By Dan Owen, Agronomy manager
Prairie Soil Services Ltd.
With harvest now progressing it is time to start the planning process for next years crop. One of the most important steps in the planning process is to test your fields to see what nutrients will be available for the coming year.
A comprehensive soil test will provide you with information on not only the nutrient status of your fields but will help to identify organic matter content, soil PH and any potential imbalances between nutrients in the soil.
Soil testing can be done any time in the fall from harvest through to freeze up. When sampling earlier in the fall, soil temperatures are higher and some extra mineralization of nitrate nitrogen may occur after sampling, this would need to be factored into analysis results. Nearly all other nutrients will be unaffected by the soil temperature so no adjustments will be required.
No matter which sampling system is used it is advantageous to use one that allows samples to be taken in the same spot year on year so that nutrient levels maybe tracked through out rotation.
When taking a sample it is best to take zero-to-six inch and six-to-12 inch cores. The zero-to-six inch core” will show the nutrient status in the main rooting area and this is where we can easily adjust fertility levels with our fertility program. The six-to-12 inch core is more useful for determining the mineral nitrogen content of the soil and to check for nutrients stratification. However it is difficult to adjust these levels unless the plan is to deep band your fertiliser.
Once sampling has been completed it will allow for accurate fertility plans to be created to ensure that the crop is fertilised correctly and efficiently.
