Flat Aggie Learns About Soil Testing

I made the trip to North Central Kansas today, where spring has finally arrived! With spring comes farmers looking to getting their fields ready for the upcoming planting season. I tagged along with farmer Stephen to learn more about soil testing and what goes into keeping the soil healthy to grow food.

Did you know farmers can test their soil to find out just what it needs to grow healthy crops? That is just what we did! The first step in this process is to collect a soil sample. Farmer Stephen and his son Kyan took me out to the field. They used a long stick called a probe to collect the soil sample.

 They stuck the probe in the ground, twisted it, and pulled it out to get the sample.

 


They then put the soil into a bucket. They took several samples from the field.

Once the samples were collected, we were off to the local Agronomy sales center to deliver our soil samples. We put the soil into little bags and labeled them so they can be sent to the soil lab to be tested.  The soil lab will test the nutrients in the soil and the soil PH, so that Farmer Stephen knows what kind of fertilizer the fields need.

Here is what the results will look like!

I learned that the soil acts like a bank for the nutrients. When crops grow and are harvested, they take some of those nutrients, which then need to be replenished. That is why farmers add fertilizer to their fields. Farmers are making sure their soil is healthy to grow healthy and nutritious food for you to eat!  Farmers take pride in being great stewards of their land. They like to make sure that they apply the fertilizer using 4R principles. That means they apply the fertilizer at the right time, right rate, right place and right source. The right time means they apply the fertilizer at the time that the plant can use the nutrients. The right rate means they apply the amount of fertilizer that the plants need and don’t give it too much or too little. Right place means they apply it where the plants can use it, meaning close to the roots. The right source means that the correct type of fertilizer is being used.

After learning all about the soil and the 4Rs, I got to go take a ride in the sprayer. Wow, it was big!  I learned about all the cool gadgets like this GPS system. Did you know GPS could actually help a farmer? The soil test results come back with the location of the samples and can be put into a computer program, which can show what part of the field needs what amount and type of fertilizer. The program acts like a prescription for how much fertilizer needs to be applied and where. That prescription is then loaded into the GPS, so that the farmers can make sure the fertilizer is being applied where it is needed.

It was a great day learning about the importance of soil and how fertilizer can help keep the soil healthy. It was crazy to learn about all the technology that helps farmer Stephen keep his soil healthy and play his role in feeding the world!

Teachers can find FREE soil science curriculum meeting Next Generation Science Standards at our website www.nutrientsforlife.org

Farmer in the Making Week #5

Well, I guess I missed a week of reporting the corn progress.  Yes!  I had someone remind me Monday morning.

The corn has had quite an adventure the last two weeks from cold temperatures to down right hot temperatures this week.

Let's not forget the dust storm.

The severe storms that built above us a little over a week ago and became tornadoes east of us.

And a few days of drizzle, but not a lot of rain.

The corn has been spoon fed a bit of fertilizer this week while the little farmer was in school.

A little bit of rain would be great.  The warm temperatures should really have the corn growing fast as long as it can get to moisture in the soil.

Some of the corn really got beat up by the wind when the dust was blowing.

We have received a little rain, but could really use some more.  My friends to the North and East are just getting into the field to plant.  I think I can safely say that the farmers from us to the west would gladly take some of their excess moisture right now.

I'll try to do better at keeping up on the corn progress, so my friends aren't calling to see how things are going. ;)

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Spoon Feeding Nitrogen to Wheat

Last week, the Farmer and I spent several days (I lost track of the week about Tuesday) giving the wheat a little fertilizer.  Just like the corn, on our farm we don't apply all the fertilizer the plants need at once.  If we get a big rain, it can dilute the fertilizer and possibly carry it deeper in the soil where the roots may not grow to reach it, so we try to apply fertilizer at different times.  We also try to apply when the plants need it.

The ground view level of the wheat last week.  It will really start growing fast with the warm days we are getting, the rain we were blessed with last week and the added nutrition.

On the wheat, holding back part of the fertilizer controls the growth of the plant.  We don't want the wheat to grow too fast before we are sure Spring has truly arrived.  A late freeze on big wheat is not a good thing just like your hostas don't like it when they are out of the ground and it freezes again.

Wheat really needs to be dark green to show that it has all the Nitrogen it needs to grow.  The neighbor's wheat definitely has a yellow tinge to it showing it needs some more nutrition (aka fertilizer).

Farmers use a combination of dry and liquid fertilizers.

The dry fertilizer is like the pellets you can sprinkle on your lawn or that you see mixed in your Miracle Gro potting soil.

The spreader we use just happens to be A LOT bigger.

The liquid fertilizer is like the Miracle Gro that you mix with water to apply.  We use our sprayer with special "tips" that put the fertilizer on in a stream.

I spent several hours a day last week in the truck hauling liquid fertilizer to The Farmer.  After school, the boys "got" to go with me.  Homework was done in the truck.

Still researching Massachusetts agriculture on mom's phone.

Anyone that thinks that all kids need an electronic device haven't met my 7 year old.  He begged to stay at the field to finish his project with a stick and the dirt in the road.

 Just makes me smile!  How about you?

 I couldn't get enough pictures of his intensity and dedication on this project.

Applying fertilizer takes way more time than if we applied it once, but it is better for the plants, the soil and the environment.  And it gives us lots of extra family time without the distractions of a TV.  :)

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Kansas Wheat Planting

 October in Kansas means it is time to plant wheat.  Before winter?  You might ask.  A farmers response would be yes!  In Kansas, we plant what is called Hard Red Winter Wheat.  It will start to grow this fall and when it gets cold it will go “dormant.”  If it gets REALLY cold, we hope that there is snow on top of the wheat to protect it from extreme temperatures. 

