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NE Iowa | I'm from NE Iowa and have the privilege of farming several fields along gravel roads. The pH is definitely higher along the road. If I soil sample a field in areas near the road the pH will likely be 7.4 or so. If you sample a 1/8 of a mile away from the road is can be down to 6.4. The high pH near the road can cause herbicide carryover issues. Was the field beans last year and is so what did you use for pre herbicides if any? Also, all of the limestone in NE Iowa is dolomitic which means it has a lot of magnesium. High magnesium content in soils is believed to cause crusting, compaction, poor water infiltration, etc. One of the biggest issues I've found with high Mg content soils is that it takes more N to raise good corn. In soils in central Iowa you might be able to raise a bu of corn on 0.8# of N but in the high Mg soil areas I've found it takes more like 1.2# of N per bu.. These are just some things off the top of my head that may be causing what you are seeing. | |
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poor stalks and gravel road
