Not too long ago, Extension Specialist Alice Jones put together a little quiz to help farmers and field technicians assess the potential level of compaction in a field. The quiz, adapted from work by T. Beckman and J. Vogel, leads farmers through a series of questions, the answers to which can be readily related to possible compaction problems.
Compaction results from several situations.
The most common cause of compaction is excessive traffic when the soil is wet. Both soil strength and soil compressibility are directly related to soil water content. As water content increases, soil strength decreases and compressibility increases. When you use a four-wheel drive tractor to get into the field a little sooner, it usually means the soil has not dried and is most susceptible to compaction. Soil compaction zones typically reduce the volume of soil tapped by the crop's root system, stunting the crop and making it branch less.