I spent Tuesday walking corn fields in the area taking stalk
samples. After the crop is finished
growing, it reaches a point commonly known as “black layer.” After black layer stalk samples can be taken
to find the amount of nitrogen still in the plant. This is helpful in knowing if more nitrogen
was applied than needed. We also like to
take soil nitrogen samples at this time to see how much is left in the
soil. Just because it isn’t in the
plant, we shouldn’t assume that nitrogen isn’t in the soil.
If the plant prematurely dies there will be more nitrogen
left in the soil than what we will find in the plant. I have seen quite a bit of leaf disease in
plants. Stalk quality is really
deteriorating faster than normal. I
suspect that there may be more nitrogen left in the soil than in the
plant…..but maybe not. That’s why we
take samples.
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