18% of corn is planted nationwide, and about 11% in Iowa, which is where we find our good friend Kelly Garrett. The Arion, Iowa, no-tiller is once again primarily focused on balancing his soil this planting season. Here’s why.

“And I talk about balancing the soil, and I talk about balancing the plant. And my first priority is balancing the soil. If you don't balance the soil, your input dollars, your input budget is at least partially wasted. And a lot of farmers, a lot of growers, myself up until just a few years ago, I didn't understand base saturation. And it needs to be the number one priority.”  

“You can see in the red areas there, base saturation on the potassium is below 2. Base saturation to me is the balance of the soil. Perfectly balanced soil, in my opinion, is 65% calcium, 13% magnesium, 4% potassium. There are other things that go into it, but those in my opinion are the three most important ones. Hydrogen would be right there. Nobody's probably ever brought up hydrogen to you, but hydrogen would be right there. Your highest yielding soils, I can almost assure you have the appropriate amount of hydrogen.”  

“So, the potassium here, we want to look at the red areas where it's down below. Perfectly balanced soil, as I said, is 4. The red areas are below 2. You're going to go put potash out in there, you're wasting your money.”  

 Garrett says there’s no reason to apply it there without amending the soil. Catch more of his No-Till Conference presentation on No-TillFarmer.com.

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.