Agronomy
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work with your fertilizer man you can take advantage of certain situations..... i bought a small farm several years ago late, like april 1st, got it grid mapped, looking at the maps i figured out the lime map and the phosphorus map were almost identical and the potash, zinc, and sulfur were very close, so we used the potash map and blended in zinc and sulfur in the front box on spreader, and used...
It would be great if fbn came up with a verable rate system at a reasonable price using yeild maps
Does FBN have a soil sampling partner for grid samples
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Would be great if they did
YES! Why wouldnt you use todays technology to use obtainable yield goals instead of one blanket shot across the field? I have been doing it for 20 years plus. I use SMS software and my yield maps to create my own variable rate prescriptions, and then apply with my air cart and strip till machine. I do use grid sampling only on my fields where we apply manure, very important as they vary in fer...
You guys are too hooked on grid sampling for prescription variable rate. We use yield maps, soil maps and satellite to make prescription variable rate fertilizer maps. Cost is a $300 unlock for trimble, a son's college education and support. After a few years you just tweak your maps.
variable rate is simply a redistribution of fertilizer and we use a base rate and after all is said and done we...
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There needs to be a good agronomic reason and philosophy otherwise you can precisely misapply every acre.
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I have done 2 1/2 acre grids for around 15 years now, did a gradual build on areas that were low. Applied needed fertilizer plus 10% build on low areas so it didnt cost much more. End up with total cost approximately the same on whole field, but applied where its needed most plus built it up over years. Very satisfied with end results. If you are spending the money, put it where you need it. I do ...
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On my clay low Organic matter soils it makes a tremendous difference. The poorer the soil the bigger response you get. All soil types have a different P and K supply and need to be fertilized differently.
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Totally agree. I have one farm that is low organic clay. There is only one grid on that farm that needs phos
In the light rolling irrigated soils of Southwest MI it is not uncommon to see 100 bushel yield variance in any given pass. Seed and N definitely pay here.
We did 5 acre grids with variable rate on the P and K. As far as the N goes for corn I apply that at a flat rate. I found that using composite samples we were putting on a lot of un needed phos
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I tried it for 3 years, grid sampled plus variable rated all fertility applications, I did not see a measurable difference on 6000 acres. Bottom line...not worth the money or hassle.
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it shouldn't be costing you more then your spending now except for the extra soul tests.
You cannot mine a high fertility area in 3 yrs.
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We’ve done it for years. We sample and get an rx and then don’t sample again for 3 years. My issue is what about those areas that are said to be high on the soil sample. They get nothing and by year three they are probably way too low. I haven’t done the research on this but I’ve always wondered if this happened.
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I encourage you to track the areas that received nothing and see what the levels are on your next soil test. I do 2.5 acre grids every 2 years. I have areas that are over 100ppm phosphorus that haven’t received any map fertilizer in many years but are still high in phosphorus. If you’re concerned about the areas that tested high and didn’t get applied then all you have to do is go pull a few cores...
You may not save on fertilizer but where it shines is you will be putting more fertilizer where it can be used more to the plant. Custom combining I seen a 30 bushel yield difference on the same farm. It's what got me interested. So I tried it this year. I saw a 10 bushel difference in wheat. If your scared of the cost NRCS CSP or EQIP each have a progr to help with costs to get started.
What type of cost are we talking in VRF? What situation does it shine? What does the process look like?
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$10 an acre to grid sample. That gets me fert and seeding prescriptions also. Good for 4 years but I've done one field longer than that. $6 in fall and $6 in spring for vet spreading. Really pops out on my mediocre to low end fields. I don't vrt my soy pops though.
If you're changing your fert from field to field there's no reason not to do it from acre to acre. The same with seeding rate.
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**** is that’s it
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Even nitrogen isn’t worth it?