Soil sampling is a Best Practice for determining the nutrient needs of your crops, as well as other factors that affect yield.
Make sure soil sampling is part of your management program as it’s a necessary step for determining the nutrient needs for your crops. According to a Citrus Industry article, Mike Riffle, Senior Manager, Field Development at Valent U.S.A. LLC, maintained that spring is “the ideal time for farmers to sample their soils and determine what nutrients need to be applied.” Testing soil lets growers know the levels of nutrients in the soil so that growers know what needs to be added and what doesn’t. Explore the details below.
Soil Sampling and Nutrients
“I think any grower, no matter what they’re growing, should be doing soil testing, probably yearly. Now is the perfect time because you can take a soil sample now and understand what kind of fertility may be required going into the season. Now is a good time to sample,” Riffle said in the article. Nutrients such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, or magnesium are important for plant growth and can affect yields.
Soil samples can also let a grower know the soil’s pH, which is another important part of the soil health puzzle. It is one of the main reasons to test your soil for sure, to gauge what kind of fertility you will need going into the season. That’s one of the main reasons to test soils for sure. If their pH is rising or lowering over time, it’s good to know that. That could affect fertility. There’s lots of things they can learn about their soils from these soil sampling events,” Riffle shared in the article.
Growers should also look at bacteria and fungi in the soil as well; some soil sampling services will also assess the sample for bacteria and fungi present. Riffle maintained that county Extension offices are great resources for sampling soil.
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.