Corn Stalk Nitrate Test Prepares You For Next Season Article

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Corn Stalk Nitrate Test Prepares You for Next Season

Corn stalk nitrate test helps maintain the health of growing corn. Because of corn's nature, the nitrogen can be quickly depleted. It is important to have good nitrogen levels. This compound is what enables your plants to produce proteins, which both makes them nutritionally valuable.

Author: Andrew Stratton

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Nitrogen is an important part of growing corn. Because of corn's nature, the nitrogen can be quickly depleted. It is important to have good nitrogen levels. This compound is what enables your plants to produce proteins, which both makes them nutritionally valuable and also helps them to thrive. Too much or too little can affect the outcome and survival of your corn crop.

Nitrogen can be transferred through the air, the soil and water. It is advised to have a source of it around to make sure that your plants are getting the amount that they need. How much do they need? A good amount of it should be available in soil with a pH level of six to seven and a half. However, that is no guarantee. Acceptable levels vary by region but can be found with a little research.

The best way to have the healthiest crop possible is to do a nitrogen test of the stalks. Testing at the end of the crop season will give you the most valuable information for next season.

You'll want to take a segment that is about eight inches long, from about six-ten inches above the ground. While you are waiting to do the test, you should keep your sample(s) cool and dry, so wrapping them in paper instead of plastic or other moisture-producing packaging will be your best bet.

While some times any yellowing of the leaves can be an indicator of a deficiency, this visible sign will usually not show overuse or underuse of nitrogen in your fertilizer, which is why testing a sample is a good thing to do. The sample should be from a healthy crop, not one that has been infested by pests or damaged by weather.

You should take a good sized sample, between ten and fifteen stalks per sample. You should not take a sample if you're not ready to send it in, as the more fresh it is, the better your result will be. Once you take the sample, package it properly to send to the testing lab. After the lab has analyzed the nitrate level and returned the results to you, you will have strong data to approach the next crop season. You can be ready to supplement the field to compensate for an excess, a good margin, or deficiency.

There are professional testing labs to be found online. A nitrate test will effect a healthier yield as well as help with fertilizer costs. Knowing if you're using the right amount of fertilizer, too much or too little of any type will help you use fertilizer most efficiently and effectively. It is important to know that the results will not affect your current crop, but will provide you with information regarding the next one.

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Corn stalk nitrate test is a simple lab test available to tell you where your crop nitrate levels are where they should or should not be. Having a professional lab test from an independent lab such as Midwest Labs will help you plan and adjust your nitrogen rate for future crops. http://midwestlabtest.com

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Corn Stalk Nitrate Test Prepares You for Next Season