Fruit and Vegetable News

 Author: Natalie Hoidal, UMN Extension educator Cover crops provide many ecosystem services, one of which is nitrogen. When you're making nutrient management decisions and calculating fertilizer needs, make sure you're including the nitrogen provided from your cover crop in your calculation.  In the video embedded below, graduate student Naomy Candelaria walks us through the process of estimating the nitrogen contribution from your cover crop.

Author: Shane Bugeja, Local Extension Educator, Blue Earth and Le Sueur counties with edits and review from Natalie Hoidal & Carl Rosen With the advent of soil and foliar testing, we can analyze dozens of specific nutrients and tailor applications of fertilizer to each field and crop. With this wealth of information, several philosophies about how best to feed the soil have emerged. These include the “sufficiency/feed the plant” and the “build and maintain” methods, where the amount of fertilizer is determined by maximum profit or lowest risk, respectively. However, one alternative approach deals with soil nutrient ratios rather than pounds per acre. Intro to the Albrecht Method Ratio-based fertility programs first emerged from potassium research in the 1930’s and 40’s in New Jersey. The agronomists there noticed that the highest quality alfalfa plants tended to have similar Ca/Mg/K ratios within their leaves and stem. They then extrapolated that an “ideal soil” must also h...

Sampling apple leaves in June, 2019. Photo: Gail Hudson. Authors: Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, Extension Educators for Fruit and Vegetable Production Why do a foliar test? In fruit crops:  There are 14 essential plant nutrients derived from the soil that are considered essential for the growth of all plants, and foliar tests tell us whether the plants have optimal levels of these nutrients or if fertilizer is needed.  These nutrients are divided into six macro-nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S), and eight micronutrients: iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl) and nickel (Ni).    When done properly, foliar testing is the most reliable way to determine fertility needs for fruit crops. While soil tests determine the nutrient contents, pH and organic matter of the soil, there are many factors that influence the ability of the plants t...

In Season 3, episode 9   of What's Killing My Kale, Natalie talked to Dr. Paulo Pagliari, an associate professor of soil science at the University of Minnesota, about nutrient management in wet soils.  Though this spring has been relatively dry, our climate is becoming wetter overall, and we may still see heavy rainfall and flooding this season. In preparation, we interviewed Paulo to learn about best practices. Much of the information in this episode is also relevant for normal conditions in addition to flooding conditions. In this episode we discussed: Image: Anne Sawyer Best practices for split applications and when to apply different fertilizer sources How to respond if you suspect that a heavy rainfall or flooding event resulted in nitrogen leaching Foliar testing Best practices for manure applications to prevent leaching How to adapt your nutrient management practices in reduced tillage systems Click here to download and listen to the episode directly. ...

In Season 3, episode 8 of What's Killing My Kale, Natalie talked to Local Extension Educators Claire LaCanne (Rice & Steele Counties) and Shane Bugeja (Le Sueur and Blue Earth Counties) about their recent trials to measure soil biological activity.  Photo: Claire LaCanne With increasing interest in soil health over the years, at-home trials such as the soiled undies test and the tea bag test have become increasingly common. But do they work? Claire and Shane conducted trials to compare these common at-home tests to more sophisticated lab tests of soil biological activity.  In this episode we discussed: How to conduct these tests, and whether they work How soil biological activity relates to other aspects of soil health such Situations in which these types of test might be appropriate Click here to download and listen to the episode directly.   You can also listen to all of our episodes on  Apple Podcasts.