Test and Verify
Over the years, many new products and concepts have come along in the world of agriculture. A well-trained expert or sales representative may have all the answers. But how can you be sure that product is valid? Quite often there's some impressive data to support the product claims. But have you ever noticed how that data always shows them to be superior to everything else? How good is that data? Farmers, intrigued by some experts, hardly ever think about the power they themselves possess. Having their own laboratory (or field) to test these products and theories is a big advantage over any expert.
When explaining the Growers Program and the many benefits for the agricultural producer, and being different from the mainstream fertility programs, we representatives for Growers Mineral Solutions highly recommend the use of strip tests to show the effectiveness of our program. It doesn't have to be a huge project; one to five acres may be all it takes to test and verify. Strips of different rates of calcium and GMS have convinced many successful Growers customers over the years, because of their successful results. Experience is hard to argue with, and in today's world with all the emphasis being focused on experts and technology, it seems like some of us still need to be reminded of that. Also, how many of those experts actually farm themselves?
So, you might be wondering how the corn picture goes with this story, so I'll explain: I did a comparison last year on our farm between GMS (our 10-20-10) and an 8-24-0 with some trace elements added. The crops looked pretty much the same on the surface, but some digging turned up a different story.
Both plants were planted with 5.5 gallons of product per acre in-furrow. There were no other fertilizers used at this stage of growth. The GMS plants showed a far better root system. This was two and a half weeks after planting with approximately 4 tenths of an inch of rainfall. The 2022 growing season was very dry in the summer and fall. Maybe the end result wasn't a fair comparison for the year, but what I learned was worth the effort.
This is an excerpt from the Spring Growers Solution (2023) written by Mike Bulcher, Growers District Manager.
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