Applications and Evaluations at the NCRS

So I was on a fertilizer mission last week, but Stephanie sent me these pictures of field crop research activities.  Like a sequential side-dress application in corn with the Hagie.  We are testing application timing, equipment and additional nutrient combinations with the nitrogen. 

 The MSU interns Matt, Quinten and Chris have been busy with a variety of plot evaluations.  Like head counts in winter wheat....

 and soybean counts and vigor.  Lots of data is collected and we are glad to have the extra hands and eyes from these sharp student.

So it's summer now.  What does that mean?  Soybeans better get growing.  Now that the days are getting shorter, that's a signal for soybeans to start thinking about reproduction.  Well if they had a brain I guess.  But it's going to happen.

Early NCRS Tour

 So by "early" I meant "early in the season" and certainly not early in the day.  But this was a farming basics tour for the AgroLiquid employees in the corporate office and Ashley manufacturing plant.  We have sessions every so often to go over the basics of farming and how the fertilizer is applied and how it works.  This primarily for those who may not be too familiar with what all of this fertlizer business that they work on is all about. After a little a welcome and history by me, agronomist Dan Peterson from Wisconsin covered nutrients, products and discussed the GMO situation.  I talked about planters, gps, and the different ways farmer apply our Liquid.  (I should probably get me one of those selfie stick things to better show me in action.  But really it was very interesting.  I listened to every word I said.)

We went into the field to see a variety of the research plots we have, and pointed out fertilizer differences.  One of the stops was where Dr. Zouheir Massri has one of his phosphate fertilizer studies.  He is measuring P movement from the application band as rainwater moves through the soil.  We should be getting some early results very soon. 

He showed the collection procedure in the syringes from the buried lysimeters.  Very interesting and pioneering research at the NCRS.

We also stopped at the apple orchard where researcher Jacob Emling talked about the high-density orchard and the plans for the upcoming installation of the fixed spray canopy systems.  Everyone volunteered for a taste test.

 On the long drive back to the NCRS office, agronomist John Leif talked about the timely topic of cover crops.  What they are, what they do and why they are seeing more acres of them each year.  Also interesting, it was.

So that is yet another reason why the employees of AgroLiquid are the most knowledgeable anywhere about the job they do plus the company they work for.  Or I mean, ...the company for whom they work.  Even our grammar is good.

Mammoth Cave

So there was a Wednesday between the field days on Tuesday and Thursday last week.  How to spend it?  Well there was a company wide corporate conference in the morning that told us about many new things going on in the Land of Liquid.  Here we are being good employees and tuning in. Proof of attendance for John, Jourdan and Quinten.  And me too.

 Hey, why not go visit one of the Earth's biggest holes: Mammoth Cave.  It was pretty close.  So we did.  The part we visited was discovered in 1921 by a guy named George Marshall who noticed a depression and cool air coming out of the ground.  It was a few miles from the historic Mammoth Cave entrance.  We had to go down some stairs to get to the entrance.  Which prepared us for lots more stairs after entering the cave.

 He found a cave and actually got his younger nephew to tie a rope around himself and venture into the hole.  He soon needed much more rope.  Now there is a steel stairway that descends several hundred feet down.  It is an engineering marvel to install the stairs.  But it was quite a trip.

 There were all kinds of cool cave sites.  Like this.

 And this.

 And this column.

 Oh, and this.

 And don't forget this.

 I kind of wanted to dive down into this pool.  But a sign said "No Diving".  So I didn't.

 Towards the end it felt like something was in the dark corners.  All kinds of scary beings could be around the next corner.

So George Marshall made this cave passable back in the '20's.  And it had lights and everything.  He called it the New Entrance to Mammoth Cave.  But they made him prove it to use that name.  So he tied a rope around his poor nephew again, and he did come out in the other part of Mammoth Cave, so they got to keep the name.  But after the main cave became a National Park, he eventually sold out to be part of the park in 1931.  Since it was the Depression, he took the generous offer of $290,000, which would be a zillion dollars today.  If you go, take a jacket as it is in the 50's all year round.  There is plenty to see and do in Kentucky besides field days.  Which are pretty cool anyway.

First Field Day of the Year at Security Seed in Kentucky

So I think field days are a great place to learn about growing crops and the products that make it happen.  You can see for yourself what is working, as opposed to a farm show or company meeting where you just listen to someone talking.  (Oops, there goes my cover for the show season.)  Last week I had the opportunity to attend the wheat field day put on by Security Seed and Chemical at their research farms in Hopkinsville and Morganfield, Kentucky.  There were some grower there, but mostly their agronomists and sales personnel attended from the 14 locations throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.  I have been working with their research manger Patrick Hurt for several years now.  They do a great job of providing local research to support their products which includes Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers.  Here is Patrick telling the people here in Hopkinsville to load up the wagons and prepare to learn. 

