Ashburn, GA, (very close to Heaven!) | Yes, indeed, Farmpond hit on something with his comment that perhaps the low yielding spots may be higher fertility due to disuse. Look beyond fertility in those zones for soil texture, compaction, nematodes, water ponding, etc.
Perhaps the topsoil layer is thinner there. In which case some organic soil amendments such as litter, or as we sometimes use down here, something like cotton gin trash, can really build soil by giving the roots something to actually grow in!
If the soil is lower CEC, some of those spots can use higher rates of Nitrogen, and actually put a little less on the high yielding areas, because they are going to be strong anyway.... uh, perhaps.... We usually see high phosphorus in those poor zones from disuse, but sometimes the potash, calcium and magnesium levels may be mediocre to marginal.
These are things we spend time scratching our heads a lot about. I hate designating zones as "just sorry dirt", although that may be the case. Why is it sorry? Can we effectively, even if economically, address some of the crop performance problems of those zones? You and your agronomist can address these things and maybe hit right on some correctible problems. |
Integrating grid sampling with yield data?
