|
Garrett County, MD | Dont want to hijack so,
We have different soils than the post below, dont have hog manure. Avg P and K, pH in the sixes. CEC of 10-15. My soil tests are calling for a few pounds on Zn.
In the past we have just had some chelated Zn added to the corn starter that we apply 2x2 with the planter (liquid), but man I always thought it was expensive!
This year with crop prices and trying to improve bean yields I'm thinking of trying to find a way to get some on with the soybeans while also crunching the numbers on the corn program.
We are spreading Potash and AMS ahead of the beans this spring, so I could add some in.
My question is, I have multiple suppliers recommending a few different options and I'm not sure which is the most cost effective.
Plan A is to stick to the old plan and add some chelated Zn in the corn starter which will be rotated to beans in 2017 and hope that supplies enough for both crops.
Plan B is to put some in with the bean program dry spread and put enough down for both crops.
I know how to do Plan A but for Plan B I am getting different recommendations.
1- Mix in granular Zn and spread fertilizer. Seems to me that wouldn't do a very good job as you would have a granule every couple feet or so... best case.
2- Use a Wolftrax product to evenly coat the Potash and AMS granules. Seems like that would be much better but I don't know anything about wolftrax and it seems like I wouldn't be getting very many lbs of Zn and would be spending a lot of $$$.
3- Use Nachurs Procote Zn, seems similar to the Wolftrax but I really like their technology to coat every granule. Not sure how cost effective it is though.
So what say you? Is even coating and spreading with less lbs of Zn worth more money or not?
I have always been a pounds of fertilizer guy but I don't think I can spread 5 lbs of anything over an acre successfully...
This will sort of be a test for me, we rarely see Zn deficiency, but I want to see if adding some makes a difference and sprectrums fert recs always call for a few lbs... For the sake of this post lets just assume I need the Zn. | |
|
Continuing on the Zn post below