In the field Patrick talks about corn fertilizers.  The dog must have heard it before as he is already a believer. 

Here is a plot that received 300 lb/A of a broadcast dry blend of 9-23-30.  These are 4 row plots, and the dry doesn't measure up very well to the adjacent plots of Liquid. 

They also make applications of experimental products, as in this one with a test formulation of phosphorus plus Kalibrate and Micro 500.  It really responds to the sulfur in these products.  Hopefully we will see this product in the near future.

Here is the test plot planter that they use.  It is a great set-up for the plots here.

Now we are in Morganfield and here is my old friend Lang who is the fertilizer specialist for Security.  Lang is an AgroLiquid alumni, and he and I used to travel a lot together.  He is very knowledgeable of our fertilizer products and speaks about how they work here.  I learn plenty from listening to him talk about the research and on-farm results of Liquid and a variety of product additives.

 One thing that is apparent is the wheat response to sulfur fertilizer inputs.  Plots with Kalibrate and AccesS look very good.  One plot that looked really good was this one where one gallon of ferti-Rain was applied with fungicide at wheat flowering.  It was the biggest and thickest.  Now of course ferti-Rain has 1.5% sulfur in it, and the foliar application seemed to be the right product at the right rate and the right time at the right place.  You can see how it is taller and thicker than the adjacent plots. We predicted that this plot will be well over 100 bu/A.  What could be easier than adding a gallon of ferti-Rain to this application?

 Here I am at Hopkinsville talking about foliar application of fertilizers on soybeans.  Now there aren't any soybeans planted yet, but there will be after wheat harvest, and the best and easiest way to provide nutrition is through well-proven folair application.  After my explanation, I lead the wagons of attendees in a round of singing the AgroLiquid jingle.  No really, there is one.  It was written by Doug Cook many years ago.  "Agro-Culture Liquid is the one to buy. Liquid plant food is the reason why.  Agro Liquid makes your crop tops, so have a Top Crop in every drop."  Now why aren't we still using that?

 Tom Daniels talks about wheat management.  Under the tent is Caleb who talked about the Y Drops that I showed us using at the NCRS and Todd talked about the Soil Scan which gives in field analysis of soil nitrate.  Agriculture gets more high tech all the time.

 We also had the chance to see some vegetable plots nearby.  In fact it was in the town that has the Jefferson Davis monument that I have chronicled in this blog in the past.  Didn't have time to go up it this time.  But here is Billy from Security Seed and SAM Jourdan, MSU intern Quinten and agronomist John slogging through the mud to look at the Liquid fertilizer on tomatoes, cantaloupe and watermelon.  There had been plenty of rain of late, and the fertilizer is being applied through the drip lines and then foliar later.  Can't wait to chow down at harvest.

 So that was a good and informative week.  Thanks to all at Security Seed and Chemical for a well-run field day at both locations.

Congrats Furniture Row Racing

So I like to watch a NASCAR race every now and then.  I turned on the race from Pocono today and saw that Martin Truex from Furniture Row Racing was ahead, so I watched it to the end.  Some may recall that AgroLiquid was associated with Furniture Row Racing through car owner Mr. Barney Visser, who also owns the Furniture Row fine chain of stores.  He is also a farm owner in Colorado who promoted agriculture through an organization called Farm American back in 2011.  And AgroLiquid was a supporter of that and even got the LIQUID logo on the car a couple times.  The blog featured a visit to a race on August 20, 2011.  Here Martin does the burn-out after his victory. I'm sure he is enjoying the taste of tire rubber from the smoke in the car.

 Anyway, Martin Truex won today, and it was his third career victory and Furniture Row's second.  Evidently Martin is well liked by fellow drivers who were happy for him.  And it is the first victory for crew chief Cole Pearn below on the left with Martin.

I say all this because Barney Visser farms a large amount of dryland ground near Denver, and uses Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers. He even visited the NCRS a couple of times.  So of course I'm happy he won.  Now he can buy some more fertilizer.

NCRS Observations

So I apologize to my faithful blog followers for my absence.  But I've been busy, as you will see in the days to come as I try to get caught up.  So let's step into the time machine and re-visit the past...all the way back to Friday May 29.  On that sunny day, Galynn, Dale and myself were given a look-around at the NCRS by Stephanie.  We looked around at some of the field crop experiments. Stephanie spoke slow and clear so that Galynn could follow along.  Dale is wrapped up in who knows what.  

