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| Soil fertility is like the human diet in two aspects. There are several methods that work, and that people tend to get religious about the method that works for them.
In my experience (working with farmers in the acidic soils of the eastern US), the first couple of years using Kinseys recommendations are expensive. But it gets cheaper after you have achieved his base saturation percentages. If you are growing low value commodity crops, it's tough to stick it out. If you are growing high value crops, then soil amendments are a small part of the expenses anyways and it's easier to stomach it. Supposedly after you have balanced your soil fertility your N efficiency goes up and crop quality increases. My only experience trying it is with grain. My farm was in poor shape and any soil model would have improved it. But I believe that Kinseys method is as good as any other and all of the growers I know that used him at least 5 years have stayed with him since then. His book is informative, but it's written in a story-telling style. His basic soil model is in there if you take good notes. If you have extreme soils with exchange capacities below 7 or above 30 (I think) his model is a little different than stated in the book. You also have to use his desired testing lab because there isn't another lab using the same chemical tests. If you use a different lab his soil model percentages are useless.
Edited by aquafina 1/16/2023 14:18
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Kinsey Soil-analysis
