So on the way back to Michigan I stopped in Southern Illinois to see a new Retail Partner, Southern Illinois Ag Source in Cobden, IL. Actually this was a week ago today. I had a blog post on a visit there last October 26. Like much of the country, they have had excess rainfall that has delayed planting. Or even had to use the dreaded "R" word: "Replant." The above picture is a common sight where it has been too wet to work or plant. After a while people thought I was bring the rain from Michigan. I have many powers, but weather control is not one of them.
The picture below is of rice as I drove across from Missouri. Although rice is flooded, it does need a period of no rain to get started. We have worked with rice growers in Arkansas, but this is for the future.
Southern IL Ag Source has put together a plot planter to establish some test plots. Here is a plot of Pro-Germinator + Sure-K + Micro 500 + Manganese, according to soil test. There are 10 plots that received either High NRG-N or the dreaded Anhydrous Ammonia. So it will be a good comparison.
Here is Retail Partner Josh Lofton and SAM Rick Knifley at the plots launching Josh's drone to get an overhead view of the plots. Josh is an expert pilot as he had the drone going all over.
Here it is over the plots. He actually had it flying at corn level for some cool images.
Here is a pic from the drone looking at the plots. The dots in the lower left corner are Josh, Rick and me. It was a valuable tool. I want one.
We visited some customer fields, but one visit was interesting. We preach that you should not use aluminum tanks for fertilizer storage that has phosphorus. Well here is why. This is a peek inside a tank that had Pro-Germinator + Sure-K. See all the crud in the bottom. Well that is a result of the phosphorus reacting with the aluminium. So don't do that! (I suggest that cell phones should have a wrist strap. I was so afraid of dropping my phone down into that mess.)
So this would be a problem to pump through a planter. Although I think it altered my fingerprint.
