Whereas Leap Year occurs once every four years, farmers need to prepare each year to deal with anticipated challenges for crop production. With the mild winter experienced to date, numerous questions are being asked about the viability of overwintering insects. The generally held belief is that a good deep freeze helps reduce insect pest populations, in addition to relieving some soil compaction issues. 

If indeed, more freezing temperatures are helpful in killing off insect pests, keep in mind that beneficial insects, like predators and parasitoids and insect-killing pathogens may suffer the same fate; death by cold temperatures. So, frozen topsoil and subsoil may not influence insect populations as much as has been thought, because increased mild winter survival of pests may just be countered with more vibrant beneficial insect numbers.

Crawling and flying bugs that stay above the soil surface, like bean leaf beetle adults, may be less able to endure very cold temperatures, particularly without much snow cover. Those insects that overwinter below ground will not likely be affected by mild winter temperatures. A shallow frost layer may increase survival rate.

Since all insects develop based on temperature, warm winter days can induce insect activity when they would normally be dormant. That busyness burns up stored energy they depend on to survive until the spring.  If food sources are not available, starvation of those insects is likely. Because most insects adapt to cold weather by slowly preparing in the fall, then staying dormant until spring, large temperature swings can be detrimental. Extension entomologists suggest some insect mortality with wide temperature fluctuations, like 0-50 degrees. Western Ohio has seen significant single day temperature swings over the winter. Enough to impact insect populations? Only time will tell.

Another weather related issue has left some crop producers lacking timely soil tests. Last fall’s wet soil conditions prevented timely soil sampling by numerous farmers across the Midwest. Even though fall is the ideal time to sample, testing soil this spring that has not been analyzed since the fall of 2008, is in your best interest. Shorting crops of nutrients will likely limit yield potential. Over applying fertilizer just to be sure, in lieu of a recent soil test, is foolish economically. Such an application can also contribute to water quality concerns.  

Extension fertility specialists emphasize that the economics of soil testing are fairly simple. Sampling a field every three years as recommended costs around $.30 per acre, per year. Check your fertilizer bills. If you are applying $100 to $200 worth of nutrients on a crop that will gross $600-$1000 or more, 30 cents is a very small, yet critical investment.

While soil testing intensity has generally increased over the years, the basics remain the same. We fertilize to enhance crop productivity, so adequate soil sampling is necessary to properly divvy up our fertilizer applications. In season plant and soil analysis along with yield mapping capabilities of harvest equipment have helped crop producers fine tune fertility practices. However, it all still starts with a good soil testing program.  

Sampling uniform areas within a field yields the best results. Consequently, fields/farms often need to be subdivided according to acreage history. An 80-acre field that was four 20-acre fields only a few years ago obviously needs more than just a few samples. Sampling by soil type within those four, twenty areas would be a good start in fine tuning the process. Building a historical database from such soil analysis will help manage fertilizer inputs more efficiently. 

Take 15 to 20 cores to make up a composite sample for laboratory analysis.

While this article has barely scratched the surface on soil fertility, more valuable information can be found at Ohio State University Extension’s website, www.agcrops.osu.edu

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.