Great Bend Tribune
Published March 6, 2022
As of March 1, severe drought has enveloped our area. The drought level continues to increase as you head towards the northwest and especially the southwest corner of the state. This combined with the extremely mild conditions is doing wheat no favors. The six to ten-day outlook (March 8 to 12) indicates we can expect a 60 to 70% chance of below normal temperatures and a near normal precipitation. The eight to fourteen-day outlook (March 10 to 16) indicates a 50 to 60% chance of below normal temperatures and normal precipitation. Precipitation averages start to increase in March and while the area needs substantial precipitation, normal would at least be around a half to one inch of liquid precipitation. With everything going on currently from the drought in Kansas to spiking input prices coupled with the situation in Ukraine and rising commodity prices, producers have decisions to make. One of the biggest, other than what to do if it doesn’t rain, is how to minimize fertilizer costs and maximize efficiency. So what can be done?
- It’s a broken record but soil test. Determine your pH, Base Saturation percentage, P (phosphorus), K (potassium). Close to planting take a profile N test (nitrogen) and if on sandier and low organic matter soils a Sulfate-S (sulfur test). Know your percent organic matter and take it into account for N. One percent organic matter can contribute up to twenty pound of N in year. Set realistic yield goals (which is a crapshoot without irrigation) and determine your fertilizer needs.
- Going along with the first bullet point, if you are following soybeans, alfalfa, or a leguminous cover crop, make sure and determine the N credit for the legume.
- For nitrogen fertilizer, apply no more than necessary to get the crop off to a good and then evaluate where you are. Split N applications are always a good idea and especially so with our lack of precipitation. If you are an irrigator or in some other way can spoon feed N, you will optimize yields and minimize N fertilizer. Research has indicated that four applications of 25 to 35 pounds of N is as effective as a single application of 200 pounds.
- Consider you N fertilizer source and examine the cost per actual pound of N. If you have the equipment and observe the safety/maintenance protocols, anhydrous ammonia is the cheapest N source. When apply something like dry urea, move it into the ground through tillage, irrigation, or rainfall as soon as possible. If using UAN, consider streaming between every other row crop row to concentrate the N and prevent it from being tied up in the soil and to minimize fertilizing weeds.
- For phosphorus, strongly consider banding is you actually need P. Many soils are high in P and maybe all that’s needed is some starter. Banding P can decrease the P you need to apply by one-third.
- Weed control will help maximize fertilizer efficiency as will conserving soil moisture by minimizing tillage. Consider a shorter season/early maturing variety which will typically decrease yield potential per acre but also need less water and fertilizer.
Naturally, there is more but the one thing that shouldn’t be done is cheating of needed fertilizer for the crop.