OTTUMWA —
In a way, it sounds terrible: Winter can bring the heaving, cracking and breaking of soil across an entire region But farmers are hoping that’s exactly what happens to their fields.
“For farmers it’s fantastic,” said Mark Carlton with the Iowa State University Extension Office. “We can’t do the same job as Mother Nature can. With tillage, you can do the top 2 or 3 inches. But if we can get some moisture in the top 12 to 18 inches and it freezes, it heaves up, expands, fractures the soil and reduces compaction.”
He and other farmers spend the growing and harvest season driving tractors and farm equipment over the soil. That’s one of the ways it gets compacted.
That’s why Carlton wants to see a cycle of freezing, thawing, freezing and thawing, frequently pushing upwards from over a foot under the surface. Roots need room to grow. With that freeze-thaw cycle heaving up soil, they get that room.
Not only does this “fluff” the soil, aerating the ground gets oxygen under there.
“I don’t care what kind of plant you’re talking about, all roots need that oxygen,” said Carlton, a crops field specialist. “If you’ve got nice, loose, fluffy soil, it means a higher yield.”
But for that to happen, winter needs some water in the ground to freeze.
“This month has been a little on the dry side,” confirmed Harry Hillaker, Iowa’s state climatologist. “It’s a little unusual not to see any snow in December. People think there should be lots of snow on the ground, and that hasn’t been the case very often [so far] this winter. That topsoil would have less moisture in it. ”
There have been only two to three snows in six weeks. But there has been rain in Ottumwa.
“In that part of Iowa, it’s not as dry as people may assume,” said Hillaker from his Des Moines office. “Despite that lack of snow, we’ve had quite a bit of rain in November and December, which is fortunate because we had a pretty dry late summer and fall.”
December had about double the typical rainfall for that month in Ottumwa.
“But it probably wasn’t enough to make up for the dry months [before],” Hillaker said.
“Right now, most farmers are concerned about dry soils,” said Carlton. “We like to have 5 inches going into spring. We have 2.5 inches now. Every little bit of moisture we get helps.”
Preferably rain, and preferably on a warm day, so the water can sink in.
“Snow is wonderful,” Carlton said. “However, it’s got to melt off and soak in. [Plus] it takes 12 to 14 inches of snow to [give] us the equivalent of 1 inch of water.”
And no, he added, he doesn’t want to see an extra 3 feet of snow in the hopes it’ll melt and do some heaving and aerating. He wants some rain in southeast Iowa.
Hillaker said he sees the possibility of some storms rolling in, though they’re too far out to be certain. A “good” storm could bring in needed moisture to Wapello and surrounding counties.
“Especially if it’s preceded by a couple of warmer days,” he said, because that means the unfrozen ground would allow that moisture in. “The past five weeks have been quite mild.”
There are more winter days coming when temperatures are expected to be in the 50s, he pointed out.
Then it can freeze again. That’s more important to Carlton than getting enough “irrigation” water this winter. When frozen moisture a foot deep thaws for the last time, also provides water for plants. Besides, a few good rains toward the end of winter could “fill up” the soil with the water needed for growing.
“The truth of the matter is ... I’m much more concerned about the oxygen and the reduced compaction [benefits we get] from the freeze-thaw cycle,” he said.
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