Soil Fertility a Key Factor After Harvest
For many corn growers, yields were better than expected. As a result, soil fertility is an issue that needs to be addressed this fall, says T.C. Hoffman, with DuPont Pioneer. “If you had big yields then you took a lot of fertility out of your soil,” he stated. “This needs to be replaced if you want to grow a good crop next year.” Soil samples are strongly recommended, even on fields not scheduled to have one done, because of the kind of weather and good yields we saw this year.
Another consideration is your tillage plan for 2018. According to Hoffman, “If you are planning ridge till, strip till, or no till next year, a fall burndown of fall weeds will keep fields clean so you can accomplish these tasks.” He added that this will help make weeds less of a problem next spring.
With data analysis becoming a lot more sophisticated, collecting data on what worked and what did not work this year is vital. There are a variety services available that will help collect and analyze important data from 2017, in order to have a better 2018.
Listen to the complete report with T.C. Hoffman at the Agronomy tab on the HAT website.