HOME:
Current Soil Health News from
Hoorman Soil Health Services

  Corn and soybeans are entering a time of extreme stress due to hot temperatures and moisture stress. Most plant nutrients are absorbed through a plant's roots. However, sometimes nutrients can become locked up in the soil with other elements, making them unavailable to the plant. There are many factors that can contribute to nutrients becoming soil immobile. If the fertilizer solution pH is too high or too low, nutrient deficient, or excessive; some nutrients might not be plant absorbed. Poorly managed soils, low soil organic matter, low microbial activity, damaged root systems, excessive water or a lack of water can all lead to lowered rates of plant nutrient absorption. When a nutrient cannot be easily absorbed through the soil, foliar feeding may be a possible solution. The leaves, and sometimes even the stems, of many plants are equipped with tiny, pore-like structures called stomata, which means “mouth” in Greek. Stomata will open and close at certain times of the day. Stoma...

  Wheat harvest may start early this year due to the hot weather. A long growing season after wheat allows for many options including double cropping soybeans or planting a cover crop. With high soybean prices, many farmers may want to plant soybeans, but hot and/or dry weather may reduce the chances for a profitable soybean crop. Many cover crops can be planted in late July or early August and take advantage of late summer rains and cooler fall temperatures. Warm season cover crops grow in the summer but die with the first frost while cool season species generally survive the winter. Major categories include brassicas, grasses, legumes, and other broadleaves with over 60 cover crop species. Cover crops offer many advantages including adding carbon and soil organic matter (SOM), improving water infiltration and soil structure, tie up soluble nutrients, reduce weeds, and improve soil health. Brassica cover crops are small seeded, fairly inexpensive, and include daikon radish, kale, ...

  Depending upon when they were planted, crops are either emerging or starting to grow quickly. This time of year, million-dollar rains (rains around 1 inch) encourage crops to grow quickly. Soil microbes live in the water films around roots, using water to travel around and to process nutrients. After a nice rain, crops often have tremendous growth because plant available nutrients are being released. Unfortunately, either too much rain or not enough, greatly slows down plant nutrient acquisition. Scouting corn, soybeans, and even vegetable crops; nutrient deficiencies are already starting to appear, although the signs are subtle. In corn, yellow striping on corn leaves is a sign of sulfur (S) deficiency and most soil test are showing that S is lacking. Sulfur is needed to make proteins like cysteine and methionine. Since the enforcement of the Clean Air Act (which was a free source of S), some fields may now need S fertilization. Sulfur is needed in a 10:1 nitrogen to sulfur rati...