Dry Soils Will Follow Some Into 2021

The drought conditions that began in 2020, will follow those same areas into 2021. Here's what you need to know.

The extreme dry conditions impacts soil potassium(K), phosphorus(P), pH, and nitrogen(N) leaching, so it is helpful to understand how low moisture can influence soil test results during this time.

1. Higher Available Nitrogen (N) Carryover-

• Plan to analyze for nitrate-N. This affordable test could provide substantial savings per acre. But you will only know how much by testing each field with late fall or spring soil nitrate test. More info on Nitrate testing and Request Sampling Supplies
• Managing N is especially important for those fields going into a non-legume crop or where manure has been applied.

 2. Lower Than Normal K and P levels-

• Why? Lower crop removal with lower yields would be expected to leave nutrients in the soil. The lack of rainfall before and after harvest slows down nutrient leaching from decaying plant residue into the soil.
• Most potassium taken up by the crop remains in the residues, so farmers need not be alarmed if soil test potassium levels are lower than expected.
• Phosphorus is released more slowly from residue so the impact of a dry fall is not as noticeable because the residue decays throughout winter. 

 3. Lower Soil pH Level-

• Why? Because a high level of fertilizer salts remain in the soil at the end of a dry growing season. Those salts affect the electrode used to measure pH and can result in a lower pH measurement. 
• This may be 0.1 to 0.3 units lower. The lime requirement test is not affected by this.

 4. Investigate Soil Sampling Conditions-

·    Sampling in dry soil conditions may not result in obtaining a representative sample.

• Difficulties in sampling may be more noticeable in no-till and pasture samples due to large stratification of nutrients.  

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