Soil test results

[Ih885xl]

Hi there been covered before but ofcourse each farm is different. Never had soil testing done for decades as only a small suckler farm but trying to get things more productive with the 60 acre we farm. I will be getting advice from the company who did the soil testing however I expect this to be biased somewhat as they sell fertiliser so after a second opinion. We had about 80% of it limed 2t/acre in 2022 which seems to have worked as PH is mostly right as we are on clay soil with very little top soil. It is clear that I shouldn’t be putting any more P on in most places, but regarding K how do I address this as does the magnesium affect this too? It is all permanent pasture and has been for at least 40 years never ploughed or over seeded, it gets the muck from the cows which has straw in but never have enough to cover all the land. Occasionally the cutting land gets fert for 2nd cut. Some is cut twice a year, some cut once then grazed, and some just grazed. Thanks for any advice hoping to get soil and drainage sorted then possibly do some reseeding.

 

[Headless chicken]

That’s some pretty high P there. I’d still be chasing the PH up to as close to 7 as you can but your gain will be reduced on perm pasture compared to fresh leys.
K can be bought separately as a straight. Careful of application rates in spring as you get luxury uptakes.

your MG levels are plenty high enough. Is your soil sitting wet? Worth doing an in depth analysis to look at the mg to calcium ratio

 

[Headless chicken]

Wonder if your MG is locking up your K

 

[Ih885xl]

Yes did wonder this is that something that gypsum fixes

 

[Ih885xl]

That’s some pretty high P there. I’d still be chasing the PH up to as close to 7 as you can but your gain will be reduced on perm pasture compared to fresh leys.
K can be bought separately as a straight. Careful of application rates in spring as you get luxury uptakes.

your MG levels are plenty high enough. Is your soil sitting wet? Worth doing an in depth analysis to look at the mg to calcium ratio

Yes alot of the soil will be wet as have some drainage issues to sort and probably all quite compacted

 

[Fergieman]

Nk&S fertiliser no P.

 

[Headless chicken]

Yes alot of the soil will be wet as have some drainage issues to sort and probably all quite compacted

Get an in depth sample done. I think you want a 7:1 cal- mag. I think @lazy farmer did a lot on this and may correct my ration. You may find it’s just all stuck together because of the high mag

 

[ollie989898]

Your pH generally looks very good.

P generally looks very good, too.

Magnesium isn't something you can really affect, your levels are the way they are mostly because of the clay content of your soil. You won't ever change that but in reality it is a good thing because clay soils don't run out of drink in hot summers.

Fields that are low in K- potassium, target them with manure/slurry but you need to be careful with potassium on grazing land because it can cause issues with the availability of magnesium to your stock and cause staggers. Generally it is safer to apply potassium (slurry contains lots of this) to grassland you intend to cut for silage first and then let stock eat the regrowth.

Any fertiliser you intend to apply to bump grass growth should contain nitrogen and sulphur.

Where you have high levels of phosphate you technically won't benefit from applying slurry there as it will only serve to drive these higher still.

You can buy potash in a variety of formats or obtain it from organic sources but again wants to be applied for cutting or applied at the tail end of the autumn. It won't go anywhere and will bump grass growth next spring. If it's only for limited areas then bagged MOP probably the simplest bet or something like aftercut fertiliser which would contain some nitrogen and some potassium but no P.

Test everything for pH in a few years though I doubt there would be a huge sea change in the above unless you really are farming it quite intensively.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You clearly need some potash
Apart from the one field that clearly needs lime. I would not stress about the rest we don't normally apply lime until it drops under 6

Optimum Ph

Soil pH and liming recommendations for arable and grass systems | AHDB

Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) guidance on the management of soil acidity and alkalinity.

ahdb.org.uk

 

[Ih885xl]

Your pH generally looks very good.

P generally looks very good, too.

Magnesium isn't something you can really affect, your levels are the way they are mostly because of the clay content of your soil. You won't ever change that but in reality it is a good thing because clay soils don't run out of drink in hot summers.

Fields that are low in K- potassium, target them with manure/slurry but you need to be careful with potassium on grazing land because it can cause issues with the availability of magnesium to your stock and cause staggers. Generally it is safer to apply potassium (slurry contains lots of this) to grassland you intend to cut for silage first and then let stock eat the regrowth.

