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West Kentucky | Our OM is pretty stable between HP and LP ground. Our worst ground tends to struggle due to dry weather (hills) more than anything else, therefore needs to be able to uptake nutrients quicker when things are good. Even under irrigation, those same areas tend to benefit. We also farm some fragipan soils and the results on that soil often depends on weather after application so the only option we have found is error to the higher side. I have always built Rx's to apply around .8-.9#/bushel on the HP gound up to 1.1-1.2#/bu on the LP ground. I often worry more about shorting N on the good ground than the other way around. We normally put around 60 units on with DAP and with planter then apply remainder at sidedress. We typically start sidedressing around V2 and try to be done before V5. We haven't done any type of tillage besides a kelly diamond harrow for over 10 years so that may be playing a role in things evening out as well. We do know that increased N (not excessive) helps the plant handle stress better so that is another reason for increased rates on LP ground. Also, as a side note, we have not found big benefits from putting excess N on in test blocks, especially on the good ground. The yield curve tends to flatten out pretty quickly, so I am assuming that means something else is limiting yield before N is at higher rates.
Edited by flatlick farmer 2/1/2026 11:58
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