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Eastern SD | So I do a lot of lurking on NAT but this is my first post. I am trying to set op variable rate fertilizer maps to give to my local elevator. I mostly run JD equip and have 4 years of yield maps. This spring I did some variable rate planting and that seemed pretty strait forward. Made some comp maps and set my rates based on areas of the field that have traditionally produced well. This fall I started doing my own soil sampling and thought I would use the same comp maps to set my zones and do my testing. I have been taking about 8-10 samples in a quarter. I tried to pic some good areas and some bad. Setting up the N rates is pretty straight forward as it seems there is not that much variability in the N in the soil. So I have been varying it with the yield goals much as I did with the planting. The problem that I am running into is with the P and K it seem that I can have one good area in the field that has VH p and the next good area is VL, so using the yield maps to set zones is not working to well. I also thought about using the soil maps for my zones, but after comparing them to yield data they don't always seem to match up. Like many people many of my lower yielding areas are due to poor drainage or thin top soil on hill tops. Is there a program that does a good job of taking all of this information and putting it into one? I currently am using apex to create maps and excel to manage all of my soil sample data. But this takes a lot of cross referencing. It seems to make sense to vary my fertilizer program by expected crop removal as I know my lower yielding areas are often not fertility yet I need to get the fertility tied on some how. What are you guys doing? I have been trying to avoid grid sampling but thinking I may have to do it on a field to at least get a base point. | |
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Variable Rate Fertilizer is driving me nuts
