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Central Iowa | In my ridge till system, I apply dry P&K in the ridges in a separate operation ahead of planting. This operation definately pays in ridge-till, not so much in no-till and not at all in conventional-till. Because the ridges dry out in the spring (mostly a good thing) the nutrients applied on the surface become unavailable to the young plants causing early deficiencies (mainly potash). Soybeans and corn sometimes grow out of this, sometimes not. Dry weather really exacerbates the situation.
I have first hand experience with K deficient syndrome. I've had whole corn fields that were ridge tilled look this way, while the headlands which were tilled look normal. The result that fall was a 20-30 bpa yield loss. This "learning experience lead me to start deep banding the P&K.
I have not seen any K def. crops since I started banding about 10 years ago, except where a tube plugged or shaft pin sheared. | |
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Do you use starter fertilizer?
