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Central Iowa | I’ve done this very thing of testing to 24 in. Found a tight compacted layer 3 inches thick at the 7-10 inch depth and decent fertility down to the 18-20 inch level. Bought a used in-line ripper and hit all my bean stubble in the fall going to corn. Gambled that this would allow access to the stored fertility, so I skipped my fall P&K application the fall I in-line ripped. It worked. I left test strips in each field to test my theory and it showed up on the yield maps. The ripped acres average 15 bu better. I realize some of that increase was no doubt from better root growth, but having access to the deeper fertility in my mind had to help. Not wanting to “mine” my soils, so I started back putting P&K at a slightly lower rate the next fall and being more cautious to not re-compact the soil so the roots can access the deeper fertility. | |
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24 inch soil samples
