What’s Going On Inside Your Plants?
Tissue testing provides the big picture
With rising fertilizer prices and supply challenges, growers need as much information as possible when making application decisions. Tissue testing is a tool for making well-informed fertility management decisions. When paired with soil sampling and crop monitoring, growers can obtain much needed data, letting them know exactly what nutrients are available to the crop and at what level.
“You can do a soil test to understand what is going on, but if you don’t do a tissue sample to know what’s happening in the plant, you are missing an important piece of the picture,” says Scott Fichtner, Manager of Precision Agri-Lab, Nutrien Ag Solutions in Clovis, California. “If you don’t have a good tissue sample to know where you are deficient or excessive you are just guessing.”
Precision Agri-Lab is involved in testing tissue samples for a wide range of crops including almonds, pistachio, grapes, citrus, and row crops such as onions, garlic, tomato, cotton, and corn.
Sampling
Making sure you have the right part of the plant and the right number of samples is critical. The process really varies by crop and maturity of the plant. There are specific guidelines in place for every crop and these can be found in the Sampling Guidelines available on the Precision Agri-Lab website.
Proper sampling should include multiple plants in all four quadrants of the field. These samples should be taken throughout the growing season. Some of the Lab’s growers sample as often as twice per month to track changes and address issues as they arise. While soil conditions may be good, the plants may not be taking up the nutrients as expected, and it is best to know that sooner than later.
It is also very important to follow instructions about storage and shipping protocols. Keeping samples cool and using the proper containers to ship will improve the quality of the results.
“Taking tissue samples allows growers to use fertilizer where it’s needed and to do so as economically as possible,” says Fichtner. When caring for permanent crops like grape vines and citrus trees, tissue testing is a long-term management practice that helps to ensure the success of future years’ crops.
Tissue sampling is an important tool in the management of nutrients in the field. By utilizing this data, growers can make more informed decisions, ensure that the crops are getting the nutrients they need when they need them, and avoid making unnecessary fertilizer applications that will reduce profits and potential fertilizer loss to the environment. For more information on tissue sampling, visit Precision Agri-Lab’s website or browse through the eKonomics website for more articles
