Fertrell Blog

Why is soil testing so important? There are several key reasons why soil testing is necessary.

A good strong start to your season can make all the difference. It starts with the seed. It is one of the most impactful decisions you will make for your operation for this coming year. It’s one that I’m sure you haven’t taken lightly. You’ve decided what you need to grow, determined the right genetics, suited for your environment, that you give yourself the best chance to have a growing season full of healthy productive plants. You are all ready to go and eager to get them established. So, what’s the next step you can take?

It may be cold outside, and at this time of year, the soil temperatures are very frigid if you are a microbe or fungi—but that doesn't mean things aren't getting ready to happen. There are a multitude of factors that influence how active your soil life is over the winter season, and the most important one is cover crops.

If you have used our soil testing services at Fertrell, you have probably realized that we don’t process your soil tests at our facility. We have our customers send their soil samples to an independent laboratory for analysis. The soil analysis results we provide are not necessarily better than results from other reputable soil testing labs across the country. We do however make sure that the labs we work with provide a thorough analysis of your soil.

Colder weather will be here before we know it! As the temperatures decrease and winter approaches, winter problems come with them. One common winter occurrence is more hoof problems.

By now for most of us it is feeling much like summer with vegetable crops out in the garden and starting to take off. Late spring and early summer are great times to review the fertilization that you did before planting and to make any adjustments. Hopefully you had a soil test and applied necessary amendments prior to planting or at planting; if you didn’t, there is still plenty of time to put down fertilizer.

   Sulfur is a key nutrient for all living creatures. It is an essential nutrient that we often overlook. For many years sulfur was free. It was being emitted by coal burning power plants, diesel fuel vehicles and other sources. This sulfur was caught in the clouds and returned to the earth by rainfall. However, this rain was acidic due to the sulfur dioxide and Nitric acid. The acid rain was causing negative side effects in lakes and water ways killing fish and reptiles in lakes and ponds. Also killing some types of trees and other vegetation. With acid rain causing environmental problems the EPA made laws and set restriction on sulfur and nitric acid emissions reducing the sulfur levels.

Late blight is caused by Phytophtora spp, whereas early blight is caused by Alternia spp.  The most apparent differences are how they appear on your plant.  But what does this mean?  How do we identify it, how do we prepare for it, and how to we remedy it?

The bed is prepped, the seed is set, and the season is off to a great start. You feel proud and your crops look great. You do your duties and scout properly to make sure you have no unforeseen problems but finally you happen to notice

Kelp meal has been fed to livestock for over a century. Livestock farmers living near ocean coasts have seen the benefits of feeding seaweeds to their animals for years.  Kelp meal is one of the only plant species that is full of chelated minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients to help maintain the health of your horse.