Any fertiliser you intend to apply to bump grass growth should contain nitrogen and sulphur.

Where you have high levels of phosphate you technically won't benefit from applying slurry there as it will only serve to drive these higher still.

You can buy potash in a variety of formats or obtain it from organic sources but again wants to be applied for cutting or applied at the tail end of the autumn. It won't go anywhere and will bump grass growth next spring. If it's only for limited areas then bagged MOP probably the simplest bet or something like aftercut fertiliser which would contain some nitrogen and some potassium but no P.

Test everything for pH in a few years though I doubt there would be a huge sea change in the above unless you really are farming it quite intensively.

Thanks for this sounds like best applying some MOP to cutting ground as will have some muck on too don’t have access to slurry in spring then some NKS after cutting and then do the grazing ground in the back end with MOP

 

[Ih885xl]

You clearly need some potash
Apart from the one field that clearly needs lime. I would not stress about the rest we don't normally apply lime until it drops under 6

Optimum Ph

Soil pH and liming recommendations for arable and grass systems | AHDB

Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) guidance on the management of soil acidity and alkalinity.

ahdb.org.uk

Yes just wasn’t sure how to go about putting potash on and how much at once and when’s best. The one field which needs lime we’ve only rented for a year and is only 3 acre so be a pain to get lime on unless contractor has a spare 6 tonne from another job

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yes just wasn’t sure how to go about putting potash on and how much at once and when’s best. The one field which needs lime we’ve only rented for a year and is only 3 acre so be a pain to get lime on unless contractor has a spare 6 tonne from another job

Murate of potash or loads of slurry, be carfull in the spring though if your grazing as it can encourage staggers

 

[Rossymons]

What's the story about Thornton Field? The others are all looking good (except for the K issue) but that one stands out like a sore thumb!

 

[Ih885xl]

What's the story about Thornton Field? The others are all looking good (except for the K issue) but that one stands out like a sore thumb!

Yes it certainly does got given it last year to take grass off about July so not done a thing with it yet is only 3 acre so might just put plenty of muck on and lime when we get some more

 

[neilo]

Thanks for this sounds like best applying some MOP to cutting ground as will have some muck on too don’t have access to slurry in spring then some NKS after cutting and then do the grazing ground in the back end with MOP

I’d use MOP for potash as a straight, rather than paying a premium to have it mixed in a compound for ‘aftercut’, or whatever, certainly on any field you are taking a crop off.
Hay or silage removes a huge amount of potash, which is why there’s plenty in muck of course.

What’s the history of this ground, that has led to such high phosphate levels? Has there been lots of P applied over the years, through TSP or chicken muck?
Some of that P is what has been made available by the recent lime application raising the pH, but it certainly doesn’t want to go higher.

 

[Ih885xl]

I’d use MOP for potash as a straight, rather than paying a premium to have it mixed in a compound for ‘aftercut’, or whatever, certainly on any field you are taking a crop off.
Hay or silage removes a huge amount of potash, which is why there’s plenty in muck of course.

What’s the history of this ground, that has led to such high phosphate levels? Has there been lots of P applied over the years, through TSP or chicken muck?
Some of that P is what has been made available by the recent lime application raising the pH, but it certainly doesn’t want to go higher.

Yes I think this is the route I need to go down, do you know what sort of amount you can apply in one go for cutting ground ? And then on grazing ground too ? I understand I will probably have to apply twice a year for a couple of year to up the levels.
regarding the P my great uncle used to have a lot of layers so would get some chicken muck from him, but that wouldn’t have been across all the fields and at least 15 years ago anyway. The pepper hill fields used to go with an intensive pig farm and was only 7 acre attached with it so probably got a lot of pig muck on but again could be even 25 years ago. Only gets cow muck now and not blathered on and not much corn fed to them either.

 

[Ih885xl]

Had potash plus (£320) recommended by fertiliser man over MOP (£390). Is it a good idea to buy this or is MOP the better option ?

 

[Rossymons]

What's the analysis on the potash plus?

 

[YELROM]

What's the analysis on the potash plus?

0.0.37-23s with a bit of mag and calcium

 

[YELROM]

Had potash plus (£320) recommended by fertiliser man over MOP (£390). Is it a good idea to buy this or is MOP the better option ?

I would go with the MOP
Potash plus is from polyhalite I think and although they sell it as slow release you might be waiting a long time for it to work