Field library

Salinity and Sodicity

Bare or thin patches where the crop never establishes, often with a white crust on the surface when dry, or a hard black slick where sodium dominates. Plants at the edge of a patch are stunted with scorched leaf tips. Yield loss is permanent unless the soil itself is treated.

How to scout

Walk the bare patches after an irrigation dries off. A white salt crust means salinity; a hard, black, slippery surface that water will not enter means sodicity, and they need different treatment.