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Little River, TX | I am not all that familiar with needing lime, but G Kurwicki aka Hawken sounds to have logic working for him, The Earlier contractor is who I would wonder about. <300 lbs lime/acre sounds to be on the light side.
Personally I would not trust a Coop to do soil sampling and then send it off to a lab that I do not have a good repor with. I would be more relaxed with a hired scout to pull the samples, but more important I do all my (your) own sampling.
I hope you have good records of the past soil testing so you can track any changes, and catch any wild results. Good records are as important as a good soil test.
I hope you realize it is not unusual for soil samples to vary by 30% or more from the average. This means the computed CEC value, computed using K, Mg, Ca, Na, & pH, can be 50% off, simply from the variability of the test results for K, Mg, Ca, & Ca.
Ed W. has the idea, pull tissue samples every year, and soil sample enough to say you do soil sampling.
If CEC is a consideration, have the Lab run series a measured CEC values over a number of years, When you have 3 to 5 values to average that should be good for the next generation of farmers on that farm. CEC is a function of clay and organic matter. Think about it a CEC of 10 meq/100g and a soil test that calls for 300 lbs of potash, and 2,000 lbs of lime and you have just added K, Mg, & Ca to the soil. These would produce a higher computed CEC value when the actual CEC is a function of the amount of clay.
A soil test will be reasonably accurate for pH and organic matter. All the remainder are not near as accurate as the propaganda will have us believe, not at the prices we are paying.
Talk directly to a soils lab of your choice. Find out if they are knowledgable, of your soil charactoristics. & for sure find out what you need to know for plant analayis for your crops.
Allow the neighbors sit around and watch TV, while you study up on fertility requirements, for your local soil, as influenced by your local climate and your personal management style.
Another thing, if you do not personally apply the fertilizer, be sure you are watching the custom man do it for you. If possible ride in the cab with him. | |
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Soil test
