When To Apply Fertility?
Matt is in one of his June 27th field day plots talking about how he decides when to apply fertility at the right time.
00:00 So we're standing in our agri liquid plot here in our field day field. We're gonna have June 27th, 00:04 and I hope some of y'all have the opportunity to come. One thing that's kind of cool about agri liquids is, you know, they got a great team there, 00:11 but when they come to you to sell you a product, it's not just about the product. They want to know what your soil test look like. 00:17 And, and I will say this, if there's any company that's selling you products that's not asking you for a soil test, uh, if it's a fertility product, 00:24 you probably need to ask them to maybe go on down the road and find someone that 00:27 that should be the number one thing they ask you is what your soil looks like. It's, it's kind of like trying 00:32 to go in a muddy field without a four wheel drive, you know, with a two wheel drive if you ain't got the, the information 00:37 or the equipment to get the job done. And, you know, all fertility's not the same. You know, nitrogen's different than potassium. 00:43 Phosphorus is different than zinc. You know, to know what you've got, you've almost, you know, you've gotta have soil test. 00:48 The field we're standing in here now has been outta production for about over 50 years. We were fortunate to buy the old John Deere dealership 00:55 and bring our operation all into one spot. And with that we get, we ended up with this, this field right here, uh, by the shop. 01:02 So what we decided is turn it into a field day plot. Everything's right here. We dug a well, got a new well here and start. 01:08 So we started from basically scratch. Even if you've been farming a field a hundred years, or your family's been farming a field a hundred years, 01:15 every two to three to four years, you're gonna need a soil sample to see what's going on. The more yield you bring off the field, 01:21 the more fertility you're taking away. Uh, you know, that's something we look at a lot for removal rates. 01:25 And if you're making 80 bushel beans, you're gonna take off a lot more potassium than if you're making 40 bushel beans. 01:30 So, you know, if you hit a few good years in the middle of that, you're, you're staying with a standard program 01:35 and you double your yield or, or go up 20%, you know, for two or three year span. Then there's something, you know, you're, 01:40 you're taking more fertility off. So soil tests are crucial. We do like tissue tests as well, that gives us some kind 01:47 of idea of what the plant's gonna need in the future. You know, if a guy's selling you a micro pack, all micro packs are not a catchall. 01:53 So you've got, there's certain stages of each crop, like corn. Demand curve at V five is gonna be different than the demand 02:00 curve for soybeans. At R three, know your growth stages. Know what your usage, you know, 02:04 your demand curve is for the crop at that time. And then by that micro pack that, that fits that plant for that time. 02:10 Kevin Matthews says all the time, you know, we're managing plants now, not acres. And that's a big part of it. 02:16 A tissue sample will give you a guide. It's definitely not the Bible, but neither is a soil test either, 02:21 but it's the best we've got to work with. You know, Kelly Garrett does SAP tests. I think they're a little more advanced and, 02:25 and can predict more forward than a tissue test can, you know, we're looking at some of that also, but I think one of the number one goals that you can have, 02:33 you know, I always say a stand is the number one goal. If you don't like your stand, you're not gonna like your yield. 02:38 And I think even before that comes the soil test. You've got to know what you're dealing with, the soil you're dealing with, and what the demand 02:45 for that crop is. You take the demand for that crop, your soil test values, you do the math, and that's the amount 02:51 of fertility you have to put out behind it. So just a little tidbit of information. And I think the Agri Liquids plot, 02:56 this could be Kelly's plot. Nope, I think this is gonna be Galen's plot. We're standing in. So Galen, I'm gonna give you an a plus 03:06 for what your corn looks like. Uh, what you put on here for the field day plot's in pretty good shape. Y'all have a good day.
Growers In This Video
See All GrowersMatt Miles
McGehee, AR