Episode 296: Boots In The Field Report March 15, 2023

The question to ask: “Is the soil dry enough?” In this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers why this questions is so important, with 80% of the service calls for compaction that he goes on can all be traced back to this first pass in the spring. If growers are doing vertical tillage, asking is the soil dry enough to handle the weight of the equipment without creating compaction? If doing tillage, what is the moisture like below the tillage layer, is it too moist and will create compaction? This also applies to when to run the burn down pass to make sure you won’t have wheel tracks to deal with all season long. Ken also cautions growers about using spring anhydrous in the strip, wanting either rain, using RTK to stay off strips when planting or at least 2 weeks between that and planting to help tame down the anhydrous core pH.