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Plant Tissue Testing may be Useful this Season but be Aware of Potential Drought effects on the Results

June 12, 2023

Variable rainfall and soil temperatures across Iowa since April have resulted in variable planting dates and early crop growth. As of today, June 12, upper soil moisture ranges from deficient to about normal. Some producers and consultants are wondering if the dry conditions are affecting the normal crop uptake of soil nutrients and plant tissue-test results. Tissue testing is an in-season diagnostic tool that can be useful to assess plant nutrient sufficiency but is affected by deficient or excessive soil moisture.

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Thinking of Plant Tissue Testing this Season? Beware of Drought or Excess Moisture Effects

July 9, 2021

Corn tassels began showing in some Iowa fields this past week and in the next week corn in most fields will be at the R1 stage (silking). Most soybean fields are at R2 or will be at the R2 to R3 growth stage soon. Nutrient concentrations vary greatly with crop growth stage and plant part sampled. Calibrations of tissue tests based on field response trials for corn and soybean in Iowa and other states have been for leaves at the R1 growth stage in corn and the R2 to R3 growth stage in soybean.

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Value of Soybean Tissue Testing for Phosphorus and Potassium

June 13, 2016
Soybean PK Testing graph

Soil testing is a useful and commonly used diagnostic tool for making phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilization decisions. Tissue testing has been suggested for decades as another tool for these and other nutrients. However, tissue testing has not been widely implemented for P or K in Iowa or the North Central region because of inconclusive results from limited field calibration research based on crop yield response. Iowa State University (ISU) has no P or K tissue test interpretations for any crop. Therefore, research was conducted to evaluate the value of tissue testing for P and K in soybean.

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