Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: Francis4344 on June 11, 2013, 02:45:19 PM
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Hello everyone!
I am an organic apple grower and I need a fairly large amount of Lime Sulfur in the course of a growing year. The pesticide grade Lime sulfur is very expensive and I would like to make my own.
I did a trial this year using this "recipe"
100 kg of water
20 kg of sulfur (micronized - pesticide grade)
10 kg of Lime (hydrated lime, not quick lime)
Altough I had some success, I also got quite a bit of deposits, signaling an incomplete reaction. The resulting product was not as concentrated as the commercial version.
Is there a method, or a catalyst, that would improve this simple process?
Please note that to make things more fun, any other products used will have to be approved by OMRI, so we are looking at old fashion products here...
Thanks for your interest!
Francis
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Use quick lime. Use more sulfur. See recipe here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_sulfur Granted they still use lbs in that recipe. But they give the ratio: 2.25 sulfur to 1 quicklime by weight. A little bit of surfactant is needed.
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Thanks for the reply. I was aware of that Wikipedia entry.
Since I am getting a residue (mostly unreacted lime by the look of it), you may be right about using more sulfur. Maybe quick lime would make a difference altough once thrown into water it becomes hydrated lime anyway but the reaction might improve the calcium dilution in the water.
So, no catalyst suggestion? Does anyone have a suggestion on the "cooking" method? Should I boil the sulfur-water mix first then add the lime? Or do the lime-water solution before adding the sulfur?
Same difference?
Thanks again!