Agrimanagement Newsletter 2008-08
1
Every ten pounds of nitrate nitrogen per acre that can be retained in the surface three feet and available for root uptake is worth $9 per acre! Visit us online at www.agrimgt.com Questions or comments? Email us at [email protected] or call 509.453.4851 To Unsubscribe or request this be sent to additional addresses send an email to [email protected] . Nitrogen Management: The New, High Priced Input At Agrimanagement, our goal is to provide our clients with essential information that will help them make better management decisions. We hope by sending out timely email updates like this one, we can quickly keep you up to date on items of interest or service work options. Most of you now realize that nitrogen inputs are running close to 90 cents per unit. One grower expressed to me that, fortunately, most of his nitrogen inputs for this crop had already been purchased before last week’s price increase of nearly 20%+ (this may vary a little bit by dealer, of course). Strategies for Nitrogen efficiency will continue to be discussed in later emails. For now, we will call your attention to several fairly easy concepts to manage that may give you some advantage for ’09. In crops and fields being prepared for winter or spring wheat for ’09, we often find that post-season pre-plant irrigation can be excessive. In other words, after a crop of wheat, mint or dill that’s being planned for fall wheat, an irrigation application of only 3 or 3.5 inches—12 hour set—may be sufficient. This may allow ample re-watering of the top two feet, while avoiding leaching second and third foot nitrates deeper. Many times, unbeknownst to the field manager, 24 hour irrigation (5-6 inches) are applied that may substantially leach otherwise available second and third foot nitrates. Remember also, there is a probability of an additional 2-4 inches of winter precipitation on top of this. We also see this principal played out with post harvest irrigations on concord and wine grapes. In fact, in an organic situation, managing the retention of sub-soil nitrates are now worth about $3 per pound. . . so ten pounds managed and saved is worth $30 per acre! One management solution If a row crop field of mint, wheat, corn, asparagus, etc is going to a deep rooted fall or spring planted crop such as wheat or corn, it may be advantageous to soil sample after the first twelve hour set has been applied to accurately determine not only the nitrogen requirements for the following year, but also whether a second irrigation cycle is advisable. What else can be done? As many of you know, we have, for a second year, researched the benefits of delayed release and stabilized Nitrogen products in mint fields, using products such as Super Urea, Agrotain Plus, Agrotain, NutriSphere and ESN (more on this next month). Our final conclusive evaluation of that research will be presented at the December Mint Commission Meetings. Meanwhile, we are deriving some principals that we think will be applicable to crops that receive in-season fertigation or top-dressings, such as wheat, mint, pasture or certain forage crops. Look for more Nitrogen management solutions in your inbox next month!
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August 2008 Newsletter
Transcript of Agrimanagement Newsletter 2008-08
Every ten pounds of nitrate nitrogen per acre that can be retained in the surface three feet and available for
root uptake is worth $9 per acre!
Visit us online at www.agrimgt.com
Questions or comments? Email us at [email protected] or call 509.453.4851
To Unsubscribe or request this be sent to additional addresses send an email to [email protected].
N itrogen Management: The New, High Pr iced Input
At Agrimanagement, our goal is to provide our clients with essential information that will help them make better management decisions. We hope by sending out timely email updates like this one, we
can quickly keep you up to date on items of interest or service work options.
Most of you now realize that nitrogen inputs are running close to 90 cents per unit. One grower expressed to me that, fortunately, most of his nitrogen inputs for this crop had already been purchased before last week’s price increase of nearly 20%+ (this may vary a little bit by dealer, of course). Strategies for Nitrogen efficiency will continue to be discussed in later emails. For now, we will call your attention to several fairly easy concepts to manage that may give you some advantage for ’09. In crops and fields being prepared for winter or spring wheat for ’09, we often find that post-season pre-plant irrigation can be excessive. In other words, after a crop of wheat, mint or dill that’s being planned for fall wheat, an irrigation application of only 3 or 3.5 inches—12 hour set—may be sufficient. This may allow ample re-watering of the top two feet, while avoiding leaching second and third foot nitrates deeper. Many times, unbeknownst to the field manager, 24 hour irrigation (5-6 inches) are applied that may substantially leach otherwise available second and third foot nitrates. Remember also, there is a probability of an additional 2-4 inches of winter precipitation on top of this. We also see this principal played out with post harvest irrigations on concord and wine grapes. In fact, in an organic situation, managing the retention of sub-soil nitrates are now worth about $3 per pound. . . so ten pounds managed and saved is worth $30 per acre! One management solution
If a row crop field of mint, wheat, corn, asparagus, etc is going to a deep rooted fall or spring planted crop such as wheat or corn, it may be advantageous to soil sample after the first twelve hour set has been applied to accurately determine not only the nitrogen requirements for the following year, but also whether a second irrigation cycle is advisable. What else can be done? As many of you know, we have, for a second year, researched the benefits of delayed release and stabilized Nitrogen products in mint fields, using products such as Super Urea, Agrotain Plus, Agrotain, NutriSphere and ESN (more on this next month). Our final conclusive evaluation of that research will be presented at the December Mint Commission Meetings. Meanwhile, we are deriving some principals that we think will be applicable to crops that receive in-season fertigation or top-dressings, such as wheat, mint, pasture or certain forage crops. Look for more Nitrogen management solutions in your inbox next month!
