Oswald No-Till Farm Cleghorn, IA | I think the mindset should reflect having nutrients available to the plant when the plant is looking for them. Product is product. Rate is rate. Local issues like soil, weather, product availability and the like should be used to fine tune the equation.
For the ISA On-Farm project here, I expect to see substantial negatives at harvest with low fall ammonia + high sidedress as the sidedress liquid just didn't get the moisture for 6 weeks compared to the normal fall N strips. I also expect to see a boost from sidedress on top of normal fall ammonia N due to the wet spring conditions. The project will help me sort things out but I do not want to bet on sidedress as a primary N provider "here".
Since N is the most "leaky" of the nutrients, I think it behooves us to consider strategies that allow flexibility in our applications. If you could promise me a dry late March, early April every year, I would run spring ammonia.
Good Luck,
Tom |
Agronomists, is nitrogen all the same?
