Dairy One Cooperative, Inc. services

Soil sampling allows you to optimize yields, minimize fertilizer costs. Managing the nutrient content of the soil is one key to optimum performance of any plant whether it is your lawn or a commercial crop like alfalfa, corn, apples, turf or pumpkins. Over or under application of these essential plant nutrients is very costly in terms of lost yield or quality. The environmental impact from over application or misapplication of plant nutrients can have significant and costly consequences as well. For that reason, soil testing should be the foundation of any crop management plan whether it is for the home gardener or the commercial farm operation.

As an information technology organization, our goal is to bring data and information back to the farm for profit-making decisions. Determining the nutrient content of your soil will provide you with the background information necessary to determine what crops will thrive best and the amendments needed to optimize growth. Follow this with a manure analysis to determine the nutrients that you can readily supply from the farm and minimize your purchased fertilizer costs. As a final test, plant tissue analyses can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify nutrient excesses or deficiencies.

Soil sampling allows you to optimize yields, minimize fertilizer costs. Managing the nutrient content of the soil is one key to the optimum performance of any plant whether it is your lawn or a commercial crop. Over or under application of essential plant nutrients can be costly in terms of yield, quality, and the environment. An agronomic soil test extracts a portion of the plant-available nutrients contained in a soil sample and results are then classified as low, medium, high, or very high based on expected crop response to added crop nutrients. Crops grown on soils that test high to very high for a specific nutrient are not likely to respond with a yield increase if that nutrient is applied to the soil. However, soils testing low or medium for that nutrient are likely to show improved yield and quality if that nutrient is applied (provided other nutrients are present in adequate amounts).

Pre-Sidedress Soil Nitrate Test (PSNT) is used to determine if side dress N is needed on corn with a history of manure or sod incorporation. The PSNT measures potentially mineralizable organic N in the soil to determine the likelihood of a yield response from side dressed. PSNT’s should be run on corn fields two or more years after sod plow down where the manure rate is uncertain or may not meet the N requirements of the crop. A PSNT should also be run if N mineralization rates are expected to be higher than average (e.g., warm moist spring). PSNT’s should not be run on corn fields that had broadcast N applications pre-plant or early post plant since nitrate picked up from broadcast fertilizer could overestimate true N mineralization potential.