Improving plant productivity begins with efficient nutrient use. A large part of improving your nutrient use efficiency is by shifting your paradigm to view the start of next year’s crop at Postharvest, prior to dormancy. This is foundational for getting off to a strong, productive start with early spring development activities, especially the Pollination stage. The plant stored reserves (both carbohydrate and mineral nutrients) are the primary supply source for plants’ early growth and development. The plant reserve pool needs to be adequate to support plants from bud burst until the spring soil temperatures warm to 68°F when soil nutrient release begins.

The Postharvest window is foundational for preparing for winter dormancy and early spring development demands. Fortifying plants with the needed mineral nutrients for the dormant period requires a good volume of energy and nutrients for plant development activities. These reserves are built up in the previous growing season and then stored in bio-available forms within the plant. But, before you call it a year, realize that a significant amount of reserves can be produced and stored up in the fall while plants are still photosynthesizing and soil temperatures are above 45°F. Which means there are things that can (and should) be done annually to improve plants’ preparedness for winter and spring needs.

Let's start with soil sampling and an introduction from the 10,000 foot level - getting your soil to perform better and be more productive is critical. Oftentimes this can be treated with a shortcut approach or fast tracked by someone whose focus is to make a sale. In truth, correcting soil issues is an involved process that can be quite complex, and rarely will a "silver-bullet" approach be effective. This is why very few will address it completely to the finish, because it takes time and resources to change the soil composition (in the top 6 inches for row crops or 12 inches for permanent crops.) With row crops, in that top 6 inches of soil, we're talking about right around 2 million pounds of soil per acre. And with permanent crops at a 12 inch depth, it's double that at 4 million pounds per acre. Sampling the appropriate depth provides a good representation of the nutrient inventory and its potential availability for the crop to be grown. It also represents the area where the majority of the root zone activity happens. I mention the majority of the root zone because there are a lot of factors that affect root zone productivity in terms of nutrient availability for plant and crop benefit.

In addition to helping growers set larger crop loads with “bio-available” plant fertility formulations, they have also developed a state of the art product that stimulates increased cell division activity. After the Pollination stage is completed, there is a limited amount of time depending on the crop and the conditions, in order to stimulate increased cell division activity. SunBar EchoCet® is a “bio-available” plant fertility product which enhances fruit size potential at maturity, produces a more productive plant canopy, stimulates meristematic growth for better return bloom and reduces plants stress during the growing season as result of systemic canopy fortification.

Nature is dynamic. Every system, process or function operates in a very precise manner. Nature’s design uses nutrients as the raw materials and carbohydrate energy as the fuel source, for combining them into different configurations in order to build healthy and productive organisms. In plants, this is quite noticeable at different stages in the growing season, but especially in later winter, when they start awakening and buds begin swelling. This is an early signal that bloom stage and canopy development are just weeks away. As dormancy concludes and new growth begins, the primary energy source fueling these processes are the plant stored reserves. These Reserves are photosynthetically-based compounds, which are stocked up during the previous growing season. They are meant to adequately supply the plant for the early growth and development needs until the soil warms sufficiently for nutrient release to begin. Despite wintertime soil limitations, foliar applications with the right forms of nutrients can supplement and fortify early development processes, like Pollination activities. In fact, the greatest limiting factor to Pollination success is nutrition. Therefore, it should go without saying, the fertility selections you make at this stage will significantly complement or hinder the efficacy of each part of the process. Selecting the right nutrient formulations for the plant’s current condition is a vital consideration in order to stimulate a productive response.

I believe this year is setting up to potentially be a big one. According to growers I’ve interviewed, this could very well be the case with apples, cherries and pears considering how light the 2022 crops were compared to historical averages. That being the case, there are some important considerations to be made in preparing for the year.

First, apple fruit bud projections for the state are at 82%. This could likely lead to one of the bigger crops on record, in the last ten years. The challenge won’t be getting a big crop packed, but rather growing it uniformly and getting harvest completed in a timely manner. The fruiting buds look quite promising, but with that comes the potential reality of a big crop set. Big crops can be hard to size fruit adequately, finish uniformly and require more intentional nutrient management. You should therefore adjust your Nutrient Management Plan to address this most effectively.

This past week, at the Yakima Pomology club meeting, the topic was chemical thinning for apples. The discussion began with a treatment scenario of a Honeycrisp orchard that produced 80 bins per acre last season and 40 bins per acre in the year prior. This presented a textbook example of alternate-bearing in a variety that is prone to that condition. The chemical thinning activities directly affect a plant’s alternate bearing and poor return bloom responses, which are both real concerns for growers.

The big takeaway of the night for me was the timing of Bud Development activity on the “on-year” versus the “off-year” and what can be done about it. The point being, there are some things that can be done at this stage with your Nutrient Management Plan to complement Bud Development.

Consider that successful Bud Development is a result of adequate carbohydrate supply. Carbohydrates are the energy source that powers plant activities during the growing season. In the early growth and development stages (i.e. late winter, early spring), needed energy supply comes from plant stored carbohydrate reserves. These stored reserves are required for plant support until…

The last three issues of SoilMatters have dealt with some key details to be aware of when soil samples are collected and sent to the lab for analysis. First, the lab extraction methods are important for accurate nutrient and pH measurement. Second, the extraction methods should be standardized in order to limit the variables being measured. Next, the Base Saturation Cation Percentage and the Cation Exchange Capacity are critical calculations for achieving cation balance, a stable pH resulting in improved water and nutrient use efficiency.

