Want to take your fertilizer management up a notch? Here is a low-cost soil test that could provide some valuable insight into field variability: Choose an underperforming field and submit soil samples this fall from three target areas – hill tops, mid slopes and low spots.
The most common soil testing method is to submit one sample per field. The sample is based on 10 to 20 cores collected from mid-slope “average” areas, often split into 0-6” and 6-12” or 6-24” depths. Mid-slope areas are usually the most consistent, yield-wise, and account for most of the acres. So if farms are collecting one composite sample per field, this practice provides a good baseline fertilizer rate.
However, these mid-slope samples miss low-performing or inconsistent-performing hill tops and low areas. By spending a couple hundred dollars to collect and analyze two extra samples from one field, farms will gain new insight that could change the way they manage the farm.
For example, if soil analysis shows that hill tops are low in sulphur, farmers could spread extra sulphur on a few hills, since canola is a crop with relatively high sulphur requirements. Use those test hills as check strips, and see if they show a difference in next year’s combine yield map.
Consult with an agronomist to help decide how to use the results and whether targeted applications or check strips make sense.
Even if these extra two tests for one field don’t inspire a change in approach for 2024, they will provide some real numbers to quantify nutrient and soil variability. With that discovery, farms can start to see how, or if, that field variability might be enough to justify investment in a variable-rate system.
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