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Little River, TX | Just wondering, as the California Extension type who did much of the work says the soil test was good but the tissue test showed a deficiency. What they found was the cotton did not respond to top dressing but alfalfa does.
On my soil the alfalfa will be deficient when the soil test is saying VH K.
It is common knowledge these CenTex soils are rich in potash. Until we use tissue testing. Here below 300 ppm K soil test will be down close to 1.00% K tissue analysis.
I do not become concerned until the hay testing, NIR, gets close to 2.00% K in the mineral analysis. If your hay samples are above 2% forget all this. I pull tissue samples the last year a stand is in, and if low probably will plow under 1,000 to 1,500 lbs/A K2O the next time I establish alfalfa in that field.
At one time I had the idea top dressing phosphate would short circuit or delay the effects of low potash, mainly water use efficiency. A fellow at Perdue showed me that adding high levels of phosphate into potash needing soil is counter productive. The people in Oklahoma show much the same idea. | |
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Potash on alfalfa in Nevada...
