Can anyone tell me the difference between Dolomite Lime, Garden Lime, and Agricultural lime?

I went to buy some dolomite lime for the worms on the weekend, but could only find “garden lime”. Bought it anyway as I figured it would be pretty similar stuff, but when I opened it up it was quite different to the dolomite lime I’ve bought before.

Is Garden Lime just lime that’s stronger than dolomite but not as strong as agricultural??

The silly thing is, the recipe for “worm fattening food” says 1/2 cup of dolomite OR agricultural lime… I had thought that ag. lime was a lot stronger than dolomite so the two couldn’t really be used interchangeably like that??

dolomite also has magnesium, where agricultural lime is just lime. I suspect garden lime is much the same as agricultural lime but in smaller amounts! lol! Builders lime on the other hand is more refined and faster acting so you use less of it.

Agricultural lime (I think) is limestone that is ground up.

Dolomite lime is ground limestone that has magnesium innit.

Gardeners lime is ground up then heated in a kiln, forming quicklime. Quicklime is very iffy to handle. Then water is put on it and the it heats up and the structure changes to hydrated (aka slaked) lime. This is a white powder.

Whether you can get hydrated dolomite lime is beyond me!!

Refer to the GA organic garderning dvd, around the 12 minute mark.

Thanks BG and collie!

bluegreen said:

dolomite also has magnesium, where agricultural lime is just lime. I suspect garden lime is much the same as agricultural lime but in smaller amounts! lol! Builders lime on the other hand is more refined and faster acting so you use less of it.

As I understand it agricultural or garden lime is calcium carbonate and dolomite is a mixture magnesium and calcium carbonate. Wouldn’t swear an oath to that, but I think it is something along those lines

will this help?

http://www.yates.com.au/products/fertilising/specialised/yates-garden-lime/

(calcium carbonate…apparently no additives)

this is what I use for my worms…

and here:

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_lime

(calcium carbonate again, but might contain additives…)

finally:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomite

(calcium magnesium carbonate)