The Nitrogen Limbo: How Low can You Go?

My wife keeps telling me that I have to write about something other than nitrogen.  And I promise that I will...

eventually...

maybe...

Ok, I promise I'll TRY...

But mostly... this:

In my last blog post, I mentioned what I called the #NitrogenLimbo, and I promised to explain what that meant in this article.  So here we go.

Simply put, the #NitrogenLimbo means discovering the lowest amount of nitrogen that you can apply to achieve your economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR).  

How does one do this, you might wonder?  It's not easy, but it is relatively simple.  But you need to be aware that this will also be a painful process.  

The only way to find your EONR for sure involves running strip trials that run the entire gamut from:
1. Shorting yourself to the point of suffering yield loss from too little applied nitrogen
2. to OVER applying nitrogen on some strips so that you know that you've topped out your yield, even though it didn't cash flow.  

This probably makes more sense with a real world, concrete example.  Recently I got a call from a client who said he had 80 acres that he wanted to devote to nitrogen research and he would let me set it up.  So what we decided to do was to replicate strips in which he sidedressed different rates from 10-90 lbs/acre in increments of 10 lbs at about V6, which is the latest he could reasonably get his sidedress rig through the field.  

Next, he agreed to have a custom applicator run the same strip trial rates through the Y-Drop at the same crop stage. 

Finally, he would run strips in which he held off on application until about V10-V12, which would be as late as he was comfortable having his custom applicator run the Y-Drops.  

Hopefully you already see how valuable this kind of research is.  This set up allows you to test 3 important variables: 
1. Rate
2. Timing
3. Placement

You'll notice that this hits 3 of the 4 facets of 4R nutrient stewardship discussed by the International Plant Nutrition Institute.

As a sidenote, I have to confess that setting up the research trial this way also serves the important purpose of addressing one of the most common questions I get about comparing the Y-Drop to a coulter.  I cannot tell you how many times I've heard people say that to compare a Y-Drop application at V10 or late to a coulter application at V6 or prior is like comparing apples and oranges. 

First, of all, I understand that what you're arguing is that there are at least 2 variables in a test like that (namely that you've got timing + placement vs a different timing + placement), and that you cannot, therefore, know which variable is truly responsible for the difference.  

That's a fair point; however, the point of a test like that is to compare systems.  And from that standpoint, yes, you can absolutely compare a coulter system (i.e., it's timing and placement) to the Y-Drop system (i.e., it's timing + placement).  Don't be surprised when the Y-Drop walks all over the coulter in a test like this.  Case in point?  Check this out:

Now, you can, of course, make sure that the Y-Drop loses if you so desire.  It's simple, really.  Just over apply your nitrogen.  Make sure that nitrogen never becomes limiting.  Why is that important?  

Well, whaddya know... I suppose that finally gives me a non-nitrogen related topic to write about, doesn't it?  Guess you'll have to tune in next time for an article on the principle of the limiting factor.

Either way, with the research protocol that I've outlined above you can answer the question, "What's responsible: timing or placement?" And I'm confident that what you will find that the answer is "both."

To me, the #NitrogenLimbo is the ENTIRE point of owning a 360 Y-Drop -- it's about finding the lowest threshold for nitrogen application so that you can maximize profitability.  

And to be fair to 360 Yield Center, they are sort of trying to move in that direction.  As you'll see in the picture below, they do some rate x timing x placement comparisons.  

In my humble opinion, these trials haven't been quite as complex or maybe as sophisticated as I would personally like to see just yet.  As I stated above, the issue isn't just about comparing your "old" system to the "new" 360 system.  Instead, it should be all about dialing your rate down as low as you can go. 

And I'm very confident that once you start to do more of these particular kinds of trials, you'll discover that you can "limbo lower now!"

How far down can we limbo?  I think that we'll get it down to around .40 lbs of N applied per bushel produced.  Maybe less.  

But you'll never know until you play the game.  

Oh yeah... and cut the anhydrous.  Can't forget that part. ;)

If you'd like help setting up your strip trials, feel free to give me a call: 641-919-5574.