🔥 Hot Take: Most farmers are over-liming In calcareous soils, excess lime ➡️ raises pH even higher And what happens in high pH? Fe³⁺ locks up. No availability = IDC. Stop chasing pH > 6.0 in every zone. Know when to back off the lime Use pH, buffer pH, and base sat H

"You want to fix your soil? Don’t chase potassium. Fix your calcium, fix your carbon, and your roots will find what they need.” - Dr. S.A. Khan, University of Illinois Episode 43: The Potassium Paradox: youtu.be/BZxdtZ93v_o

💥 Elemental sulfur isn’t just “sulfur.” Think of it as the opposite of lime. It’s your tool to acidify high-pH zones over time. ✅ Apply VRT elemental S in pockets of high pH ✅ Redox reactions improve ✅ Iron becomes available Sulfur = soil amendment, not just a nutrient

Even with proactive steps, IDC can still show up What about reactive management strategies? Use siderophore bacteria early post They excrete organic acids that grab iron from soil particles and deliver it to the root It’s like putting a delivery driver in your rhizosphere

Apply Molybdenum foliar at early post. Mo is required for nitrate reductase → converts nitrate to amino acids. No Mo = nitrate builds up = stress. Mo mitigates the bottleneck that iron deficiency creates. #AgX

Add ethylene suppressors in the tank mix. Excess nitrate = stress = more ethylene = reduced nodulation. Suppress ethylene = ✅ Keep nodules working ✅ Reduce leaf yellowing ✅ Improve Fe & Mn uptake indirectly

💡 Apply a Ferredoxin Foliar Stack: ✅ Fe + Mn ✅ Cobalt ✅ Amino acids (esp. cysteine, glutamate) Ferredoxin is the iron-sulfur protein that powers nitrate reduction. Without it = nitrate sits unused = IDC spirals.

IDC isn’t solved with one silver bullet. ✅ Proactive Management = manage residual N from corn, increase corn crop health, manage pH ✅ Reactive = feed Mo, suppress ethylene, boost ferredoxin 👉 Know your soil. 👉 Know your crop. 👉 Fix the root cause—not just the symptom.

“Why are my beans yellow?” Recent rains = saturated soils Bradyrhizobium bacteria need oxygen to fix N₂. No O₂ = no ammonia = no protein. And if nodules aren’t working, the plant aborts them. Soybeans don’t “invest” in nodules unless they’re producing nitrogen.

Check out BW Fusion's video! #TikTok tiktok.com/t/ZPHptwfV7nPh…

Here’s the results👇 🌿 Green soybeans: 6.54% nitrogen 💛 Yellow soybeans: 4.55% nitrogen Same field. Same stage. Just different nodule function and soil saturation. ✅ N-deficiency confirmed. 📄 [Tissue data via Agronomy 365] #CropPhysiology #SoybeanNutrition

Plenty of debate where U.S. #corn #yield will ultimately end up this year. Here is a look at the past decade, comparing yield from the July #USDA #WASDE report to the August report. 6/10 years there was a yield increase, with an average increase of 3.73 bushels.

Here’s a twist: The green beans had 153 ppm nitrate The yellow beans? Just 18 ppm Nitrate can lead to crop stress but inadequate N levels will guarantee a larger yield limitation. Nitrate isn’t the goal—protein is So how can we get adequate N levels in the best form?

Reminder: Over 80% of a soybean leaf’s N is in the form of protein. When total N is low, a little nitrate in tissue is a good sign—it’s waiting to be converted. But when nitrate is high and %N is low? That’s a red flag. Something’s blocking the conversion process.

And that’s what unmanaged IDC looks like in Aug!!

Great conversation on -Late season stress mitigation -Disease conditions in the Midwest -Water utilization in various growing conditions

Knowing how your soil works and most importantly differentiating your soil based on real science from soil texture, soil water, and accurate topography is necessary to optimize fertilizer use efficiency

PPM farming is the past. Farming for efficiency is the future.

Mason Claude on turning soil data into smarter fertility plans. 🎧 Listen now: bit.ly/46R9pCz

March 13th all day!