06/12/2026
Regen Ag Fridays | The Storm Test: How is Your Soil Handling the June Downpours? 🌧️
🚜Happy Friday! If your rain gauge has been getting a workout this week, you are not alone. As scattered storms roll across Saginaw County, we are seeing exactly what happens when summer downpours hit Mid-Michigan fields.
When a heavy storm hits, you want your ground acting like a giant sponge, not a concrete parking lot. Today, we are talking about Water Infiltration and why right now is the absolute best time to re-test your fields.
Why the "Sponge Effect" Matters Right Now:
Preventing Ponding: Saturated, conventional soil can't take on sudden rain. The water pools on top, drowning young corn and beans. Regenerative fields utilize root channels and worm burrows like microscopic drainage pipes to pull water underground quickly.
Stopping the Washout: When water can't sink in, it moves across. That surface runoff washes away your topsoil and valuable crop nutrients, sending them right into our Saginaw watershed.
Drought Prepping: June storms are our chance to build a "deep bank" of moisture. Maximizing infiltration now stores water deep in the profile, keeping your crops resilient when the hot, dry stretches of July arrive.
Your Weekend Field Check: The Infiltration Re-Test
Grab a five-gallon bucket, a piece of 6-inch pipe (like a metal coffee can with both ends cut out), a piece of plastic wrap, and some water.
Drive It In: Pound your pipe 3 inches into the soil between your crop rows.
Line and Pour: Line the inside with plastic wrap and pour in 444 mL of water (this simulates exactly 1 inch of rainfall).
Time the Soak: Pull the plastic wrap out and start a timer. How fast does it disappear?
Rerun: Rerun the test in various areas of your farm to compare the time it takes for water to infiltrate based on different soil types, and/or management practices.
If your field swallows that inch of water in under 5 to 10 minutes, your soil structure is doing its job. If it takes 30+ minutes, that's a sign of a surface crust or subsoil compaction layer restricting your drainage.
The Bottom Line: Heavy rains are a stress test for management practices. Fields with continuous living roots and minimal disturbance can absorb a fast inch of water, keeping the crop growing and the fertilizer exactly where it belongs.
💡 Need a Hand? If you want to accurately track your infiltration rates or run a comparison test between different fields, the Saginaw Conservation District can come out with a dedicated ring infiltrometer to benchmark your soil health progress!
📞 Give us a call at (989) 781-1720 Ext 5 to book a summer Regen Ag field check.
👇 Show us some pictures of your fields after the rain! Drop a photo in the comments below to show off your soil armor and soaking power. We love seeing regenerative practices at work across Saginaw County!
