Give your soil an end-of-season exam
The signs are all around. The acorns are dropping, the leaves are changing colors, the air is cooler, and the combines are in the fields. Whether you like it or not, fall is here. What that also means is that the growing season is about over. Soon you will be able to kick back your heals and take a break from the fields and gardens. But before you do that, have you done everything you can for your soils? Preparing your soils for winter is beneficial to ensuring a healthy soil for the spring.
What can you do to prep your soils? You can start by testing your soil. Soil tests reveal the nutrient levels of your soil and allows you to make decisions on what the soil may need. Sometimes the pH of the soil needs to be addressed, whereas other times certain nutrients may need to be added. Knowing what your soil needs ahead of time before planting season roles around is useful because of a number of reasons. The Ohio State University wrote an article about soil sampling in the fall versus in the spring. In the article, OSU lists three reasons why fall may be an ideal time to test soil:
1.) The soil often has the ideal moisture range
2.) There is more time to apply soil needs before the next crop planting
3.) It helps to prevent spring planting from being delayed
In the fall, the soil may have a better moisture content for sampling than in the spring. Oftentimes in the spring, the soil is too wet (or sometimes too dry, which makes it hard to collect with a soil probe). When the soil is too wet, it makes it very difficult or near impossible getting into the field or garden without sinking. The wet sample also runs the risk of leaking after it has been packaged and shipped, which will make a number of people not very happy. On the other hand, fall is not usually as yet as spring, which not only makes it easier to access the gardens or fields, but it also produces a less messy sample.
Testing your soil in the fall gives plenty of time to make agronomical decisions, order fertilizer or application needs, and apply any of the needs the fields may require. Conversely, in the spring, everything may be rushed, from when the fields are suitable to enter, to when the soil samples are processed and the results received. By then, you may only have a couple weeks to determine the needs of the soil, purchase the fertilizer or additive, and apply it before the planting window opens up. Sampling in the fall gives you time to make informed decisions about your soil and gives you the option of either applying the soil needs in the fall, or having everything prepared and lined up to do it in the spring as soon as you can. If you are wondering whether the fertility levels of the fertilizer differ from spring or fall applications, the Michigan State University can answer that question. In an article the university wrote about why to test in the fall, it states, “On soils with optimum fertility levels, field research has shown that fall applications of phosphorus and potassium would be equally effective compared to a spring application prior to corn and soybean planting.”
Finally, testing your soil and preparing it in the fall can prevent spring planting from being delayed. As spelled out earlier, getting the testing done and out of the way early bypasses any delays that may occur with shipping the soil test to the lab, the samples being processed, and the results generated. Testing your soil in the fall may save you a precious couple weeks in the spring.
How can you test your soils? We can help you with that! Whether you want to test your garden, your fields, or even some manure, we have services that cover all three of those areas. To test your garden or lawn soil, pick one of the three levels of our Turf and Ornamental test. For agricultural or pasture fields, choose from the different levels of our Ag test. Even the manure test has different categories that you can choose from, depending on the specific nutrients that you would like to test for. To find our more information and the prices for our tests, you can visit our website, call, or come visit us at our office Monday-Friday from 8:00-4:00. Take the necessary step to prepare your soils for spring!