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Freeburg, IL | I listened to an agronomist speak the other day that raised some good points on higher pops and expanding the root system. Here is a summary and some things to think about (at least I'm thinking about them...).
This relates a lot to pushing higher populations than 20-30 years ago.
1. Dig a few roots and see just how deep the bulk of the root mass is. In most of what I see, the mass is ~3" deep. This isn't to say that we have roots that are going deeper, but when you are trying to shake dirt off of the roots or wash roots, you wind up with a chunk of dirt about 3" deep. This means that we are doing a marvelous job of pulling nutrients in the top 3 inches of soil.
With that being said, there is ~300,000 pounds of soil in an inch. So if we are farming most of the nutrients in the top 3 inches of the soil, we have access to ~900,000 pounds of soil.
Here is where you can start plugging in your own numbers. 20-30 years ago we were planting corn at 20,000 plants per acre. 900,000 pounds divided by 20,000 plants equals 45. So picture in your head 20,000 five gallon buckets in your front yard and each one contains 45# of soil (it helps if you picture a corn plant in each bucket).
Now, fast forward to today. We're planting 30,000 corn plants per acre and the majority of the root mass I'm digging today is 3" deep. So we are still farming 900,000 pounds of soil per acre. On the other side of your driveway picture 30,000 buckets with corn plants in them and (900,000/30,000=30#) only 30 pounds of soil.
What have we changed? We are farming more plants with less dirt on the same acre! Now here is where the challenge comes in. This is what I'm pondering for our farm. If I can get that thick rootmass to go to 4" deep, just one more inch that I'm at now, I'm farming 1,200,000 pounds of soil for nutrients and still planting 30,000 plants!
Now move to your backyard and imagine 30,000 five gallon buckets with 40 pounds of soil (1,200,000 / 30,000 = 40). Or if I can get to 4 1/2" of rootmass, I'm back to farming 45 pounds of soil per plant, the same as dad and grandpa were years ago.
I just thought that this was such a good visual that was presented that it should be shared on this board. We are doing some deep chiseling and I know we are burying P & K deeper than 3" and now I'm going to work on how do we get to it.
For a great visual, the next time your wife buys some potting or top soil in a 50# bag, dump it into a bucket. Put that bucket on a scale and scoop out 5#. Mark a soil line or take a picture. Then scoop out another 15# and see the difference! WOW!
Here is a little visual. I should credit John McGuillicuddy for putting the idea in my head.
Edited by Tim..swIL 7/20/2006 11:17
 (farming deep.JPG)
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 farming deep.JPG (22KB - 482 downloads)
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Expanding the root system....(from below)
