Central NE | Jon S - 12/13/2009 15:47
Re Lesson #2 & #3: They seem to contradict each other? How about expanding on that please.
Re Lesson #4: Like what?
Re Lesson #5: What kind of organic matter?
#2 is an observation, #3 is a reality check. If I left out #3 I would be giving only half the picture. I'm sure a lot of farmers can grow 300 bu corn applying nitrogen, and many more farmers can grow 125 bu corn applying nitrogen, and thats no contradiction- but either one by itself sounds like a cause effect relationship.
It's not contradictory when you see both yields in the same field with the yield monitor (lesson #1) and patterns correspond with how the land was farmed 100 years ago. An irrigated field of NT corn after beans north of Red Cloud, NE had a respectable average yield of 204, but I learned that 240 units of applied nitrogen would have been wasted money on 2/3 of this field. I learned that the lower elevation areas with gravel on the surface seldom made over 170 and need more help, and on one knob that had been chopped by a bulldozer 30 years ago and was nearly all gravel produced little to nothing. Not more than 200 yards away was harvesting 260-300 bu corn. One area where three terraces squezed together routinely topped 300 shows me what is possible and will be an area of intense scrutiny for me next year. (I don't farm the direction of the terraces FYI) I know where I need to work on and its definitely not a blanket approach.
Former fenced off table top areas of fields that had been farmed by my great - grandfather sometimes produced 30 bu less, right to the fenceline. One dryland Smith county Kansas farm was split between milo and beans last year, but before that the whole field was farmed the same for 30+ years. No-till corn on this field this year average yield was 162 but the real story is this: Corn behind the beans yielded 190+ but saw a 30 bu drop right at the old fenceline on 20 acres where wheat and feed had been grown from around 1900 to 1950s. It has been treated the same since until last year as I previously stated. Corn behind milo yeilded 160+ but dropped 30 bushel right at the old boundry again. This was a very repetitive and consistant pattern.
The only place I saw the corn curling from the drought this summer on this field is where the county did some dirtwork on the road at a water crossing and we used a disk on less than an acre to smooth out their aftermath. That was the last place you would expect to see corn wilting on that field. Planted at 20K population not knowing what rain to expect, how much nitrogen should I have applied with a 125 bu. yeild goal? what would the payback have been.
#5 I answered above, and I will try to share some pics and examples from Dawson and Buffalo county, NE on this later.
Edited by Hayinhere 12/13/2009 21:37
|
Some things I learned this year
