What did your soil tell you this season?

Harvest gives you a number. Tons, bushels, pounds per acre. It's the number everyone asks about, and it matters. But it only tells you how the season ended. It doesn't tell you why one field beat another.

The why is usually in the soil. This is the best time of year to go looking for it, while you can still picture what each field looked like in the middle of summer.

Four things worth writing down

1. Where did moisture hold? Think back to the driest stretch of the season. Some fields kept going longer between irrigations or rains. Others showed it first. Soil structure and organic matter have a lot to do with how much water a soil can hold and how easily it takes water in.
2. Where did water sit or run off? If water ponded, crusted the surface or ran down the row, make a note of where. That usually points to a structure problem that is worth a closer look.
3. What did the roots look like? A spade will tell you a lot. How deep did the roots go? Did they spread, or did they stay shallow? If you didn't dig during the season, it's still worth doing in a good spot and a poor spot and comparing the two.
4. Where did the crop look hungry even though it was fed? Nutrients can be in the soil and still not be available to the plant. If one part of a field lagged on the same fertilizer program as the rest, mark it for a soil test.

Turn the notes into a plan

Pull soil samples from your best area and your worst area separately and compare them. Then take the results and your notes to your agronomist. Ten minutes of notes now gives that conversation something real to work with.

Where humic acids fit

Humic acids come from the breakdown of plant and microbial matter, and they are part of what makes a soil fertile. In the soil they help with nutrient retention and water holding capacity, they give beneficial soil microorganisms a source of carbon, and they support better soil structure.

Omnia's K-HUMATE® 26 and K-HUMATE® S100 are concentrated humic acid products, sourced and produced in Australia. Rhizovator™ is a concentrated humic acid blended with seaweed (Durvillaea potatorum), designed to feed the microbial community in the soil.

They are one part of a soil program, and they work alongside your fertilizer program, not in place of it. Rates depend on your organic matter content and soil texture, so talk to your local agronomist about whether they fit your fields. The tech sheets for all three are on omniausa.org.

Before the season fades

None of this takes long. Walk the fields, dig a few holes, write down what you saw. You'll be glad you did when you sit down to plan.