I made my own lime sulfur from limestone...and now I need help

dallin_hubb

Seedling
Messages
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Location
Utah
USDA Zone
6b
So I made my own lime sulfur (pretty cool right?!) from limestone and garden sulfur (90%) and there wasn't really a good way to measure its concentration without spending too much money for my liking, so I'm left with this solution of lime sulfur that is, I believe, super saturated, at least with the sulfur. After making the solution I let it cool overnight and the next morning I woke up and found that the bottom had about 1-2 inches of what I believed to be elemental sulfur. I strained the solution and seperated the crystals from the final solution, and so now I have a solution with less sulfur in it as far as I can tell because the crystals that are now growing are growing much slower and are almost unnoticeable. Now the question is, how much should I dilute it?? There seems to be no way to tell how much of my solution is actual lime sulfur, or if there is still un-reacted sulfur in it or not. I just don't know lol! Any perspective is welcomed!

This is the finished solution:
20250411_210415.jpg

close up of the crystals in the finished solution:
20250411_210147.jpg

more crystals:
20250411_210134.jpg

What it looked like the morning after and this was after just pouring off the majority of the actual red lime sulfur solution:
20250410_091340.jpg

The crystals the morning after making it, just for your enjoyment (they're kinda really cool!:
20250410_091405.jpg

What the limestone was before making it into lime by heating it (I collected the limestone from nature and then crushed it):
20250411_210705.jpg
 
Can't help with determining a dilution rate but I am also impressed with the project, especially going all the way and making quicklime from raw limestone.

No problem using your solution for treating deadwood because lime sulphur is used at full strength or 50/50 with water for deadwood treatment.
 
Ok ill admit that is neat but a bit dangerous as from your description it was an exothermic reaction, ie it got hot when you mixed them?

Please be careful

Don't ever mix pure potassium or magnesium with water because it is such a fast reaction, it explodes.

 
I believe store bought LS is saturated since it produces crystals too, mostly of the lime and not from the sulphur, so they're white.

Yours looks good. I would try some on some spare wood and see how it behaves.

I agree with being cautious with these kind of reactions, they can be dangerous.
 
Can't help with determining a dilution rate but I am also impressed with the project, especially going all the way and making quicklime from raw limestone.

No problem using your solution for treating deadwood because lime sulphur is used at full strength or 50/50 with water for deadwood treatment.
Thanks!! And that's great to hear!
 
Ok ill admit that is neat but a bit dangerous as from your description it was an exothermic reaction, ie it got hot when you mixed them?

Please be careful

Don't ever mix pure potassium or magnesium with water because it is such a fast reaction, it explodes.

The exothermic reaction only happened when I mixed the lime with water in order to separate it from the other minerals present in the limestone. But qhen I mixed the sulfur and lime I actually had it being heated up in a pot! And yeah it was slightly dangerous, as there was some sulfur cases that are not so great to breathe in 😀
 
I believe store bought LS is saturated since it produces crystals too, mostly of the lime and not from the sulphur, so they're white.

Yours looks good. I would try some on some spare wood and see how it behaves.

I agree with being cautious with these kind of reactions, they can be dangerous.
Absolutely agree!
 
yo I just realized your profile says Charlotte, NC and I totally grew up there! I moved to Utah a few years ago tho. How's bonsai and yamadori stuff in NC??
Well, there’s plenty of good hornbeam and elm available here if you know where to look lol. Apparently NC is the ideal climate for most bonsai, all my japanese maples thrive here along with pretty much everything else. I still want to go east and dig me a big fat Carolina bald cypress.
 
Well, there’s plenty of good hornbeam and elm available here if you know where to look lol. Apparently NC is the ideal climate for most bonsai, all my japanese maples thrive here along with pretty much everything else. I still want to go east and dig me a big fat Carolina bald cypress.
yeah, that humidity is great for bonsai! Sick man!
 
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