The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Using Google on "Builders' Lime" turned up 110,000 hits. I stopped
looking after I found 20 which stated that builders' lime is slaked
lime or hydrated lime or calcium hydroxide.

OK, google for 'chest of draws' and you'll be amazed at the number of
hits you get.

Just because someone avers that builder's lime is slaked lime doesn't
make it so, but it gets on Google all the same.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from contains these words:

And it won't decompose the bodies........

..... as well as an acid bath does.

...or a urg wormery.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Robert wrote:
"Franz Heymann" [...]
No, an elementary knowledge of chemistry, aided by a few hundred
references in Google says I am right.
Biulders' Lime really is Calcium Hydroxide, known as "slaked
lime"
It is an alkaline material which is very frequently used to treat
acid soil.

Franz
We'll have to agree to differ, my searches and the GQT team back me
up but who cares really lol. All the best

But every gardener _should_ care; and it isn't a "lol" matter. What
searches? What exactly did which members of the GQT team say about
it?

I've just done a very swift (admittedly _very_ swift) Internet
search, and the nearest thing I found to your position is a site
which specifically recommends that builders' lime should not be used
in desilting operations because it may contain impurities which could
upset the chemical balance of the environment to be treated. A quite
separate issue from the material's garden value.

Just as I believed, there are, or perhaps have been, perceived to be
roughly two grades of hydrated lime, and in trade they are, or
perhaps have been, sometimes distinguished as "slaked lime" and
"hydrated lime"; but this is a convenient traditional distinction,
not a scientific one. I'm still quite sure that "builders' lime" is
not quicklime, which is a bugger to store safely; I find that Build
Centre don't appear even to stock it, though they do stock two brands
of hydrated. (I'm sure they could get it for you, of course.)

Hobby-horse/
This "Who cares really?" is a suicidally bad habit the British need
to grow out of. For some reason a country which _excels_ in academic
and scientific research and music -- all disciplines in which
precision is of the very essence -- also has a culture which derides
precision (note the use of such insults as "anorak" and "pedant" from
top to bottom of the society). Perhaps it's a healthy balance, but I
don't think so: more a "them and us".
/Hobby-horse

I'm sorry to go on and on like this, but I've got the bit between my
teeth!

Mike.

The message
from contains these words:

/quicklime/

It was used in plague pits.

Not very recently, I would venture to suggest. In 'official circles' the
myth that it had a caustic action on bodies lasted well into the last
century.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains
these words:

Biulders' Lime really is Calcium Hydroxide,

Calcium oxide

Rusty, Please do some serious googling before saying that yet again.
I did, and I am vindicated.
{:-}}

Have a good Christmas.

[snip]

Franz



Franz

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains
these words:

Using Google on "Builders' Lime" turned up 110,000 hits. I
stopped
looking after I found 20 which stated that builders' lime is
slaked
lime or hydrated lime or calcium hydroxide.

OK, google for 'chest of draws' and you'll be amazed at the number
of
hits you get.

Just because someone avers that builder's lime is slaked lime
doesn't
make it so, but it gets on Google all the same.

Not "someone". I stopped after I counted 20. They occurred in about
the first 200 entries I looked at. Linear extrapolation says that in
110,000 hits there might be an expectation number of about 10,000 folk
who say that builders' lime is calcium hydroxide

Franz

"Robert" wrote in message
...

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...
:
: "Robert" wrote in message
: ...
:
: "Franz Heymann" wrote in
message
: ...
: :
: : "Robert" wrote in message
: : ...
: :
: :
: : :
: : : If you want real lime, try a builder's merchant,
especially
: one
: : who
: : : sells lime mortars.
: :
: : Builder's lime is a different thing altogether and is
inactive
: on
: : the
: : garden.
: :
: : That is quite incorrect. Builders' lime is Calcium Hydroxide,
: known
: : as "slaked lime" It is an alkaline material which is very
: frequently
: : used to treat acid soil.
: :
: : [snip]
: :
: : Franz
:
: ps Slaked lime is not builder's lime, slaked lime is gardeners'
: lime.
: Builders' lime is hydrated lime
:
: You have your knickers in a twist. {:-((
: The process of slaking quicklime is the process by which it is
: hydrated.
: Quicklime is calcium oxide. Hydrating it converts it into calcium
: hydroxide.
: Slaked lime, hydrated lime or builders' lime are all synonyms for
: calcium hydroxide. It is used very frequently indeed for
correcting
: acidity in soils, as is powdered limestone, which is calcium
: carbonate.
:
: So we are as one even though we didn't know
: it lol. Merry Christmas Franz
:
: No, we are not even. You are wrong, pure and simple.
: Merry Christmas.
:
: Franz
I don't think so but I have lost the will to care anymore lol. All
the best

Me too.

Have a very good Christmas.

Franz

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from contains these words:

And it won't decompose the bodies........

..... as well as an acid bath does.

..or a urg wormery.

