Soil fundamentals library

I’ve limed spots I’ve cleared with the saw for the purpose of releasing and regenerating browse and cover. I can’t say it’s made a huge difference because the plants that were there were already naturally best fit for that spot. It certainly hasn’t hurt though.

I still lime when I start a new plot. Every spot I’ve ever tested (that wasn’t wet) had a starting pH of 5.5-5.6. I also lime when I see an aggressive pocket of horsetail. Jury is still out on whether high rates of calcium can weaken sedge in aerobic soil.

If we plant something and it germinates and just doesn’t look good or come very fast, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the pH is too low. In really good soils it isn’t such a big issue because a person can get by on OM mineralization. In low OM, cold, or dry soils, it can leave ya scratching your head.

Fallow syndrome is diagnosed when we see purple plants after emergence. It’s an accurate diagnosis, but the impacts of fallow syndrome are far greater than a shortage of phosphorus. A large part of the biological nutrient cycle is currently off-line. The purple leaves are the one symptom we can see. This is why, coming off a fallow, starter fertilizer has to be placed so close that the seed root can reach it on the little fuel that came with the seed, but not so close that it burns the roots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That’s good stuff. I align with your thoughts exactly.

It seems that usable calcium and nutrients are more important than total amount. Soil microbes and proper plants make those nutrients available. Most soils have plenty of nutrients that just can’t be accessed.

If I was planting crops for money I can see doing everything possible to maximize yield. For my food plots I want to do everything possible to let the plants and environment do this for Me.
 
That’s good stuff. I align with your thoughts exactly.

It seems that usable calcium and nutrients are more important than total amount. Soil microbes and proper plants make those nutrients available. Most soils have plenty of nutrients that just can’t be accessed.

If I was planting crops for money I can see doing everything possible to maximize yield. For my food plots I want to do everything possible to let the plants and environment do this for Me.
You could sum up my core focus in all of this on mycorhizal fungi. If your #1 focus is fostering or at least not harming your myco fungi, you're gonna be in good shape. The transitions from season to season and timing are still tricky, and I haven't aced that yet, so I usually end up with too much clover and too few cereal grains. The core of my pursuit of flail mowing has been to get a stiff crop of cereals up through my clover in August without having to kill anything.

Next year, I'm going back to trying spring seeding high tonnage spring grains into established clover as the ground is thawing. One year I had a dry spring and tried that, and I got a really good crop of barley up through my clover before the clover canopied. Trouble with barley is that it's not big in the tonnage category. I've since found some improved forages that should really bring the biomass. If I can get it done in the spring like that, the mow quality for fall isn't such a critical deal anymore. I could probably mow a few weeks earlier when it's really hot and take a crack at getting WGF up and edible before it gets too cold.
 
I'd certainly try it, and I'd try it yet this fall if you've got room in the blend or haven't put in your fall plots yet. You might have some luck broadcasting now that the blast furnace days of summer are past their peak. That's an interesting note on the acidic soils. That would explain why it does so well out west.

5 lb bag is $30 + shipping @ Green Cover: https://store.greencover.com/produc...clover-omri-nitro-coat?variant=42918506299608

I also wouldn't rule out trying some white clover and chicory. It may still go dormant in summer, but it might go quite a ways into summer with the rye to help protect it. Those deep chicory roots might help your other stuff get down deeper as well.
I have a plot that I planted durana and chicory in. The durana was planted in 2019 and has done well for how poor my soil is. It does go dormant around June-July and pops back up around the end of October. I broadcasted chicory into this same plot last year and it did better than I expected, even with the deer hammering it last winter. It never went dormant all summer this year and it has been a very hot, dry summer. Super impressed with how it's done. I plan to broadcast more chicory and durana soon into this plot. You can tell the durana is on it's last legs. I do not crimp this plot. I simply broadcast WR and WW every fall and chicory and durana when needed, then mow the WR and WW sometime during the summer. I get a good bit of ragweed in this specific plot too that the deer hammer. So I try to mow the plot in late summer right before I am going to plant. I just dont see the point in mowing down free food for wildlife, especially if they're gobbling it up. I have never thought of adding chicory to the plots I crimp, due to me terminating the plots every fall and spring. Would the crimper kill the chicory? Would the chicory roots have enough time to get deep enough in the soil if the crimper does terminate it?

As far as pH goes, can you get some lime spread yet? When you need to lime, having sandy soil is a huge advantage. 2000-3000 lbs/ac of dolomitic pell lime will bring that up quite a bit
I actually did lime these plots this year. Did a ton to 1.5 tons per acre. I try to lime every year to 2 years. Would lime affect the soil biology like fertilizer does?

Buckwheat by itself or with sun hemp was a bust for me too. Adding it to a mix has been great.

