Soil test

Now, this was just one of the soil tests.

I mean, there were others that weren't uh quite that bad or anything here is another one cation exchange capacity is 40 okay that's much more realistic now we're we're kind of talking so and normal ground and this is part of the reason too why we encourage people to do grids or zones that are small five acres max out in fields and you don't have to soil test every year even every other year a lot of people talk about constant soil testing you don't have to do constant soil testing but we got to find out What are the true problems out in the field? Let's figure it out where they are and then fix them where they are.

Because if I've got an area in the field that is this, that's 40 CEC, okay, that's just, that's much more normal.

And the base saturation magnesium is 12, right where we want it.

You know, first of all, high ground,

that's soil sampling.

So just to tee that up.

Yeah, tell people a little bit what that is.

Are you consistently doing

soil testing?

I've never done a soil

test.

We start to think about maybe only annual applications that focus on removal values, but also there are simply soil test values that you're not going to find any response to P or K, and we want to avoid applying on those.

If we have excessively high phosphorus and potassium numbers, we can allow those to draw down as well without needing to pay for those nutrients.

This is when soil testing and soil tests that well represent the diversity of conditions within your field has its highest ROI because you can apply where you need it and not apply where you don't.

When you make that statement, what do you mean by well represents? When you're soil testing or you're asking somebody to soil test, what pattern do you want them to use?

Well, I would say the general two options that most use are two and a half acre grid soil sampling, so in a very gridded, aligned pattern.

Zone sampling can also be done.

generally zones need to be produced from previous yield maps soil test levels things like topography or soil series maps are also very helpful drainage class is a very useful component to building zones for potassium for example and so a zone system is going to need to be trained based off of what you're seeing in your given field and that may vary by user and software and what your objective is

For the basics, though, if people were to go to the agronomy handbook online, for instance, they'd be able to find some numbers that would give them an idea of where their soil test should be and when they can avoid applying it.

Absolutely.

And so you brought up soil testing and that was something I was wondering about.

How often do you encourage producers to take soil tests on their pastures or hay fields? Oh, Shay,

I win no friends when I answer this question.

We do have lots and lots of questions.

Donna's going to come on later and talk a little bit about soil testing.

Do you soil test your vegetable garden every single year?

I don't.

That's so you, Rick.

I love that.

So we are going to put a link in the show notes on where to go to read about soil testing and how to do that.

Texas A&M AgriLife does it.

K-State Soil Fertility Specialist Dorvar Ruiz-Diaz begins today's show as he discusses important soil fertility considerations for wheat production.

In the first two segments, he chats about soil testing, nitrate levels, and liming.

He says what growers should think through as the wheat season gets closer.

Ending the show is K-State horticulture expert Matt McKernan as he says there's still time to plant quick-maturing crops like radishes and leafy greens.

Of course, I think we need to be thinking about going back to the basics, make sure we have all we need there.

We have the level of nutrients that are needed to have a successful crop.

And all of that really starts with soil testing.

And so that's a place where I would start.

It's more, like, genuine need to understand.

Soil testing, the labs have been around for decades, and I can't imagine spending the money that they have to spend without actually knowing what's left over and what's there and what they need.

And simply fertilizing based on crop removal is also a moving target, and it doesn't work.

And so it's super important that we start to prioritize the, the needs up front of what that crop is gonna need to grow.