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I spent several days spreading fertilizer on the ground that was going to be planted to wheat.  Scientists know how much nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus is removed from a field for each bushel of grain we raise.  We apply fertilizer to replace those nutrients.  It looks quite a bit like the slow release granules you can buy for your flower beds at home.  We also take soil samples periodically to make sure we are not over or under applying the plant food to the crops.

Our local supplier delivered fertilizer to the field for me.

I used a fertilizer spreader pulled behind the tractor.  When you look at it, it looks a lot like the lawn and garden spreaders you might use in your yard; however, where you “eye ball” where you should walk next, I on the other hand have GPS that keeps me within 6 inches of where I need to be to apply accurately.  I was driving every 50 feet by the way. 

My GPS unit that helps me drive straight and the same distance from each and every pass.

The Farmer went out to plant the wheat after I was finished delivering the nutrients to the fields.  Each part of the country has a preferred planting date.  In our part of Kansas, the Hessian fly free date is October 15 (which happens to be very close to our average first frost date).  If your wheat is up and growing before that date and the Hessian flies are present they can cause problems next spring in the presence of disease.  We started a little early knowing that we were forecast to get a freeze the first weekend of October.  Since we are still in a drought, we also needed to plant while there was still moisture in the soil and possibly a chance of rain. 

It may look like there are a lot of weeds in the field, but after the freeze we had they are all dead.  We prefer to use mother nature to control weeds this time of year instead of chemicals.

As I have said before, we are no-till farmers.  We don’t till or “work” the ground before we plant.  It has greatly reduced how much fuel we use and leaving the residue from the previous crop provides a great mulch to the growing crop.  This was very well utilized this past summer with the extreme heat and lack of rainfall.

These corn plants died after the frost and will leave a nice layer of mulch to help hold in moisture this winter.

In a week or so, we will see the wheat growing in the rows, it will just look like grass from now until April.  The heads will start to develop and emerge closer to summer and it would look like the wheat you know and have seen in pictures.

One of our wheat fields last April after the heads had emerged.

We typically harvest our wheat in the middle of June; however, this year we were harvesting in May.  It has been such an unusual year.  Have you seen where my crop goes after harvest?

Curious when farmers plant and harvest the different crops?  Each part of the state is different and although this isn't perfectly our Southeast Kansas calendar it is a good post on In Between the Sunsets of Life.

What are you doing in your gardens and fields in preparation for winter?

Spoon Feeding Nitrogen to Corn Plants

This last week has been another week of take care of odds and ends that need to be done before the next season begins.  In the middle of all my activities, I tried to keep up with the news on the latest BSE case (mad cow disease).  From what I could tell, the media has done a really good job of keeping the information factual and balanced.

The Farmer decided it was time to spoon feed nitrogen to the corn crop.  We give nitrogen to the corn when we plant it and then we give it some more as it grows through the season.  Here is a picture of my ride for 2 days.  It was another of those balancing mother duties and getting grandparents to help out.  My oldest needed to go back to the doctor to make sure his ear infection had cleared up all the way.  Well, since The Farmer needed to get this nitrogen on the corn before the rain that was predicted for the weekend fell, my wonderful father volunteered to take him to the doctor so I could continue to haul nitrogen (My dad is telling everyone I have a fear of doctor’s offices which is not true, I just have work to do).  Thankfully, the ear infection is totally cleared up and we are going in full force again.  Well, here is a picture of us filling the sprayer.  I can haul 1000 gallons of fertilizer at a time and the sprayer holds 1250 gallons. 

The Farmer was applying 49 gallons of nitrogen per minute when he was going through the field.  He was applying the nitrogen through these tubes to put the nitrogen in a stream in between the corn rows.  If we would spray the nitrogen on the plants, it would burn the leaves of the plants and really set them back.  We try to apply the nitrogen before a rain is predicted so the rain will wash the nitrogen into the ground where the roots can utilize it. 

We could apply all the nitrogen the corn needs for the year before we plant the corn, but when we get a large rain the water moves the nitrogen away from where the corn needs it.  It is our way to protect the investment that we and our landlords put into fertilizer.  Fertilizer is one of the biggest expenses we have and the price is closely tied to the price of gas and natural gas.  The Farmer’s sprayer is a high tech piece of machinery.  I have tried not to learn how to run it, but I think he is going to try to teach me this year.  It actually has a computer that tracks its location through satellites and when he gets to the end of a field, the boom automatically shuts off.  If the field isn’t square, it can shut of the sections of the boom individually so he doesn’t overlap his applications.

We built a new barn this last year to house our fertilizer tanks.  We built concrete containment that will hold the contents of 110% of the largest tank.  It holds spills if I overfill the nurse trailer or if a tank leaks.   It keeps fertilizer from getting into the ground water if we have a leak and saves us money and the environment if it happens. 

When I was delivering the next to last load to the field, I got to thinking about how well I was doing keeping up with The Farmer and he didn’t have to wait on me as in the year’s past.  It suddenly hit me, for the last nine years, I have had a passenger in the truck with me and my youngest is in school all day this year.  I didn’t have someone asking for a snack, needing to go potty, or not wanting to get back in the car seat.  It was amazing how much I could get done in a day, but it was also kind of lonely.  I think a couple of my friends wondered why I called to chat with them.  The Farmer’s cousin used to laugh when I had the truck full of car seats, pulling the nurse trailer, he said I had a mobile nursery. 

Although, having the kids with me for the last nine years greatly increased the stress level during busy times of the year and slowed me down, I would not have traded that time for anything.  I know that my kids are only young once.  I feel very blessed that I have two sons that tell me on a regular basis that I am “the best mom ever.”  If being a little slow to get some of my work done was the cost to hear that multiple times a week, it was worth every minute of it.