| OCR Text |
Show E(now Your Soil Testing Services FARM SUPPLEMENT THURSDAY, APRIL 15. 1976 Many people are not familiar with the soil analysis services that are available at Utah State University to help them with their farming and gardening. Reuel E. Lamborn, director of the USU Soil, Plant and Water Analysis Laboratory, has answered ans-wered a few questions indicating indicat-ing the services that are provided. provid-ed. Q. For whom do you do analysis an-alysis work? A. About half of our work is done in support of research here on campus. We also do a substantial sub-stantial amount for various government agencies, and for Utah farmers and gardeners. A. As a Utah farmer, I'm concerned about the fertilizer shortages resulting from the energy en-ergy pinch. What help can you give me? A. We can help you achieve the most efficient use of the fertilizer available. By testing samples of your soil to determine deter-mine the present fertility status of a field or a garden, we have a sound basis for determining whether you need to apply any fertilizer. If you do, we indicate how much of what kind would be best for the crop you plan to grow in that field. If the tests show that your soil has ample plant nutrients, we will recommend recom-mend that fertilizer not be applied. ap-plied. You can leave the fertilizer ferti-lizer for someone else who really real-ly needs it to meet his crop needs. This saves you money and results in more efficient use of available materials and best over-all crop production. Q. What has your experience shown as the general fertility stutus of Utah soils? A. We find that our soils range widely from very deficient defi-cient to very excessive amounts of certain plant nutrients. To learn the fertility status of the soil in a particular field it is necessary to test it. Generally, these are our observations: (I.) Utah soils do not need lime as indicated in articles from other areas; (2.) Potassium Potas-sium (potash) is adequate, except ex-cept for a few areas in the Uintah Basin and some very sandy, excessively drained soils; (3.) Phosphorus is variable, varia-ble, depending mostly on whether manure or commercial fertilizers have been applied to the particular field. The soil test gives a measure of potassium (P) and phosphorus phosphor-us (K) indicating whether these are adequate. Many of the garden gar-den samples we- have tested have been over-fertilized with P and K. In some cases this has caused problems with salt and imbalance of nutrients. Q. What about trace elements? ele-ments? A. Utah soils are generally well supplied with these. Some orchards have shown iron, zinc or manganese deficiencies. We . have detected only a couple of zinc deficiencies in other crops in the state. Some flowers and garden plants become deficient in iron in a few areas, usually wet, heavy soils, high in lime. However, in most areas under average conditions, most crops do not need more trace elements. ele-ments. Adding trace elements "for insurance" can cause nutrient imbalance problems and. .be more detrimental than helpful. If you request it we can test for these elements, but usually the extra cost is not justified. Q. What is. the situation with nitrogen? A. Nitrogen (N) is extremely important. In many cases it is the only nutrient element not present in the soil in amounts sufficient to produce c good crop. However, we don't test for N except for research plots and for sugar beet growers because there are a lot of technical problems prob-lems involved in testing for available nitrogen. To get reliable relia-ble results, you must sample carefully to at least a three-foot depth at several points in a field and the samples must be dried or frozen within 24 hours. Presently, the extra work and cost is considered justified only for sugar beets. However, we can and do make reasonably good recommendations recom-mendations for N. These are based on information you supply on a soil description sheet that you send in with each soil sam ple. It asks for the location of the land, source and adequacy of water, crop to be grown, and the crop and fertilizer history. Q. How do I go about getting my soil tested? A. It is best to get sampling instructions, and sample bags and mailing boxes from your County Agent at the nearest USU Extension Office.- Follow the sampling instructions carefully, care-fully, provide the information asked for, and ship the samples to the laboratory at Utah State University in Logan. We will mail test results and fertilizer recommendations within a week from the day we receive the samples in our lab. Q. Is there a charge for this? A. Yes, we must charge enough en-ough to pay for the service. You can get information on this from any of the Extension offices. I'm? - L3 "OKAY, SAM. IT' 5 A BET. " K v' i'f There's a new western influence on leisure fashions today . . . and we've got the authentic western boots that helped start it all! Acme western boots. Authentically styled, priced to leave some cash in your jeans! $24.99 to $34.99 Christensen's American Fork Pesticide Crunch Ups Food Costs Public demand that pesticide residues be eliminated from the environment has resulted in the phasing out or restricted use of several effective pesticides. As these compounds have been withdrawn, insect control has become more difficult and often more expensive. This results in a continued increase in the cost of many food crops, according . to Reed S. Roberts, Extension Entomologist, Utah State University. Uni-versity. He noted that the use of DDT has been greatly restricted. Now the Federal Government is taking steps to further restrict the use of aldrin, dieldrin, hep-tachlor hep-tachlor and chlordane. Because these chemicals tend to persist in the environment., tliey also are being phased out even though they have been among the most effective and most economical of all chemical pesticides. pes-ticides. The problems associated with the restriction of low cost pesticides pesti-cides are compounded by a concern con-cern that some of the substitute chemicals will be in short supply sup-ply during 1975. The USU entomologist said, "The public has been told that there are substitutes for the chemicals being banned. However, the people may not know that the substitutes are limited in number, often much K .,s effective than the chemicals chemi-cals they will replace and usually usual-ly are much more toxic to man. fhey have also been told that there are other methods of pest control which are much less damaging to the environment than chemicals. This is true in part, but in most cases these other methods are still in the experimental stage or else they are very expensive to use." Roberts acknowledges that there is a real need for new, effective, economical pest control con-trol methods which will meet the needs of the growers and satisfy the environmentalists. He said, "Some of the new methods being tried for pest control that show promise are insect growth regulators, insect pheromones (sex horomones) which are used as attractants, insect sex sterilants and some newly discovered parasites. Considerable sums of money have been spent in an effort to develop biological control methods! Endeavor to so live that when you die even the undertaker under-taker will be sorry. "Since you cured my split personality, I suffer terribly from loneliness." I g& I |
