture of Pearlite and potting soil.  The cuttings were transferred direct from ziplocks to these plastic container's.  I still have not got the results back from the lab that I sent off for what the Ph is.  I also, have kept them in the shade and close to the floor.  There could be other factors such as the roots developed better on the lime treated plant.  I have tilled up my beds that I plan to transfer these tree's to and added lime to get the Ph on the base side of the curve.  

Hi all...first time poster... :)  On the topic of lime, what do you usually use to test the soil?  I've seen some soil testing kits on Amazon and also seen some references to a pH/moisture meter.  Any recommendations or can you direct me to a thread if this has already been discussed.  Thanks!

Welcome to the forum.  That's a good question, maketa. 

I did a google search with my zip code.   And as MichaelTucson wrote (above),

I've tried a few of those pH meters... all the brands that I was (un)lucky enough to try turned out to be junk.  They either didn't work at all, or gave silly results  (like a pH of 7.0 for vinegar-soaked humus).  I saw some conversations on Gardenweb about different brands (you could search there if you're interested to find out if some of the brands actually work).  I gave up on the meters, and just bought a litmus-like color test kit instead. The one I got is called rapitest pH Soil Tester made by Luster Leaf Products... it was cheap (around $5 for enough to test 10 samples).  It's not very finely calibrated for accuracy though (e.g. it can show that a sample is between 6.5 and 7.0, but it can't tell the difference between 6.7 and 6.8), but OK for gross readings.  When I wanted a more precise reading, I took a small dry sample to my local Agway store for a free test.

Ground limestone which is the cheapest you can buy could take 6 mo or longer to work.

The pelleted lime will work very quickly with out burning the roots of your plants.

Clam shell, oyster shells,chicken grit are all forms of lime and will slowly release into the soil.

If you have a pH problem such as i have living in the pine barrens of NJ where the soil will always be a low pH some areas of 4.6 we use a lot of garden lime in the pelleted form along with lime stone.

Bill uses ground limestone when he plants up to his self watering pots because the base soil is of a neutral pH to start with.

I believe if your pH is 6 or 6.5 standard garden lime is all you would need.

As far as testing your local AG agent should be able to tell you what your average pH may be for your location. They can also do a complete soil test which would let you know what else you may be lacking.

So far as importing soil from another area and mixing with the native soil your imported soil will eventually become the same pH as the native soil. It is the way the nature works.

Al

Burlington County NJ

Z6

Thanks for the links!  Mike - I was looking at the pH Soil testers by Luster Leaf.  I think I'll pick one up. 

I've actually been having trouble finding lime.  I checked both Home Depot and Lowe's here.  I must be missing them.  I think I'll stop by one of the nurseries, as I'm sure they have some.

I used a 5% calcium carbonate that I purchased from a local nursery.  I mixed 4oz to 3 gallons of water.  If you can trust these store bought Ph litmus test, it indicated 7.5.  I have sent a sample off to be tested but have not got the results back.  I bought a 5 lb bag for 4.95 and that is enough to do a lot of fig trees.

I had a neighbor in the mid sixties that had a huge fig tree. It was twenty feet wide and long and fifteen feet tall. Every single leaf he raked and all his grass clipping went into mulch around the trunk. You would have to pll back limbs to see inside but the mulch was pilled about a foot thick. It was watered with well water and produced incredible amounts of figs.

What's my point?

The well water was 5.5ph and the mulch consisting mainly of Oaks and Pines was also acidic. So why did it do so well. Are some figs such as those that do well in the Deep South more aclimated to acid soils?

I know of many more old heritage fig trees that did fine without any TLC.  Makes you wonder!

It's been ten days since my initial treatment (I did two treatments of 5 oz hydrated lime in 3 gallons of water, then watered it in well afterward). 

My VDB is now showing a lot of new growth.   This is also our 5th week of 90 degree temps.  So while the new growth isn't conclusive, the tree ain't dead, and it's looking pretty darn good.

So today I split a three gallon dose on two of my newly planted in ground trees that I started as cuttings January 1.  Planted them in ground nearly three weeks ago, and they're not showing any signs of new growth.  With our recent temps, I  expected something more from them.

So now we wait some more.

RH.  How are your trees looking?

i wonder how your trees did buy fall ?

Mine looked great.   They really took off a month after adding lime.

They're just begining to leaf out now, and   I gave them another dose a couple days ago.

I'm a lime fan too. It does wonders to the soil.

I have a three  year old Malta Black in a 10 gal pot that droops every afternoon while it is out sunning in the low 70's. It has
8 breba figs on it (had) which I removed them yesterday, Some of them had become soft and droopy also. Next morning it looks fine.
Does this sound like it could be a lime issue? None of the other 30 3-15 gal plants are doing this.

mike, i am no expert. But if you press against the soil, it feels hard and compact, ayou can try adding lime and see.

Chris of old (famous) Belleclare fig nursery in LI, NY was a true believer in lime.
All his fig pots were topped with a layer of lime.

Martino. new UPM soil just a couple weeks ago. No issue there.

George, I have watched that Belleclare video a couple times. I think I going to try the hydrated lime approach which is mixed with water and
added as a liquid.

Here Al Tapla talks about different types of Lime.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg071823048921.html

BELCLARE VIDEO ??  How  about a link PLEASE !