For farmers considering emergency or catch-up fertilization of their soybean fields yet this summer, Antonio Mallarino, an agronomy professor at Iowa State University (ISU) working in soil fertility and nutrient management research and extension, says in-season fertilizer application for soybeans will seldom be cost-effective in Iowa. “Producers may be wondering about it, if fertilizer rates were inadequate...

Many cornfields throughout Illinois are showing areas with light-green color next to good-looking plants that are often farther along in development, too. Almost without exception, the pale plants are in low-lying areas where this season’s large amounts of rain have caused frequent ponding. The appearance of the corn crop is an excellent diagnostic tool for nitrogen. Corn that is yellow-green or light...

Choosing a nitrogen rate is hard enough the first time. It’s even harder the second time when you’re trying to rescue corn after heavy rains have stolen part of the first application. At that point, it’s hard to determine how much nitrogen was lost, how much is left, and the yield potential of a crop that may be struggling to survive in a wet field. It’s a situation many growers found...

Nitrogen costs are high this spring, a situation that has many farmers looking for ways to apply only the nitrogen their crops really need as a way to maximize the economic benefit. A preplant N test could help you answer the question of how much nitrogen to apply this spring. In an Extension factsheet, University of Missouri Agronomists John Lory and Peter Scharf say as a supplement to the standard soil test,...

Fungicides, a three-year rotation schedule, nitrogen fertilization and a soil-applied insecticide are investments that pay off with profitable peanut yields, says Collingsworth County, Texas, producer Rusty Strickland. Strickland, who farms at Wellington, averaged 5,800 pounds per acre last year on 385 acres of irrigated peanuts, a yield that helped him earn the 2010 Farm Press Peanut Profitability Award for...