• Facebook
712-433-0000 • Toll Free 877-474-SOIL
Soil Solutions LLC
  • About
  • Products
    • PRO CAL 40
    • NatureGro
    • Nutra Bio
    • NatureGro(C)
  • Services
    • Maximum Farming System
    • Field Application
  • Resources
    • Crop Response
      Case Studies
    • Reports & Links
    • From Our Desk
    • Newsletter
    • Blog
  • Contact
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Blog2 / General3 / Soil Test Before You Make Fertility Decisions
Printer Friendly Printer Friendly

Soil Test Before You Make Fertility Decisions

November 2, 2016

Many farmers are feeling “the pinch” with current commodity prices.  One of the best ways to be certain that you are spending your $$ in the best place for the greatest return is to take a soil test.  If you have soil tests from any time during the past three years, especially if they were grid or zone samples, they would be recent enough to base decisions for the coming growing season.  However, if you don’t have recent soil samples or a history of soil tests from your fields you should consider getting your fields re-tested this fall.

We need to have the same frame of mind in crop nutrition as we do in animal nutrition and feed a balanced ration.  That means knowing where all the mineral levels are, not just one or two.  It doesn’t cost that much additional to get a complete analysis so be certain to request it.  A complete analysis in addition to organic matter, phosphorus (P1 and P2), potassium and pH should include CEC, % Base Saturation, Sulfur, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Copper and Boron.  If you are sampling by zones you may consider only doing one complete analysis within each soil type.  Tests for nitrates are beneficial in the drier regions where it is less likely to leach.  Samples for nitrates should be to a depth of 24 inches.

A doctor wouldn’t give you a prescription for an illness without first doing some tests and most likely quite comprehensive tests.  A prescription for crop production should be no different.  After getting a soil test be sure that you have someone who is qualified to interpret the results.  There is a large amount of information that can be gleaned from a soil test and yet many times the recommendations are looked at by an advisor with no regard for the actual analysis.  If you need assistance in understanding your soil tests, knowing what the numbers mean, and how they relate to what soil conditions you have and how your crop is performing, give the soils specialist at Soil Solutions a call.

Soil tests are not just for making fertility recommendations; they are also a useful tool in understanding why you have differences across your field and how to better manage your soils.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://soilsolutions.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/logo.png 0 0 Andrea Meyer https://soilsolutions.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/logo.png Andrea Meyer2016-11-02 09:02:222016-11-02 09:02:22Soil Test Before You Make Fertility Decisions
Printer Friendly Printer Friendly

Recent Posts

  • Why is Gypsum Critically Important When Tiling Saline Sodic Soils?
  • Protect Your Plants—Get a Great Start To a High Yield Finish
  • Merry Christmas!
  • What Caused my Yield Variations in 2020?
  • Procidic Gives Yield Responses In Corn Even When Disease Presence is Low
Mascotte
Soil Solutions, LLC

2120 Pearl Street|Onawa, IA 51040|Phone: 712-433-0000|Toll Free: 877-474-SOIL| Email: andrea@soilsolutions.net

© 2025 Soil Solutions, LLC.  All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy

Website by: Heartland Internet Solutions

The Gypsum AntidoteWhat About Calcium and Magnesium Ratios?
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn More

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only