The final analytical measurement tool is the Denele Soil Health Report (DSHR). It is useful for getting an accurate soil health assessment, in terms of the soil microbial population and the activity levels. The Soil Respiration test starts by irrigating the sample with neutralized water and bringing it up to field saturation capacity based on the soil cation exchange capacity (CEC). Once field saturation is reached…

Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC):

The Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of your soil is essential. If your soil analysis doesn’t calculate the CEC, you cannot properly adjust the cation balance of your soil. In addition, until the cations are in proper proportions, the soil pH will never be corrected.

In simple terms, the CEC is the texture of your soil. It is composed of different proportions of sand, silt, clay and humus. More than that, it is the calculation of your soil’s ability to hold nutrients for plant use; this is called Cation Capacity. With this information, you can make sound fertilizing and amending decisions for the soil and the crops grown in it. This measurement is a key guideline as to what the proper levels of…

New Year’s Day 2020, our daughter wished me a Happy New Year and then asked me, “Dad, did you know that 2050 is as far away from us, as 1990 is behind us?” She nailed me. It was a solid reality check reminding me how quickly time passes and with it technology too.

Thinking back on the nineties, do you remember the advent of the World Wide Web, DVDs, TiVO, PDAs or PDFs? How about MP3 players, USB flash drives, SMS text messaging, Photoshop and pagers?

All of this technology was introduced into the mainstream during the 1990s. Some are no longer used, while others have become a significant part of our daily lives. How about in your farming operation? What technology have you embraced and abandoned? Why?

Technology advances whether we like it or not, it is here to stay. Keeping the “tried-and-true” is good, but not at the cost of better productivity and profitability. You aren’t still getting paged and returning calls from a land line, are you?

In terms of improving and maintaining soil health and productivity, there are some important tools to employ that can help you better measure and thereby manage your greatest asset; the soil.

Base Saturation Cation Percentage:

Not all Ag labs run a complete Base Saturation Percent Analysis …

It does not matter what crops you grow, whether permanent or row crops, your soil health should be a high priority. When soil is healthy, it is productive. Productive soil grows healthy plants, with well-balanced vigor and precocity all without sacrificing crop quality. If you are being challenged by plant infections and fruit set and/or quality issues, you might need to take a closer look at the soil. The health of your soil is foundational to everything that grows out of it.

To gauge soil health you need to know its contents. A friend once described that concept this way, “You must be able to measure it, in order to manage it.” Begin with a soil test or tests which are representative of…

Will compost or manure improve the nutrient content of your soil? In short, yes. To what degree depends upon the material you choose and how it is managed.

For soil nutrient improvement, I favor manures (raw or composted) over composted green waste. The nutrient analysis of green waste can vary to a greater degree than manure-based options. Regardless of the material…

Soil pH tells you nothing more than the presence or absence of hydrogen in the soil.

Soil pH can give you a false sense of security about your soil productivity.

Amending should not be based on soil pH alone.

Soil pH is not a good indicator of calcium content, availability, or any other nutrient for that matter.

Everyone, everywhere benefits from plants; specifically from Photosynthesis. It’s the plant process that takes water (6H2O), carbon dioxide (6CO2) and sunlight (energy) and transforms them, into glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (6O2) during daylight hours. This supplies food for plants and oxygen (and food) for the rest of us. It is the most vitally important activity on earth.

Approximately 95% of all plant structures are made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen…95%! These are taken from the air and water via the photosynthetic process. While this is a plant activity, it is dependent upon a living, nutrient-rich soil for supplying water and the necessary mineral nutrition, which cannot be gotten from the air. The mineral nutrition is the part where we have a direct affect; the 5%. To make this dynamic system work well requires “give-and-take” action. There’s a symbiotic relationship between plants and soil (biology). Plants need what only the microbes can provide and are unable to get for themselves and vice versa. Plants make sugars and soil microbes eat sugars. Soil microbes liberate soil-bound minerals that plants cannot release, but need for survival; interdependence. Of the sugars produced, plants use ⅓ to ⅔ of these photosynthates within the canopy and the remaining…

We are at bloom stage, and it is a very important time to remember your Neoteric rules of agriculture, and one of those is to start every crop off with Phosphorous. The reason that concept is so important, is because most pistachios are farmed on Calcareous soils that tend to be alkaline; it’s not so much that alkaline soil is a problem, except that when your soils are alkaline there’s different effects that cations have on your pH level. The pH value is nothing more than a measurement of the absence, or presence, of Hydrogen…

Blooming conditions are not always ideal; they can often include plant -stressors like severe weather events (i.e. windy, rainy, extreme temperatures, etc.) or pest pressures. If your plants aren’t supplied with adequate nutrition and energy they will self-regulate.

Something to keep in mind - when plants self-regulate, it means loss of yield and profit potential. Plant self-regulation happens when there is nutrient and/or energy deficiency. This might be evidenced in incomplete pollination…

Bloom is vital to the overall productivity and yield potential of every crop.

Recently, I attended a conference for cherry production where a presentation about the viability of reproductive parts during the bloom stage was shared. The focus of discussion was narrowed specifically to cherries, however, the same concepts can be applied to all pollination-dependent crops. The concept of the viability of the reproductive parts is often overlooked because it appears to be complex; however, the research simplified this concept a little, showing there are…