Food plot soil sample

[Novashooter]

I've been putting in food plots on some private land for the past 3 years with moderate success. This was the first year I've taken a soil sample. This is a completely new field, it was nothing but grass and flowers in the spring. I killed it off with multiple sprays of Roundup. On the final one I pulled a small disc around to break everything up, and I sprayed one more time for any left over green. The next day I took my soil sample, and planted my seeds. About 2/3rds is northwoods whitetails fall forage blend, the other 1/3 is sweet feast brassica. The total area of the field is just a touch over 1/2 acre according to onx maps.

I'll post my soil samples below. I've never tried reading one before, and I don't know what ideal levels are. I can follow the fertilizer chart, but I also notice the magnesium level is listed as very high. In reading online, it seems sulfur is often recommended to lower magnesium level, yet I don't see it recommended on this soil report. I notice something in the top right listed as CEC, what is that? Also, is there anything wrong with a 34% organic matter? I often see it online where guys have 3% or something and want to raise it. I've never seen anyone talk about a crazy number like 34%.

 

[Stache Attack]

Hey there! I’d be glad to help you with this. Could you send seed tags of the two blends you put in? I’m a crop advisor in Montana so Alabama might be a push, but I do look at a lot of samples and these seem to be intriguing!

 

[Novashooter]

I have no idea what a seed tag is. I'll link the two below. I'm actually not in Alabama, I blacked out my name and adress. Alabama is the testing facility. This sample is from Alexandria, Minnesota. I doubt it will ever be perfect. This is kind of low land. Not swampy, but it gets mushy in the spring. As long as I get an acceptable crop, I'll be plenty happy.

Fall Forage Blend | Northwoods Whitetails, Inc.

This is one of our favorite fall plantings. It contains oats, forage peas, winter wheat and rye grain. It is a great early season bow hunting offering, as ...

northwoodswhitetails.com

Sweet Feast Brassica Blend | Northwoods Whitetails, Inc.

Brassica is an important part of any food plot program. Feeding deer when the cold arrives and the snow flies is just what our brassica blend does. With for ...

northwoodswhitetails.com

 

[Stache Attack]

How’d you take the soil sample? Probe or shovel?
Wondering on depth too

 

[Novashooter]

Trowel, 1"-6"deep, 15 spots, plastic bucket per instruction.

 

[Stache Attack]

I would ignore your organic matter results likely collected duff/dead plant material in top 1/2” of soil or above ground.

 

[Stache Attack]

If you’re topdressing(spreading dry fert on top of soil) I would recommend a 50-20-30-15s

 

[Stache Attack]

Phos will move slowly and benefit more next year potassium is a little faster and maybe see some benefit. Sulfur and nitrogen will be available this crop

 

[Novashooter]

The top 2" is a thick loamy layer of roots and I assume dead plants. Think like compost. I tried my best to move fresh dead plants out of the way. Would I get better results peeling away that layer and taking samples 2"+ down?

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I've read a few articles about guys skipping sampling entirely. Instead, they determine what yield they want out of their food plots and then add fertilizer based on what said yield goal requires. This is easier for row crop than a seed mix, but thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[LoggerDan]

I’ve never made a food plot, but I know a few things about horticulture.

Main thing you need to ensure is a proper p.h, and adequate fertilizer, that supports different plant growth functions, at different stages of life.N P K

Nitrogen for vegetive green growth, early life, potassium for cellular growth and root set growth and phosphorus for seed set and flowering. This isn’t a complete description of course, but it’s the main thing. Most fertilizer has enough trace elements to cover your secondary plants needs. But there’s also too much of a good thing, especially with nitrogen. Too much nitrogen towards the beginning of flowering and seed set and plants get lanky and don’t bear fruit properly.

None of this matters if the plant doesn’t like the ph of the soil. Pick acid or sweet plants or alter ph. Pretty easy to do all of these naturally without poison. Too much nitrogen over time causes a buildup of toxic salt that kills roots

 

[Novashooter]

I wasn't sure what to expect from a soil sample. Right away it paid for itself since I now know not to add lime. My PH is nearly perfect. I'm sure I could dump a ton of 10-10-10 fertilizer and be fine, but that is throwing money on the ground.