My wormery is an unmitigated disaster.
After six weeks they are still struggling with eating the original
four days worth of vegetable waste from the kitchen.

Franz

Franz

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the
foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Franz Heymann wrote:
:::
::: You can use gardeners lime to make mortar.
::: They are both the same basic compound, except for gardens it has
::: been slaked and then dried, builders (who still use it) slake
::: their own, IE: drop it into a dustbin full of cold water, wait
::: until it stops boiling, then use as normal...slaked means it has
::: been added to water to take the fire out of it, after this
::: process it can be dried and doesn't need to be slaked again
::: before use, this is what you buy as gardeners lime.
::: If you find a plasterer and ask him to save all the old plaster
::: rmoved from old houses (not cement) it is a mixture of sand and
::: lime (and horsehair)...it breaks up the soil nicely and raises
::: the alkalinity too.
::
:: Nowadays indoor plaster is more likely to be based on calcium
:: sulphate (gypsum) rather than calcium hydroxide or calcium
:: carbonate.
::
:: Franz

Yes but this is unlikely to be replaced soon, if you ask a plasterer to save
any sand/lime chippings you will soon have a few CWT for the garden...it
melts if left in water for long enough...the odd bit of gypsum won't do the
garden any harm if it's mixed in with the older stuff.

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 18:38:11 +0000, Rod
wrote:

~On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 13:41:30 -0000, "Robert"
wrote:
~
~ It is also useful to put in the planting
~hole to help prevent club root although the experts as usual dispel this
~notion.
~
~Which experts? When our local Hort College was growing brassicas
~commercially they kept the pH of their brassica field around 9 for
~that reason.

Yikes - that's *very* alkaline!

Though I admit, growing brassicas in chalky soil does mean I've never
had the pleasure of having to lime in the first place...

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from contains these words:

/quicklime/

It was used in plague pits.

Not very recently, I would venture to suggest. In 'official
circles'
the myth that it had a caustic action on bodies lasted well into
the
last century.

O. Wilde, _The Ballad of Reading Gaol_ "We could tell the work they
had been at / By the quicklime on their boots."

I wonder, though, if the plague pit theory wasn't in fact quite a
good one: the stuff is, after all, caustic, and by reacting with soil
moisture and to some extent with exposed parts of the bodies might
have provided a sort of cordon sanitaire.

Mike.

wrote:
On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 15:52:33 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from contains these words:

And it won't decompose the bodies........

..... as well as an acid bath does.

..or a urg wormery.

My wormery is an unmitigated disaster.
After six weeks they are still struggling with eating the original
four days worth of vegetable waste from the kitchen.

Just as my wife forecast :-)

Absolutely. With the supreme confidence of one who's never even
bothered to try it, I say a wormery's pointless. What some people
here might, perhaps, call a "fad". Or "snake oil". Or commercial
exploitation of those with spare money jingling about.

(Talking of which, in Tesco this afternoon I found an unusual bit of
lost property: a ten-bob note! I couldn't have been more surprised if
it had been a doubloon.)

Mike.

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 22:24:18 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:


Ahem! Builder's lime is calcium oxide and is far *TOO* active on the
garden, and will scorch the plant matter it comes into contact with.

I can't remember the last time I saw Calcium oxide (quicklime) in
builders' merchants. What they invariably sell is hydrated or slaked
lime which is fine in the garden.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 15:36:23 -0000, "Oxymel of Squill"
wrote:

what do folk think about lime?

my gardening book has a section on the importance of liming, releases
nutrients, counteracts acidity etc; apparently it's all things wonderful

but local garden shops don't stock it, and the one that does isn't getting
any more once it's gone. He eyes my grey beard and says it's only used by
old people and nobody else bothers

Not much to add to what's already been said except do base your use of
lime on evidence from pH tests and don't overdo it - especially
hydrated lime, an excess of Calcium can cause problems like rendering
some minor nutrients unavailable. This is a particular problem with
brassicas like caulis. Dolomite (Magnesian) limestone which is a
variable mix of Calcium and Magnesium carbonates etc is useful where
you want to get the pH up without overdoing the Calcium.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

On 12/12/04 17:41, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from contains these words:

/quicklime/

It was used in plague pits.

Not very recently, I would venture to suggest. In 'official
circles'
the myth that it had a caustic action on bodies lasted well into
the
last century.

O. Wilde, _The Ballad of Reading Gaol_ "We could tell the work they
had been at / By the quicklime on their boots."

I wonder, though, if the plague pit theory wasn't in fact quite a
good one: the stuff is, after all, caustic, and by reacting with soil
moisture and to some extent with exposed parts of the bodies might
have provided a sort of cordon sanitaire.


Wasn't there some association with the use of lime and an infamous murderer
- Crippen, perhaps? Years ago, I remember reading a Dornford Yates novel in
which a murderer used slaked lime instead of quicklime and thus preserved
the body he had hoped to destroy, which was buried in a pit in a barn, IIRC.
I think. ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)