District Sales Manager, Kyle Shepherd and Agronomist, Brandon Poole Deliver the Dirt on Soil Revive
In early-November, District Sales Manager, Kyle Shepherd joined Concept AgriTek Agronomist, Brandon Poole in a Soil Revive plot in western North Carolina. The red clay-based, rocky soil in the area presents challenges for farmers in terms of compaction and crusting following hard rains.
Shepherd shares, “One of the biggest challenges these farmers see is tight soil which causes issues with water retention and good root growth, which we see a lot, especially in drier years.”
A solution to challenging soils
Soil Revive was applied to the test plot to see what kind of an impact the product known to bring new life to unproductive soils could make. The team was also faced with the challenge of western North Carolina experiencing one of the driest growing seasons in the last half-decade.
“Yields are not great in this area by any means,” Poole says. “I used the soil penetrometer in an area where we didn’t have Soil Revive and we were getting down about 2-inches before it got really hard. Where we did apply the Soil Revive, we actually got about 4-inches down before we hit a hard pan. But the roots were where we knew we were making a difference in yield with Soil Revive. The roots on the non-Soil Revive plots turn and don’t grow down. The roots from the Soil Revive plots go straight down into the soil. We don’t see a lot of curvature.”
The secret is in Concept AgriTek’s proprietary technologies: BioTek and PeneTek.
BioTek, delivers a large consortium of live biology in a suspended state that becomes active within minutes of initial soil contact, while PeneTek® brings the soil penetration that reduces soil compaction, improves soil structure, and increases water infiltration and biological activity.
Both technologies team up in Soil Revive to breakdown the hardpan and to allow increased nutrient availability and water-holding capacity, and is especially beneficial in fields that have been graded or terraced or where fertility levels are poor.
“Soil Revive was designed to be a broadcast product in areas like the Mississippi Delta or anywhere where you’re doing a lot of groundwork, moving a lot of dirt,” Shepherd says. “(Concept AgriTek created it to help mellow soil back out and get it back into the condition that it was before dirt work. And in fields like we’re in, with tighter clay soil, running it in is a very economical way to help remedy some of the challenges we’ve seen this year.”
The proof is on the yield monitor
“The Soil Revive gave us a 9.8-bushel yield increase over the untreated on this field where we ran it in-furrow,” Shepherd adds. “Who wouldn’t be happy about that?”
To learn more about Soil Revive and schedule a consultation with our in-house agronomy team to learn how to put your soils to work for you in #plant24, give us a call at: 888-638-9984 or visit https://conceptagritek.com/contact.