Last week I came across an interesting article in Ag Professional, entitled, "After all the rain, does corn need additional nitrogen?" The opening paragraph went like this:
Why?
Because even though that's exactly how most of the farming community operates nowadays, it's not necessarily true. To explain why this is such a dangerous misconception allow me to share a story from a friend of mine.
The picture that you see on the right was shared with me by Jim Schwartz. This picture was taken on one of his clients' farms. Now, you look at this and you may think, "oh man! That's a BAD nitrogen deficiency." The rest of you are probably thinking, "He's trying to trick us... that could be a Sulfur deficiency." Kudos to those of you in the latter group for thinking that way, but in this particular case, it IS actually a nitrogen deficiency. Jim sent off tissue samples to confirm that fact.
BUT... and this is a BIG "but" (like of Sir-Mix-A-Lot proportions... yes I just went there. #SorryNotSorry), Jim ALSO sent soil samples off as well.
What he found was that there was plenty of nitrogen in the soil.
So now what?
Well... now we have a decision to make.
Here's the uncomfortable truth if you find yourself in this situation:
Please don't be a MORE-ON. (Yes, that's a witty play on the word, "moron.")
The fact of the matter is that there's plenty of nitrogen there, as evidenced by the soil test, and so N isn't your issue. In this case, a lack of OXYGEN is your issue.
Throwing more money at this issue in the form of sidedressing more N won't do any good. It will, however, be a good example of poor stewardship-- both economically AND environmentally. I mean, you might feel better if you go sidedress because you'll feel like you did something, I suppose. And so when the corn does naturally snap out of it in a few days you can tell yourself that you were responsible.
But you weren't.
At this point I'm sure you're thinking, "Man... this sucks. At least he's going to tell us what to do instead, right?"
Not really... no.
I suppose you could go cultivate depending on how tall the corn is?
Ultimately, I think this is about taking the sound advice of that great sage of wisdom... yep, that's right... Kenny Rogers.
When it comes to nitrogen, in this particular scenario, it's time to fold 'em and save your money.
If you have nitrogen management questions, please feel free to contact me via our website, or give me a call: 641-919-5574.
"Prolonged wet soil conditions in parts of Kansas and other parts of the Midwest have resulted in large areas of some fields of corn turning (or remaining) yellow this spring. If the yellow color is due to nitrogen (N) deficiency, sidedressing will be needed."That last sentence stopped me dead in my tracks.
Why?
Because even though that's exactly how most of the farming community operates nowadays, it's not necessarily true. To explain why this is such a dangerous misconception allow me to share a story from a friend of mine.
The picture that you see on the right was shared with me by Jim Schwartz. This picture was taken on one of his clients' farms. Now, you look at this and you may think, "oh man! That's a BAD nitrogen deficiency." The rest of you are probably thinking, "He's trying to trick us... that could be a Sulfur deficiency." Kudos to those of you in the latter group for thinking that way, but in this particular case, it IS actually a nitrogen deficiency. Jim sent off tissue samples to confirm that fact.BUT... and this is a BIG "but" (like of Sir-Mix-A-Lot proportions... yes I just went there. #SorryNotSorry), Jim ALSO sent soil samples off as well.
What he found was that there was plenty of nitrogen in the soil.
So now what?
Well... now we have a decision to make.
Please don't be a MORE-ON. (Yes, that's a witty play on the word, "moron.")
The fact of the matter is that there's plenty of nitrogen there, as evidenced by the soil test, and so N isn't your issue. In this case, a lack of OXYGEN is your issue.
Throwing more money at this issue in the form of sidedressing more N won't do any good. It will, however, be a good example of poor stewardship-- both economically AND environmentally. I mean, you might feel better if you go sidedress because you'll feel like you did something, I suppose. And so when the corn does naturally snap out of it in a few days you can tell yourself that you were responsible.
But you weren't.
At this point I'm sure you're thinking, "Man... this sucks. At least he's going to tell us what to do instead, right?"
Not really... no.
I suppose you could go cultivate depending on how tall the corn is?
Ultimately, I think this is about taking the sound advice of that great sage of wisdom... yep, that's right... Kenny Rogers.
When it comes to nitrogen, in this particular scenario, it's time to fold 'em and save your money.
If you have nitrogen management questions, please feel free to contact me via our website, or give me a call: 641-919-5574.
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