Several thoughts, at least pertaining to the "big field":
Alot of guys go out and "try it" a day or two early if it's too wet. When working ground, people usually start along one side of a field. This compaction/damage can add up after years, and may not appear to be all that different than a couple passes away of the tool.
Most local custom sprayers will not get any closer than about 2 rows from the edge of a field. More liability on their part for chancing doing damage elsewhere, especially on a windy day. Local fertilizer applicators will do about the same as well. Just a few weeds can absorb alot of what should be going to the crop, both nutrients and moisture, and it's more obvous if the fertilizer isn't there to begin with.
Take soil samples and also tissue samples from the plant and have them checked out. Cal-Phos. ratios, Nitrogen-Sulphur ratios, and others being off in the plant can make plants look horrible and sickly, and perform about the same. Just because a soil sample shows you having all of your ducks in a row doesn't necessairly mean the plant can readily absorb/make use of it, either.
Sometimes if large amounts of N are used on the planter as a starter, corn can almost drown in it in certain conditions, and excessive N can tie up absorbtion of other minerals. Cultivating cuts some roots off enticing others and new ones to grow, stirs the soil and nutrients around, and aerates as well.
You may also look into trace mineral packages and/or foliar-feeding programs.
We have trouble with the outside rows along public roads. Way too much salt ends up plowed out into fields by plow drivers that think their last name is Earnhardt or Unser. Foliar feeding, along with cultivating at least those rows, and even rolling over that area with a moldboard plow as soon as possible after the frost leaves in the spring has all shown a positive response in those rows.
AG
This post was edited by AG in IN at 08:51:45 07/22/13.
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