Spring Green-Up
Rockbridge is feeling like spring has sprung this week and many folks will be enjoying some warm temperatures and the chance to do some outside cleaning on the farm and around the lawn. Whether we are picking up downed tree branches, grading out rutted areas that were roughed up during precipitation events this winter, or sowing grass seed, the first series of warm days has got us thinking about the 2025 growing and mowing season.
Now is the time to remember the old adage “don’t guess, soil test” and have any soil to which you think you may want to add fertilizer tested by an accredited lab and apply nutrients according to soil test recommendations.
Nitrogen (N) is an element that deserves special consideration because soil test results generally do not report nitrogen levels. This is because plant -available N is generally highly volatile in soil samples and in the soil profile can move rapidly out of reach of plant roots with significant precipitation events. Nitrogen is one of the elements most often associated with algal blooms in our ponds, streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay to which all the water in Rockbridge County ultimately drains. Nitrogen is also the element most closely linked to rapid plant growth and the beautiful chlorophyll green of our spring lawns and crops.
Spring applications of nitrogen should be targeted and planned with the purpose of above-ground plant growth in mind. Lawns and pastures generally do not need much nitrogen in the spring. The warm weather and abundant soil moisture will ensure sufficient vegetative growth and application of nitrogen is most likely to result in excessive biomass accumulation that cannot be utilized. Hay meadows slated for earliest harvest and newly sown crops are the most likely to benefit from applications of supplemental nitrogen.
To learn more about soil testing, visit the Rockbridge Extension Office on the second floor of the Rockbridge County Administrative Building at 150 S. Main St., Lexington. Virginia Tech has a soil testing lab to which people mail their soil samples directly along with the correct information forms they can pick up at their local Extension office.
Beekeeping
Workshop
To learn more about the upcoming beekeeping workshop in Rockbridge on Friday, April 4, go online to rockbridge. ext.vt.edu or contact me, Tom Stanley, through the Rockbridge Extension Office at (540) 463-4734 or by email to stanleyt@vt.edu.
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