Viewing a thread - Spring (or fall) Strip Till and NH3 (pictures)

Forums | Classifieds (207) | Skins | Language

You are logged in as a guest. ( logon | register )

Spring (or fall) Strip Till and NH3 (pictures)	View previous thread :: View next thread
Forums List -> Crop Talk	Message format

Jim

Posted 7/27/2007 12:05 (#179159)
Subject: Spring (or fall) Strip Till and NH3 (pictures)

Driftless SW Wisconsin

I hesitate to mention it since we are at an early stage yet, however we did some interesting work yesterday which indicates we may be able to apply anhydrous ammonia with our Dawn Pluribus strip till row units, at least in some locations. This is a coulter-only system.

The exciting thing for me, is that there seems to be a possibility in the central corn belt (not northern) of applying anhydrous in the spring in a strip about 8" wide by 5-6" deep and getting it to seal.

This might allow us to apply lower rates than in the past for same yields. It would also likely mean less N losses due to leaching over the winter.

We would probably need to allow at least one week between stripping with ammonia and planting, however what we saw yesterday seems to show that with our new high speed kit on the Pluribus there is so much moist soil surface area there that the ammonia seems to latch on to it pretty well. What I have been told is that ammonia, in direct contact with moist soil, changes form in about 4 days.

This may not work in all soils but it did look good in these central IL runs into wheat stubble, even though the one-row setup and controller issues meant we were putting down EXTREMELY high rates. In fact I think we may be able to put down 120 units or so in this central IL area without hurting their typical high yields IF we can do it in the spring.

There will need to be a lot more test work done but it does look promising. Here are some photos. Spring NH3 in the strip may not be to far away. Our high speed kit, 2007 Pluribus changes, and some creative application thinking are the things that may make this possible.

Jim at Dawn

Edited by Jim 7/27/2007 12:15