Attn Manitoba CCAs! DYK that MSSS is hosting a self-guided tour this Weds? Digging is underway today. Tour includes the iconic Almasippi and Red River soils. Did I mention 3.5 S&W CEUs available? RSVP to [email protected] if you plan to attend. More info: mbsoils.ca/event/summer-f…

The last Soil Safari for the Red River, Almasippi and Dezwood soils was 20 yrs ago. Wear your 2000 tour t-shirt tomorrow on the hunt. Sign up at mbsoils.ca

Affirmative - Andrew’s Newdale Soil pit needed an extension ladder to get to the bottom. We needed headlamps and a canary in a cage to check if it was safe to enter!

Never too young to get them in the pit classifying soil horizons....Margot was taking in all Curtis’ wisdom today at the MSSS field tour!

My neighbour seeding fall rye with an in-soil banded enhanced efficiency N. Prairie research shows such placement performs well, and splitting with even 1/2 N at seeding widens your window for spring N timing. bit.ly/3mxdRgQ

After being shutout by wet fall of 2019 some in MB are applying N fertilizer early - with soil temperatures still at 15C. It’s a case for the nitrification inhibitors or controlled release N. Or until <10C soil. bit.ly/34fs8GL

Farmers who generously hosted our MB Soil Science Safari in August receive their mounted trophies- just in time for World Soil Day. Trophies were monoliths of Red River clay, Almasippi sand and Dezwood loam.

Loving on-farm-tests! Edward (right) replicated fall strips of NH3 alone vs with N-Serve & Centuro. U of MB crew and I finished 3rd set of 432 pokes of NH3 bands to track conversion to NO3.

How dry? 12 days after urea spread, it’s still intact and no volatilization of NH3 detected. No loss measured from banded urea either.

Oops - created more Q’s than A’s with my post on urea loss. So - yes I put 5 gal pails over the dositubes (pic from Red River Valley where no stones handy to keep them from blowing away), I order tubes from Levitt Supply, adapted protocol from John Lauzon, U of Guelph.

Protecting my sweet corn patch from raccoons. It’s not the dog - but the headland of late seeded spring wheat. Raccoons haven’t crossed in 12+ yrs - they must be gluten intolerant.

Response to compaction and subsoiling? I take the beans & shovel over the gadget any day -dry beans are the “canary in the mine shaft” for soil issues. More at Northern Soil Compaction Conference on June 22-23. z.umn.edu/NSCC2021

Green wheel tracks showing up in peatier parts of wheat fields? A couple sightings of such manganese deficiency this year in MB. More at: gov.mb.ca/agriculture/cr…

I am a curious agronomist. These are samples taken from my travels today. #corn #canola Let’s tissue test and find out why! Sometimes it’s not what you think it might be. Or even for the reason you think of first. 😉#keepanopenmind #alwayslearning

It’s clouding over so I’m spoon feeding some of my pale coloured strip-tilled sweet corn. With the wrong #%** nutrient! Can you tell?

Ya just gotta luv mycorrhiza- the bio bug that works and you don’t need to buy! Bet corn on right was pretty purple a month ago prompting the foliar P “Hail Mary”. U of M’s team of Don & Magda narrowed this rotational maturity & yield gap with stiff P rate in 2x2 band at seeding

Ross McKenzie Canadian Society of Soil Science Thanks. What a great resource.

Soil Safari John bags his 47th state soil - the Jory soil in Oregon. Guides are Amber Moore of Oregon State University soil fertility specialist and Robin Howell, winemaker at Sokol Blosser winery.

Bagged another trophy- my 48th state soil - the Tokul state soil of Washington. Thanks to guide Don McMoran, Washington Stare University extension and Bertelsmann Winery.

Guide Kendall Kahl (University of Idaho) and her hound Huckleberry tracked down the Threebear soil. It’s Idaho’s official state soil and 49th on my list. Only the Tanana soil of Alaska remains at-large.