When the yellow striping and purple edges appear on the corn leaves, the magnesium deficiency is obvious (as in this spring 2019 photo). By the time a nutrient deficiency is evident in the plant, yields are already at risk.

Why take the risk with next year’s crop when there is a simple solution this fall? Soil sampling.

As Mike Slater, Federated agronomist at the Isanti location said, “You’ve heard it a thousand times: ‘Start with a soil sample’ because it gives you a baseline where to start planning fertilizer for the next crop.”

Soil samples help answer these questions, according to Slater:

• - What nutrients are lacking?
• - What nutrients are sufficient?
• - What’s the pH level?
• - Does the soil need lime?

Soil testing “right behind the combine,” said Slater, is the best time. “This will give us the winter to plan for the next year’s crop,” he said. There’s almost always more time to pull samples in the fall than in the spring. And depending upon when the ground freezes, there’s often still time in the fall to apply fertilizer and lime.

Federated offers two types of soil sampling: composite and grid sampling. “Composite sampling consists of breaking a whole field into 20-40-acre sections and randomly taking cores throughout. This method works good for those who just flat rate spread fertilizer and want an average of the field,” said Slater.

For grid sampling, every field is broken down into 2.5-acre grids and a GPS-located sample is pulled from each grid using Federated’s precision ag technology, Sirrus®.

“The 2.5-acre grids allow us to be more precise with what we need to apply . . . across our variable soil types. In most scenarios, the cost of gridding a field can be saved in the liming application or even with fertilizer,” Slater said. Applications are made with GPS precision, only where the nutrient or lime is needed.

Soil sample before the frost sets in. Talk to your Federated Agronomist to set up precision sampling services or to discuss your own sampling plans.