My #1 question now is 450 ppm magnesium in my soil a bad thing? Is that level acceptable, or should I add something to lower it?

 

[Stache Attack]

I have 4 samples on my desk ranging from 520-700ppm magnesium and
Calcium from 4500-6000ppm. I would say 450 ppm mag is high, but assume your parent soil is naturally producing it. FYI these sample just raised 80 bushel hard red, wheat 90 bu malt barley, and 40 bu canola so I think you’d be fine in a food plot!

 

[Novashooter]

Sweet, thank you.

 

[Starfire]

I would not worry about the Magnesium. It just means you have enough. I am surprised your phosphorus is so low. MN soils are usually high in phosphorus. I am north of Alexandria MN and I have excess. 34% organic matter seems wrong. I would call the lab and ask them to recalculate and check if they slipped a decimal. It sometimes happens in data entry.

 

[Novashooter]

I would have to think the low phosphorus has more to do with this being a less than ideal location. If it were ideal, it would have been farm field 100 years go. It's very possible I took less than ideal soil samples. I did the best I could, but I'll try and focus them a little deeper next time.

I didn't get a chance to ask the local place about fertilizer, so I'll probably go with 10-10-10, and 0-20-20 according to the chart. I'll put that on sunday, and let it go. Maybe in a month I'll take another sample and see what it looks like.

 

[Stache Attack]

What’s the point of going 10-10-10 if you have a sample and it tells you what you need? I feel like you’re not paying for what you need. I know they recommended these generic blends but that a not for farm test will give out.

 

[Novashooter]

What’s the point of going 10-10-10 if you have a sample and it tells you what you need? I feel like you’re not paying for what you need. I know they recommended these generic blends but that a not for farm test will give out.

I would have rather use something else, but it seems 10-10-10 is the standard. I couldn't find 0-20-20, or any other low to no nitrogen either. I've been thinking about seeing if a local farming place might let me fill some buckets if they have the individual stuff.

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

You'll get more practical advice from others, but from back in my soils days CEC is cation exchange capacity. Basically, soils differ in their ability to hold on to nutrients - you can have too much (not available to plants) or too little (they just flush out with water). I believe 19 is good, right in the sweet spot. 34% organic is pretty high, and as was said before might be a sampling artifact, but generally speaking more OM is better than less.

As a quick pass, your soil looks good. Things to tweak no doubt, but no glaring problems. Don't see any reason to disregard their recommendations. (Been a while since I was in the game though).

 

[wind gypsy]

Agree that the organic matter % cant be right, you must have got a good bit of root or duff in the samples.

You are pretty deficient in P and K. Does this field happen to be an old hay field? I've got poorly drained hay fields that I recently converted to plots and they have similar P&K #'s probably from all the nutrients being hauled off in hay bales for decades with no fertility given back. I don't have perfect pH like you do though, that's a blessing. Also wouldn't worry at all about the magnesium #'s, they are still in a good ratio with Calcium.

The NWW blends you're seeding aren't direct comparisons to the imperial whitetail blends they are making rec's for. I'd follow their recs best you can for the imperial attraction blend. While the NWW fall forage blend does have some peas, it's got 3 cereals, that and your brassicas will all be thankful for the nitrogen and they'll all hold up to browse better than your peas anyway which will likely be wiped out by deer shortly after germinating.

There should be a pro-ag farmers co-op branch near you in Alexandria that carries a variety of fertilizer options. I'd fertilize as early as you can, ideally before a rain (forecast is too damn dry right now..). Get a bag of urea (only nitrogen) and throw it over your planting a few weeks after germination.

You're pretty late in the game for brassicas, they wont put on much for tubers this year but should still put out some green forage for ya.

Don't stress it too much, you're planting stuff that should grow and attract deer if you get moisture.

A couple related links:

https://www.wardlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WardGuide-Master-20211118.pdf

Edit to add: Next year, broadcast the fertilizer before pulling the disk through the plot to incorporate it into the soil. The P takes a while to move through soil especially higher CEC soil like you have so any help you can give it is good. The N is prone to evaporating if left dry on the surface for a while.