Low Potassium Tests

Several articles this fall have been written about low moisture and low potassium (K) tests.  I got some results back from the lab that bears that out.  Test levels actually dropped around 75 pounds per acre on average, but some of them dropped over 100 pounds per acre.  This illustrates once again the importance of soil testing often.  If we were relying on 4 year old tests, this might be difficult to interpret.  P test levels also dropped, but Magnesium went up.  I need to get out my soil chemistry books and try to learn more here. 

It also illustrates the importance of maintaining a high fertility level in your fields.  Despite the lowered K levels, my customer should not be hurt by the lower levels because they are still well beyond the "critical" level.  One reason that we want to maintain high fertility is that levels vary from day to day and week to week during the growing season.  We do not want to be caught short. It just happens that a low availability period has extended into the fall this year.  We have had some rain so I plan to go back and recheck a few spots now.