A Soil Test

[rlb165]

So the only thing missing is the BS?

Thank you lakngulf, that's just the segway I've been waiting for!!


Our local Rural King has composted manure for $1.79 per 40 pound bag. That's just under $100 per ton. I'm thinking about spending this year's lime/fertilizer budget on this.
Thoughts anyone?

Thanks.

 

[TreeDaddy]

How would you spread it?

bill

 

[JFH]

How would you spread it?

bill

Via Twitter, like most BS!


Sent from my iPad using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[rlb165]

How would you spread it?

bill

Bill, our gravel driveway is half a mile long. When we have gravel delivered, we have it dumped in piles at each end. Sometimes I use a tractor and pond scoop to distribute the gravel to where it's needed, but often I just use our 4-wheeler, a trailer and 5 gallon buckets. A ton of crap would be a piece of cake compared to that...

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Do you have an idea of where your nutrient levels are at right now in terms of P,K, Ca ???

That would be a big factor in whether or not I did what you're suggesting. If those levels were really low then I would spend the money on fert and lime. If those levels are pretty good and holding stable, then I might spend the money on the litter instead. I believe I might still add a little extra N even with a ton of litter......I think litter application is usually around 2 ton/ac...You might not get enough N off just one ton of bagged stuff. I would also question how good that bagged litter may be compared to some like you would get from a chicken farm. Does it have any kind of nutrient % listed on the bag or anything of that nature?

 

[rlb165]

Would you mind looking over my soil test results from last year?

This is the product I'm talking about:

In most areas that I plant food plots I already have pretty decent biomass. This year what I'm really interested in is making things better for earthworms and such.

Thanks Crimson n' Camo!


Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

On your soil test…..it looks like you just need some P and a little Ca…….then however much N to produce your desired yield. What have you added over the last year or so? Your K is pretty high.



As far as bringing in worms….I’m not for sure what the secret ingredient is on that one. I think a lot of it has to do with soil moisture and OM.

 

[Jeff H]

Thank you lakngulf, that's just the segway I've been waiting for!!


Our local Rural King has composted manure for $1.79 per 40 pound bag. That's just under $100 per ton. I'm thinking about spending this year's lime/fertilizer budget on this.
Thoughts anyone?

Thanks.

Our grandfathers would have never believed the things a man can sell to another man. Rocks.. water..dirt, and now this. O' Lord what has this world come to ???

 

[JFH]

On your soil test…..it looks like you just need some P and a little Ca…….then however much N to produce your desired yield. What have you added over the last year or so? Your K is pretty high.



As far as bringing in worms….I’m not for sure what the secret ingredient is on that one. I think a lot of it has to do with soil moisture and OM.

^^^^^
Worms come with high OM percentage. Tough to get there starting wth sand! That stuff will boost OM no doubt, but judging from soil test you'll need more than that for optimum results. It isn't going to be adding much in the way of immediate crop needs.

I've been boosting OM in my "sand dunes" slowly over the years by keeping something always growing (buckwheat, rye, brassicas, etc) and disking under when needed. All those decaying greens and roots add OM, but it's still pretty low (1.5 -- see below)

If it were me I would focus on getting your ph above 6.5 first.

Sent from my iPad using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[JFH]

On your soil test…..it looks like you just need some P and a little Ca…….then however much N to produce your desired yield. What have you added over the last year or so? Your K is pretty high.



As far as bringing in worms….I’m not for sure what the secret ingredient is on that one. I think a lot of it has to do with soil moisture and OM.

"Organic MatterSoil organic matter consists of plant and animal residues, in various stages of decay, living microbial cells and residues of dead ones and decomposition products of plant and animal residues. Most medium and fine textured soils in Wisconsin have between 2 and 4% organic matter. Sandy soils usually have less than 2%. Adding organic materials such as manure, compost, peat moss or chopped leaves will improve the physical characteristics of soil, such as water holding capacity, drainage, and tilth, but have little influence on the actual amount of organic matter measured by the test. The amount measured is inherent to each different soil and very difficult to change. For every 100 lbs of organic residues added, only 10 lbs will remain at the end of the first growing season as stable organic matter — the other 90 lbs is used as food by microbes and released as carbon dioxide and water."

http://adams.uwex.edu/files/2013/01/Understanding-Your-Soil-Test-Results.pdf


Sent from my iPad using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

JFH......Looking at your soil test it looks like you may be burning up a lot of your OM with whatever method your using.....or it may be that your not adding large enough amounts of biomass to pass the threshold of growing more than you burn. As an example, I've gone from less than 1% to over 4% in the last 5 years. You should be seeing gains somewhat similar of you're building soil. You should also see your CEC rising as your OM% grows. Just about all the gains in my field has come from heavy grass crops either in the form of cereal rye (winter) or crabgrass (summer).

