With harvest in full swing and fall soil sampling season upon us I wanted to take some time to address the importance of soil pH. Making sure your soil pH is within proper range is one of the most important things you can do as a corn producer. Maintaining proper pH ensures that nutrients within your soil are available for plant uptake and increases efficiency and uptake of future dry fertilizer applications. With climbing fertilizer prices this has direct impacts on not only maximum yield potential but also ROI of future fertilizer applications.
This Fertility 101 video covers the importance of soil pH as it relates to macro and micronutrient availability, the rotational importance of maintaining pH for soybeans for the benefit of corn production, and lastly some general guidelines on when and how to make liming recommendations.