Soil Management Checklist

Pick 2.5-acre grid for fields without yield-monitor history, or zone sampling driven by yield maps and EC layers for fields with multiple management histories. Document the choice — auditors and the next agronomist will want to see why.

Export the last three years of yield maps from John Deere Operations Center, Climate FieldView, or your FMS. Overlay with prior soil-test points so the new pull pattern lines up with historical comparisons.

Aim for after harvest and before tillage or fall fertilizer application. Sampling at consistent moisture and timing year over year keeps pH and K results comparable.

Verify probe depth at 6-8 inches for standard fertility, 0-4 inches separately if monitoring stratified pH under no-till. Wipe the probe between fields to avoid cross-contamination.

Take 8-12 cores per composite sample, walking a uniform pattern around the GPS point. Avoid headlands, old fence lines, manure piles, and lime spill spots — they skew the composite.

Push a cone penetrometer to 18 inches at three locations per zone. Note the depth where resistance exceeds 300 PSI — that's the layer that will limit root development next season.

Document any rills, gullies, or sediment deposits at field edges. These photos feed the HEL conservation-compliance review and any EQIP / CSP enhancement application.

Servi-Tech, Midwest Labs, A&L Great Lakes, and Ward Laboratories all expect the lab's own submission form with field ID, grower account, and analysis package (standard fertility, micronutrients, OM, CEC, soluble salts as needed).

Buffer pH (SMP or Mehlich) drives the lime recommendation, not water pH alone. Two fields can show 6.0 water pH but need very different lime rates depending on CEC and base saturation.

Compare Bray P-1 or Mehlich-3 phosphorus and ammonium-acetate K against your state extension's sufficiency thresholds — they vary by soil-test method and region. Flag zinc, sulfur, and boron deficiencies; corn and alfalfa pull these hard.

OM trend matters more than the absolute number — a field dropping from 3.8% to 3.2% over five years is losing fertility regardless of the snapshot. Use CEC to size N-credit and herbicide-rate decisions for next year.

If any zone is below the crop's target pH (typically 6.0 for corn/soy, 6.5+ for alfalfa), tag the field for lime. Skipping the fall window pushes the application into a wet spring and reduces neutralization before planting.

Generate the Rx in your FMS (Operations Center, FieldView, Granular, SST) using crop-removal plus build-up math against the lab results. Export as ISO-XML or shapefile in the format your spreader / planter monitor accepts.

Book the custom lime spreader against the fall window — ag lime needs 3-6 months of moisture and contact to move pH. Confirm the ECCE rating on the lime source so the rate matches the buffer-pH recommendation.

Cross-check field maps against the nutrient management plan: setbacks from streams, wells, tile inlets, public roads, and property lines. Surface-applied manure inside a setback is a CAFO / state-discharge violation regardless of intent.

Match species to the deficit: cereal rye for erosion control on HEL acres, tillage radish to break compacted layers, crimson clover or hairy vetch where N credit is the goal. Verify herbicide carryover plant-back from the prior crop's labels before ordering seed.

Pull the FSA-578 and NRCS conservation plan for any HEL-flagged tract. Tillage practice, residue cover, and cover-crop seeding all need to match the conservation plan or you risk losing FSA program eligibility.

Pull SCN egg counts on soybean ground every three years; check for sudden death syndrome, white mold sclerotia, and Fusarium history. Order a separate SCN-specific sample if the standard fertility test didn't cover it.

Rotate to a non-host crop where SCN counts justify it, or switch SCN-resistance source from PI 88788 to Peking on continuous-soy ground. For sudden death and white mold, pair seed treatment with variety tolerance ratings — neither alone is enough.

Atrazine, sulfonylureas, and HPPD residuals can injure cover crops and rotational vegetables. Pull the prior year's spray records and confirm the label-stated plant-back interval for every species in the rotation.

Archive lab reports, GPS sample points, prescription files, and amendment plans in the farm record system. EQIP / CSP cost-share verification, organic certifier audits, and crop-insurance loss adjustments all pull from this trail.