Starter Fertilizer Discussions for Corn and the CNA
On January 27, 2022, Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, discussed in detail on agweb.com the keys to making starter fertilizer more economically effective in corn production. This article, "Ferrie: How to Keep '$6 Corn' Happy? Use Your Starter," seems to arise from the fact that both fertilizer and commodity prices have moved to very high levels. Ferrie's article focuses on the 4Rs in a very similar way that Growers Mineral, Corp. rolled out our CNA (cost and nutritional analysis) protocol.
The earliest point in this article is that removing starter from your corn fertilizer program could be a huge mistake from the availability standpoint. His idea is that 5 gal. of 10-34-0 gives you significantly better availability than 300 pounds of 18-46-0 (DAP). As with the Growers CNA, he points out how important placement and timing are to fertilizer availability. For years, we have told farmers the two biggest enemies to fertilization are time and distance.
As the article progresses, Ferrie states that placement has a big impact on the other parts of the 4Rs; that is product type and rate. He confesses that In-Furrow gives maximum availability, but that product type affects the rate that can be placed In-Furrow. Ferrie contends that salt effect determines the volume that can be placed In-Furrow; however, the data used to create the CNA analysis indicated manufacturing type (hot or cold) mix also has an effect on placement availability. We believe a more uniform product (hot mix) helps alleviate some of the salt problems that occur In-Furrow. Ferrie recognizes chemical bonding of elements (polyphosphate or orthophosphate) has an effect on In-Furrow application, but we believe quality of the elements also affects the In-Furrow application.
As the article progressed, Ferrie stated that the In-Furrow application had limitations to application because of the salt effect, and the producer would not be able to apply enough fertilizer to achieve maximum yield. Ferrie said maximum yield could only be achieved with the use of 2x2 positioning which allowed enough applied fertilizer while not causing yield reduction from the salt effect.
Recent research work that has been published in The Growers Solution has showed that the application of GMS at different positions has helped with total production. However, GMS used at one position along with extra N at another position did not necessarily increase economics of production over just using GMS at those positions. Also, positioning GMS in more places doesn't necessarily require more volume of GMS to be used. This could simply be explained by affecting a larger population of soil microbiology by adding more physical positions of the GMS.
Using a more microbiologically sensitive material may allow better crop response by improving the health of the soil.
This is an excerpt from the Spring Growers Solution (2023) written by Jim Halbeisen, Director of Research.
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