Sorghum x Sudan has grown like gangbusters for me. I also mix regular sorghum, millet, sunn hemp and cow peas. Haven’t had much luck with soybeans in my mixture.

View attachment 46219

Gonna experiment with deer vetch and alyceclover next summer.
That plot looks great bud! Lots of biomass! Going to see what my chances are of getting this mixture locally. Milo, millet and CP I know I can get. Not sure on the sorghum x sudan and sunn hemp.
 
I would expect the soil micro critters to change as the pH changes.
 
Change in a positive or negative way?
For the good. When you asked that a few days ago, I did some savvy googling to see if any research had been done on it. The type of fungi you have in your soil will shift from something I can't remember, to mycorhizal. It's not that there isn't already mycorhizal fungi in the soil, but they'll have far more room to roam once the whole soil column is raised, vs just around root tips.
 
For the good. When you asked that a few days ago, I did some savvy googling to see if any research had been done on it. The type of fungi you have in your soil will shift from something I can't remember, to mycorhizal. It's not that there isn't already mycorhizal fungi in the soil, but they'll have far more room to roam once the whole soil column is raised, vs just around root tips.
In other words, I should lime every year instead of every other year. Like you, I dread lime work. Lol Going to try inoculating my seed with compost and see what happens. Can't hurt
 
In other words, I should lime every year instead of every other year. Like you, I dread lime work. Lol Going to try inoculating my seed with compost and see what happens. Can't hurt
Either way should be fine.
 
Hey nerds, Albert Lea Seed just uploaded a bunch of new presentations from a confab they must have just had. I haven't had a chance to watch much yet, but it's there. In the one I did watch, they threw up a map of all the organic acres per state, and I couldn't believe how many acres there are.


1675520640586.png
 
Great thread @SD51555

I’d just add
All webinars by Dr. Christine Jones
John Kempf Regen Ag podcast - all of
Them.
Dr. James White - the rhizophagey cycle

So many great sources out there!!
 
^. Wow. Lots of info there. Hard to absorb all of the content. Cliff notes version? Grin. I start listening to these and I always fall asleep. lol.
 
Don't forget, most organic farms are still full on tillage.
 
Rodale institute is another great resource for info.
Ag Phd radio as well
 
You could sum up my core focus in all of this on mycorhizal fungi. If your #1 focus is fostering or at least not harming your myco fungi, you're gonna be in good shape. The transitions from season to season and timing are still tricky, and I haven't aced that yet, so I usually end up with too much clover and too few cereal grains. The core of my pursuit of flail mowing has been to get a stiff crop of cereals up through my clover in August without having to kill anything.

Next year, I'm going back to trying spring seeding high tonnage spring grains into established clover as the ground is thawing. One year I had a dry spring and tried that, and I got a really good crop of barley up through my clover before the clover canopied. Trouble with barley is that it's not big in the tonnage category. I've since found some improved forages that should really bring the biomass. If I can get it done in the spring like that, the mow quality for fall isn't such a critical deal anymore. I could probably mow a few weeks earlier when it's really hot and take a crack at getting WGF up and edible before it gets too cold.
Drill baby drill. ;)
 
Mycorizal Fungi is one of those "ten dollar words" you don't hear except when talking soil health. We could as well say leave "roots in the ground".....as that is what it takes to get mycorizal fungi.

From Wiki:

Definition[edit]​

A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus, and the fungus supplies to the plant water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil. Mycorrhizas are located in the roots of vascular plants.
 
Don't forget, most organic farms are still full on tillage.
That is because herbicides are excluded. Food plotters have the better option of no-till/min-till since we are free to rotate herbicides for burn down, and after that, many weeds are as beneficial to deer as the crops we plant. Some of the techniques apply well to us, but with different goals and objective, others don't.
 
Mycorizal Fungi is one of those "ten dollar words" you don't hear except when talking soil health. We could as well say leave "roots in the ground".....as that is what it takes to get mycorizal fungi.

From Wiki:

Definition[edit]​

A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus, and the fungus supplies to the plant water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil. Mycorrhizas are located in the roots of vascular plants.

The Cliff note version to everything ever written about regenerative ag

bill
 
Mycorizal Fungi is one of those "ten dollar words" you don't hear except when talking soil health. We could as well say leave "roots in the ground".....as that is what it takes to get mycorizal fungi.

From Wiki:

Definition[edit]​

A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus, and the fungus supplies to the plant water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil. Mycorrhizas are located in the roots of vascular plants.
Another way is a diverse green bridge. It's funny, in agriculture, there's a faction that insists on maintaining a green bridge with cover crops, like most important thing in their soil plan. And there's a group (like these guys) that absolutely insist the green bridge must be destroyed no matter the cost.

I'm pro-green bridge. It's the cornerstone of my whole program. Here's a good video explaining it.

 
Top