I like the idea of taking a shovel of your soil here and there and doing a bit of your own testing for its texture and roots and colors and even the smell of the earth. You can learn allot from observation on what is present in your dirt. Good post.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Hey Tom, thanks. Hope your property is shaping up well for this season. All the best to you.

Glad I found your channel, you explain stuff well. I have property with sandy, crappy soil. Looking to get it better as well

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for the kind words. Sand makes it tough, but it can be done, just need to stop tilling and figure out how to keep the moisture in it, and weeds out of it. You'll get there, just need a bit of time. All the best to you.

Thanks so much for the shout out!’ You keep up the great work!! Happy to help anytime.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Sure thing Albert, and thanks for your help on the soil samples. All the best to you.

Mark, another great video. Soil samples - I’ve decided to do them “from time to time” with my no-till 5-year experiment. And like you, I’ve seen the color of my soil darken and earth worms are showing up. I’m only 2 year in, but seeing some improvement. You mentioned the carbon vs nitrogen difference in decomposition time. I am trying to get enough slow-to-breakdown cereal rye and sorghum-like stuff to choke the weeds. Spring after my 1st fall crop I burned plots w herbicide because I had so much clover and brassicas I thought it would choke weeds. In no time my soil was bare. Nitrogenee stuff leaves almost no trace, at least in Texas. I’d love to have your summer stand of carbon-rich stems to drill through and cover the soil. I’m intrigued by your use of structure to put the deer where you want them in the plots, can’t wait to find out how that works!

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Curt. Yup, that kind of stuff disappears real fast, gotta find the right combo to get it right for your area. We'll both get this thing figured out, just need a bit more time. Best of luck to you this season!

You actually have a good channel. 👍

@bradbrockhaus633

11 ай бұрын

Yes I really enjoy it as well

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! All the best to you.

for sand especially, I would do some test areas of 50 pound quantities of phosphate rock, greensand, and granite dust. Sand is short on minerals. Mowing can also enhance organic accumulation by preventing seeding and promoting vegetative mass.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

I'll have to look into this, I have never heard of a couple of those amendments you mentioned. I also like your idea on mowing, maybe I'll give this a try next year, too. All the best to you.

Your are on the right track. Keep plugging away. Informative videos. I appreciate your thought process

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thanks David! All the best to you.

Thank you for all the great videos. Time of year can play a big role on sample results also.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! I never thought about the time of year having an impact, maybe I should try a fall test? All the best to you.

For anyone interested- a few things we can do to help maximize consistency. 1. Use soil probe 2. All samples same depth 3. Same lab every time 4. Use gps or tpost in a field so you’re taking from the same location each time. 5. Take same time of year. Rainfall to microbial activity changes nutrient availability as the year goes on. Doing these things will help you with getting consistent results.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Albert!

Mark....I don't rely much on soil samples. I feel the proof is in the quality of the food plot and how your ground looks to you. I use a little fertilizer on my plots and try to rotate them each year. I plant 1/2 in a legume one year and the other half in Brassicas and then the next year flip them. We generally have had good plots in the past, other than the years we relied on no till buckwheat. We are currently lightly tilling, broadcasting, and then cultipacking. We also are no tilling some of the plots. Just planted last weekend and had some rain on them so we will see how they do, I appreciate the ideas you share with us...keep up the good work. Bob

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

Thanks Bob. Hard to believe after the way the year got started, but we are getting plenty of rain now, 3" last week! All the best to you.

@rfb7117

11 ай бұрын

WOW...our food plots were just starting to come, and now we have a 20% chance of A rain in the next 10 days. I hope you will not be getting the same. We may just be over seeding everything with oats and WR. Bob

I also have property in michigan and what I have found is that true no till/no herbicide helps to improve the soil via soil sample however the use of glyphosate on weeds or crops to terminate either skews the results of the tests or the use of glyphosate does not allow the plants to break down properly to add nutrition to the soil. I have been testing this in my own fields and found this to be consistent, ie a field with glyphosate will show low organic material but a field crimped will show high. I am not sure if this is the chemicals skewing the results in the test or if it is really having an affect.

@theback40

11 ай бұрын

That is a great observation on your part. Not sure that is what skewed the results this time since I took the sample BEFORE I hit it with herbicide, but that is a good thing to keep in mind, for sure. All the best to you.

@bradbrockhaus633

11 ай бұрын

Very interesting Need to definitely take this into consideration