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| In the early 1990s there was an ISU extension bulletin that said after at lest two years of good alfalfa that the first year corn didn't respond to added nitrogen and sometimes the second year corn didn't respond to added nitrogen, but that bulletin suggested doing a spring nitrogen soil test for the second year.
In those years I did a 6 year rotation with 3 three years of alfalfa (first year with an oats nurse crop), 1 year corn, 1 year beans and one year corn. I bought no significant nitrogen, just applied MAP to the grain crops, like 100 pounds of MAP so 11 pounds of N.
As time went on I came to the conclusion that growing my own nitrogen was more expensive than buying 32%. That was based on selling the alfalfa baled compared to a good corn yield instead of the alfalfa, that the added income from the corn was way more than the alfalfa and would easily pay for the 32% so I built a side dresser to apply 32% and quit raising alfalfa. And quit getting screwed by odd alfalfa buyers.
Gerald J. | |
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Best results after alfalfa?
