Nitrogen Questions Addressed

We’ve had several questions concerning nitrogen over the last few days with current saturated conditions and forecast for more wet weather.

How do we overcome this?

1. Quit thinking with a conventional mindset.  Just because you apply more N may not fix the problem.  It may actually contribute to higher disease/insect infestations.
2. The proper question is, “How do we put ourselves in a much better position to Solve The Problem?”
3. Dr. Mulvaney released his multi year Nitrogen study this past fall.  The following quote may shed a little more light on this subject -“Just as we expected, the poorest soil showed the highest uptake efficiency while the richer soils were much lower,” Griesheim says. “On average, only 21% of the nitrogen applied was recovered in the grain, ranging from 34% at the poorest Alfisol to 12% for the richest Mollisol.

   “Farmers apply ammonia in the fall thinking they’ve supplied nitrogen to their corn crop for the coming year. But based on our results, most of the fertilizer nitrogen will not be taken up by the crop.”                                  The article can be found here.

4. Whether it’s NH3, urea, or UAN the rules don’t really change that much.  At least they shouldn’t if we want to improve our Nitrogen Use Efficiency(NUE).

5. Nitrogen should always be applied with Sulfur, a carbon, and calcium.  Never alone.
6. If we have the proper system working for us we can also take advantage of “free” atmospheric nitrogen, in a corn crop.  However, applying too much and having too many antagonisms can shut this system down.  Nitrogen application is also the single largest reason for soil organic matter decline across the globe today.
7. For Nitrogen uptake to occur via root systems, it must first bind to Calcium.  Hence, why N should always be applied with Calcium.  Our Calibrate G2 was formulated specifically for this purpose.
8. Don’t forget the importance of the ABS Nutrient Ladder.  This shows the priority/hierarchy of how minerals are needed and used 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on.  Can you climb a ladder with the first few rungs missing?
9. At maturity, Nitrogen makes up only around 2% of total plant biomass.  C, H, and O make up 96%.  Focus on these main drivers to overcome the problem.
10. Understand plant physiology from a 100% science perspective.  9 minerals are needed for building of plant structure.  Only 9.  However, these 9 must have the corresponding “cofactors” to make them work properly.  Science today recognizes 18 essential minerals.  This number is actually in the 70s.  What are these cofactors?  Send us an email or text and we will send you the report.
11. Consider the following picture from our winter meetings.  What is actually going on here? Are these actually 100% without a doubt, the deficiencies labeled?

If you attended our winter meetings then maybe you recall what’s going on here.  It can and will help you overcome the current issues/environment if addressed properly.

We are in a critical time period with this growing crop.  Let us know how we can help you out.