Agronomist calls soil conditions great for spring planting

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

A year or two can make quite a difference.

That?s the scenario for farmers who have the crop in the bin and the combine in the machine shed.

Both the 2012 and 2013 growing season were marked by late-summer droughts and dry falls.

Zip ahead to 2014 and the word ?drought? wasn?t heard all summer and abundant fall moisture has field tiles running said Virgil Schmitt, Iowa State University Extension regional agronomist in eastern Iowa.

?You have to go back to about 2011 to find a situation identical to the one we have this year,? Schmitt said, referring to abundant top and subsoil moisture heading into the winter.

Even the early big chill we are currently experiencing will have minimal impact on the soil, he said. ?The cold snap won?t really affect the soil, it just shut down field work, but if that it is causing farmers to forget about deep tillage, that is a good thing.?

Deep tillage, practiced by some farmers, is a no-no in Schmitt?s book, especially when the soil is laden with moisture. ?When the ground is this wet, deep tillage just makes it worse?The opportunity for wind and water erosion is great when you are turning everything black.?

During recent times, many farmers have been planting cover crops, such as winter rye, wheat, turnips and tillage radish. The cover crops protect against soil erosion and also relieve compaction.

?The roots of wheat and rye have good penetrating ability. That helps build organic matter in soil and soil structure. That helps to hold water and also drain excess water,? Schmitt said.

Some farmers, however, are thinking twice about cover crops, largely because it is an expenditure without a supporting income. ?With the decline in crop prices, farmers are starting to look at it differently. Cover crops are an ?all cash out, no cash in? proposition. Sure it helps the soil and builds organic matter, but farmers see it as not getting much back,? the agronomist remarked.

Planting cover crops costs the farmer about $30 an acre and sometimes more, Schmitt noted. ?The whole issue of cash flow is becoming the key.?

One of the innovative techniques gaining steam is ?bioreactors? or wood chips being placed at the end of a tile line. The bioreactor takes nitrogen out of the water before draining into a holding pond. Then in the summer, the water is pumped back through the tile line in a sub-irrigation method which not only adds water but also the stored nitrogen during traditionally dry July and August.

Looking ahead to the 2015 planting, Schmitt said that the moisture will be there to get the crops off to a good start. ?Farmers like to have a good amount of moisture (in the ground) going into the crop season,? he began. ?This year we have more than normal.?

That, he continued, can be a good news, bad news situation. The good news is that it will provide a buffer if we have a dry spring, the bad news is that if we have a wet spring, there could be flooding and delays in planting.

But heading into the winter, soil moisture is good because soil temperatures do not vary as much in wet as dry soil. ?That means we probably won?t have as deep a freeze as last year. The wetter the soil, the less the frost penetration,? Schmitt explained.

Naturally, there is a good and bad news circumstance accompanying a shallower freeze. While a shallower freeze helps foster more freeze-thaw cycles which helps prevent compaction, a shallower freeze doesn?t take care of the insects like a deep freeze.

?We had very few insect problems last summer, due to the cold winter,? Schmitt noted. ?Insects are like people, the harder the winter is on us, the harder it is on them.?

Snow also can be a factor in looking ahead to spring. Schmitt said that snow acts as a good insulator. ?The more snow we have the more opportunity for insects to survive. However, the less snow we have, the more chance for freeze-thaw cycles which is good for the ground.?

The 90-day forecast by the National Weather Service includes normal temperatures for November-January with slightly below-normal precipitation.

Another weather phenomenon that could be a factor is El Nino. El Ninos bring more consistent and seasonable weather and tend to be free of weather extremes i.e. heat waves and cold snaps.

However, El Nino, which was forecast to begin forming last summer, still is not active enough to affect the Midwest and it could be January or February until we feel the impact, Schmitt said, stating that even after El Nino forms it will take time to reach our section of the country.

The moisture is there, Schmitt said. ?Farmers should apply some fertilizer and lime yet this fall if they can but if not, it can be applied before spring planting. All in all, things now are looking good for the spring.?