Because primary and secondary nutrients are required by the plant in larger amounts, they’re often a limiting factor in crop production. However, the combination of higher intensity soil sampling with data anlysis and mapping programs allow us to have a much deeper understanding of how and when to rectify fertility issues. This reduces the chances…
This is the first of a series of blogs focused on crop nutrients. The first part of the series will deal with the actual nutrients themselves and then we will dive into concepts such as CEC, pH, liming, soil structure and other concepts. There are seventeen known chemical elements that are critical for plant growth…
While we all enjoy the warm fall weather, these warm temperatures in conjunction with a delayed soybean harvest create some issues for growers intending to apply fall anhydrous. Most growers understand the importance of waiting until soil temperatures have dropped below 50 degrees in order to dramatically slow the conversion of ammonium nitrogen to the…
Many growers will head to the field this fall to apply anhydrous, in the interest of spreading the workload and saving money on input. Here are 3 things to consider before applying anhydrous this fall: 1. The weather next year – You’re probably asking yourself, “who in the world knows what the weather is going…
Although harvest and tillage are in full swing in many areas, preparation for the 2017 planting season is top-of-mind for many growers. Things like seed purchases, equipment plans, herbicide programs and fertility decisions are made well before the crop is dried. The fertility decision is a critical process that requires intense scrutiny as many growers…
A few interesting developments have occurred over the past 12 months that are changing the way we manage particular issues in the Midwest. An open letter from several university entomology departments in the Great Lakes region discusses concerns regarding the Cry1F protein (Herculex 1, TC1507) as it relates to control of the Western Bean Cutworm….
During the 2015 season many growers experienced wet to excessively wet conditions. This led to extensive loss of nitrogen due to denitrification and/or leaching in many fields. Growers that were able to apply supplemental N last year often reaped very large rewards for additional midseason N applications. Fast forward to the 2016 season and many…
We manage resources in an attempt to grow corn as efficiently as possible. New technology has given us new ways to evaluate efficiency. For example, we’ve become accustom to looking at row-by-row as-applied maps for our planters. We know the position of every seed. But some of our most important and expensive inputs have not…
As new technologies and ideas have emerged in agriculture, growers have adopted them and adapted their cultural practices to continue increasing yields and managing inputs in order to maintain their per-bushel costs. This year has provided a great example for many growers in the realm of nitrogen management. In the past many growers simply multiplied…
Late-season issues are showing up on yield monitors as harvest gets underway. Two common things we are seeing are stalk rots and ear rots. While the crop looked very clean at silking, many fields were hit with late season disease outbreaks such as Gray Leaf Spot and Rust. In many of these fields, the disease…