 

[JFH]

JFH......Looking at your soil test it looks like you may be burning up a lot of your OM with whatever method your using.....or it may be that your not adding large enough amounts of biomass to pass the threshold of growing more than you burn. As an example, I've gone from less than 1% to over 4% in the last 5 years. You should be seeing gains somewhat similar of you're building soil. You should also see your CEC rising as your OM% grows. Just about all the gains in my field has come from heavy grass crops either in the form of cereal rye (winter) or crabgrass (summer).

The deer (and the elk!) absolutely inhale everything I plant. I am in "the big woods" of northern Michigan with no agriculture nearby. So my food plots are the only game in town.

See my oft-posted alfalfa exclusion cage pic for proof.

 

[rlb165]

On your soil test…..it looks like you just need some P and a little Ca…….then however much N to produce your desired yield. What have you added over the last year or so? Your K is pretty high.



As far as bringing in worms….I’m not for sure what the secret ingredient is on that one. I think a lot of it has to do with soil moisture and OM.

This was my first soil test in these areas. Prior to the test, nothing had been added, at least since we moved here in '95. After the test: Lime, 12-12-12, Urea. Then, some Miracle Gro. (Note to self: Experiment more w/ foliar fertilizer in throw n' mow plots, especially in areas with compacted soils).
Years ago we had cattle, and some of the samples came from areas where I'd fed hay back then.

re: worms

Our walkout basement has a garage door on one side. Every leaf that falls off of every tree within 5 miles of here gets sucked up between our retaining walls, and ends up in a pile against the garage door. A couple of winters ago, the leaves stayed there for a while before I had a chance to rake them away. When I finally got a chance to get rid of the leaves, there were more redworms in there than I have ever seen in one place. These things had to crawl across a 15 foot slab to get into those nasty, wet, concrete-staining leaves. If I was a worm, I would freakin' HATE concrete.
Anyway, I've wondered if piles of wet leaves, with limbs and whatnot on top to hold them in place, would attract and concentrate worms in and around food plots.


Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[Lewi B]

We let the leaves get blown and pile up against a dog fence. Then about the first of June when catfish start to bite good we can kick the leaves around and find all the worms needed for a mess of fillets. Don't know if they would move into a plot though.

 

[FL Plotter]

Doing some searches for clethodim amounts for spraying grass today in my clover plots, and lo and behold, I stumble across a long CnC thread--just like old times. Good to see some old names from the QDMA forum...that was the best forum on the internet for food plot knowledge. We've tried lots of combos, but always come back to LC's rye and clover (with a little chicory thrown in).

I found JFH's post about the inability to make a significant change to the OM interesting as I thought that was the main reason for minimum tillage and having lots of thatch.

 

[rlb165]

Gabe Brown, David Brandt, and Ray Archuleta all have interesting soil health videos on YouTube. From watching their presentations, I've gotten the impression that OM can be increased much faster than previously believed.

Here's an article about Gabe Brown's ranch. It mentions that he went from less than 2% OM to over 4% on some of his land.

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/download.php?id=414

 

[FL Plotter]

CnC must have sent the rain gods after me to build my thatch!. Spent 4 hrs spraying cleth and a little gly on the Eagle Soybeans and then the skies opened up. I gotta think most of my herbicide washed off. Been a tough year in the South for plotting with all this rain.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

I thought I’d give an update since trying the simulated “mob grazing” experiment……..



I’ve actually had a run of bad luck on rainfall ever since. My neighbor only two miles down the road has gotten over 3 inches of rain while in the same time period I’ve gotten 0.3 inches. I’ve been barely missed by several good showers. I'm basically just sitting idle now with no rain.

Oh, well…..that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I’m still in really good shape to plant in a couple months. The soil surface is extremely soft and I should be able to plant by just dragging in the seed. This is what my soil surface is like……..sorta like potting soil. It’s on the verge of getting a little dry on me now though….at least at surface levels anyways.

If we pull back the hay you can see that we’ve basically just got a mini-mulch pile across the surface of the field. You can germinate cereal grains, clovers, and brassicas very easily in a seed bed like this.

 

[John Barnes]

My marestail plot is coming along nicely. However, it's got 5 lbs of peas growing amongst it. Not sure how much the deer are using it, but you can see from the pic that my dogs are hitting it hard right now. Lol. They love those pods!

Anyway, I was planning to put cereal grains in there the first of September. Looks like the marestail will not wait but will go to seed before that. Should I spray and kill it off now, then wait til the first to broadcast grains? Or just get it over with now?

Sent from my SM-N920R4 using Tapatalk

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

It's your call but I think I'd just wait......If you're not wanting the marestail to go to seed though then you could go ahead and mow it once it starts to set seed and then just drag your cereal grains in at planting time. That might not be a bad idea anyways.....I think you're gonna be iffy on having enough thatch to cover the seed.