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West Central Minnesota | We do VR N on about 12-15% of our growers. At most the difference from low N applied to high N applied is about 25 units. On many of the fields the only reason the N is spread variable rate is to account for the N from the variable rate phosphate. When it is all said and done, the N rate on many of our fields is pretty flat, we just variable rate apply the N to make it a flat so many units.
In years past we have put in test strips where the N rate was 1.2 units/bu, 1.0 units/bu, and 0.8 units/bu. These test strips ran perpendicular to the corn rows so it would cross any hybrid changes etc. They crossed highly productive areas as well as low producing areas, and were a minimum of 300' wide. It showed us that generally we were applying too much total N as a whole. When I started, most growers were at the 1.2 units/bu, today most of my customers are around the 0.9 units/bu. And I think that we can go lower in some instances. | |
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POLL! What % of corn belt N goes on as variable rate?
