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Iowa Soil Health Workshop Planned for August 4th

Topics will include fertility tests, cover crops, and evaluating soil health with a microscope

As we enter the harvest season, we know we need to be looking forward to the next growing season at the same time. Having plans in place for your 2022 fertilization program before harvest starts is a good idea. Making these plans is tougher this year due to variable yields across the state due to drought stress this season, and the fact that fertilizer prices have risen a lot since this time last year.

In 2019 Iowa had over 460,000 prevented plant acres. As we prepare for the 2020 growing season, one concern we sometimes hear about with prevented plant acres is fallow syndrome. Fallow syndrome happens when the populations of “good fungi” known as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) are reduced due to the lack of actively growing roots. These “good fungi” help with nutrient cycling and plant nutrient uptake, particularly for phosphorus (P) in corn. Fallow syndrome is only a concern if there was little to no plant growth in a field last year (i.e. no cover crop and no weeds).