One topic of interest is a re-visit of fertilizer application equipment, namely the Totally Tubular and Rebounder in-furrow liquid systems for planters.  For those not up to speed, the Totally Tubular applies the stream of fertilizer at the bottom of the seed furrow before the seed drops.  It is supposed to place it such that a small amount of soil is between the seed and the band, but it's often right in the band.  The Rebounder applies the fertilizer from the top of a seed firmer through a Y tube such that the fertilizer is above and on either side of the seed.  There is greater safety with the Rebounder, but the Tube enables quicker fertilizer contact.  What to use?  Hmmm.  Well several years of previous research at the NCRS has shown slightly higher corn yields with the Tube, using AgroLiquid of course.  But questions still arise, mainly about fertilizer safety.  So here is an early look at some plots where different rates of Pro-Germinator were applied with both types of applicators.  I usually like to wait till experiment completion before showing results, but I think there's a point here.  This was on Farm 3 which has light soil, with a CEC of only 5.  Injury potential is greater in light textured soils.

Plots were planted on May 6, around 3 weeks before the pictures. The cold after planting delayed emergence, but look good now. All plots had some Kalibrate, Micro 500 and High NRG-N applied 2x2.  This plot had no in-furrow fertilizer.

 This plot had 5 gal/A of Pro-Germinator with the Totally Tubular.  It is obviously better than the no fertilizer plot above.  Plots are 6 rows wide, and the stake is in the middle.  So you can count over and see the previous plot on the left.

 This plot had 5 gal/A of Pro-Germinator with the Rebounder.  It is not as big as the above plot, due to faster fertilizer access from Totally Tubular placement.

 This plot had 10 gal/A with the Totally Tubular.

 This plot had 10 gal/A with the Rebounder.  Now it might be a little taller than the above as the rate is getting higher.  But both have good emergence and stand.

 This plot had 20 gal/A through the Totally Tubular.  The stand seems to be there, but it is definitely behind.  Early and later stand counts are taken on all plots.  You can see the stakes further down the way where stand counts are taken.

 This plot had 20 gal/A with the Rebounders.  It's pretty remarkable how good it looks from such a high rate.  But the fertilizer is not applied in contact with the seed.  And also this rate would also have 20 lb/A of Nitrogen which would help with the green up.  So applicators can have differences and it is something to consider, particularly in stress conditions.  You can see the previous treatment to the left. All of these treatments were replicated five times in this experiment and will be harvested for effects on yield.

 And look who we saw getting started with the side-dress applications.  None other than Field Agronomy Research Manager Tim.

 Here he goes on another corn experiment.  We sure like the Hagie and the Nitrogen Tool Bar.

We are also testing a new side-dress nitrogen application system: the Y-Drop from 360 Yield Center.  This makes surface applications of liquid nitrogen, but places it next to the row.  It is supposed to have better root access than in the middle of the row where most surface hose applications are made.  We have shown that soil injection of side-dressed N is better than surface apps, but we will see how this does.  We received quite a few questions about this, so made arrangements to test it.  That's why we are here, after all.  Stephanie sent me these pics from their application last Wednesday.  You can see how the hoses place the fertilizer on both sides of the row.  Pretty cool.

You can see the nitrogen fertilizer bands.  Still needs a rain to carry it in, but the majority of the roots are right there.

So I was gone most of last week and was driving up to the NCRS on Friday, and saw blotches like this on all of the corn fields I drove by.  We did have some frost several weeks ago, and I thought this might have been left over from that.  But no, Stephanie said that it got below freezing on the morning of Tuesday, June 2.  So that is what caused this.  Interestingly, there is a popular daily agricultural radio show where a guy from Iowa (I think) was describing these symptoms on corn there, and found out it too was from the cold.  So it was pretty wide-spread.

So this should kind of bring you up to date.  Surely there is more....so stay tuned.

Last Farm Tiled

So last Friday we finally got Farm 9 tiled.  This was a farm that we had been renting for a number of years, and now is owned by the Liquid ownership.  It was really in need of tiling.  It is heavier soil and there are some springs feeding it somewhere.  It was never dry early enough to enable us to plant corn, so had to wait till later and plant soybeans or wheat in the fall after bean harvest.  It really isn't suitable for plots as it's so hilly, but it's a pretty 32 acres and we have grown some good crops there. Fraker's trenching has done all of our tiling, and was back again.  It has been a dry spring around here, so he has been able to get a lot of jobs done.

 Up the hill he goes, laying in the tile around 34 inches deep.  Obviously there is good fall here to carry the water down the hill and off to a county drain.

 This part of the field is all done by afternoon.  The tile lines are 33 feet apart.

Well it's not like we can drive right in and start planting.  The ground is pretty dry now since there has been very little rain this spring.  So the soil didn't fall back in so much.  It will take a little work to close up the trenches, but there is a plan.  Master fabricator Ron has built a tool to get the job done.  Hopefully I can catch him in action with it this week.

Last Friday all of the corn and soybeans on the farm have been planted, so that also was good news.