So here it is Independence Day again. And fortunately it also falls on July 4th, so an extra special holiday this year. We are thankful for our many freedoms, that much of the world would love to have. And while this election year in particular illustrates the many faces of the "American People", one thing we all have in common is that we need, and like, to eat. So those of us at AgroLiquid and the North Central Research Station will continue making that happen by providing the best plant nutrition available today! Chow down today in particular...I will.
In addition to the fireworks, I have a couple pictures of recent happenings at the NCRS. Like the pictures below that were sent to me by Zouheir, who is running the potato research this year. Below Tim B is hilling the potatoes while applying nitrogen.
Zouheir is apparently pleased with the outcome. In addition to fertility investigations, this experiment is also monitoring nutrient movement in the soil through the use of lysimeters that have been shown here previously.
On Friday Tim D made applications of foliar fungicides plus fertility to some of the Yield Challenge plots using the Undercover application. There are three nozzles behind those big black things above the Y Drops that enable excellent coverage within the foliage. There was some debate as to the need for fungicides during a drought (see the grass outside the plot.) But we went ahead as a means of increasing overall plant health. We will see. By the way, recall that we have subsurface drip irrigation here on Farm 12. So dry on top, but moisture in the root zone. More on that shortly.
Here is an attempt to show the thorough wetting to the lower leave after application with the Undercover spraying.
Here is an interesting view of the grass on Farm 12. We have the subsurface drip lines on 30" spacing under the crops. But under this grass area they are on 60" spacing. Can you guess where they are? Glad we have that on this farm, especially since the AgroExpo is going to be right here. Recall that it was installed during the 2014 growing season, and has been a lifesaver this year. Non-irrigated fields are pretty sad looking, especially in the afternoon. Only had around 0.4" of rain in all of June. It seems that there is no consistency in years, as last year we had ample rainfall and didn't even start overhead irrigation on the two farms that have it until July.
Tim and I took a look at a buried drip tape under a row of corn. It is around 16" deep. There are roots growing all around it. It looks dry, but was moist around the tape. It is set to run for two hours a day, but we may increase it an hour now since it is so dry and corn is really wanting to grow fast. There are 7 irrigation zones on Farm 12, as you can't run it all at once. They just completed a piece where different fertilizers can be added to the subsurface drip, allowing for six comparisons on six row plots. It will be featured at the AgroExpo on August 16-18.
