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...

Farmers have been questioning how long one should plant corn and beans. Other concerns include ponding, insect injury, saturated soils and poor stands, Wayne Flanary, University of Missouri regional agronomist in Oregon, said in a news release. Typically, corn is not recommended to be planted past mid- June because there is considerable yield loss. Also, corn might fail to dry in the field in fall. Research...

Recent storms have caused a variety of damage to Mississippi’s corn crop and left growers with management questions. “Likely the most prevalent problem since last weekend has been hail, although ‘greensnap’ (a term describing corn stalks broken by high winds) and flash flooding have also occurred,” writes Erick Larson, Extension grains specialist with Mississippi State University, in a newsletter released...

Ammonium sulfate is a water soluble fertilizer providing 21 percent nitrogen by weight and 24 percent sulfur. The guaranteed analysis is 21-0-0+24(S). It can be applied to lawns as a top dressing of nitrogen and sulfur with a broadcast or drop-type spreader. In areas with high pH soils, the sulfur in ammonium sulfate helps lower soil pH levels. As with other fertilizers, water the treated area well after each...

Growing season conditions may be the biggest contributor to poor crop appearance today, rather than inadequate soil fertility, says Fabián Fernández, University of Illinois Extension specialist in soil fertility and plant nutrition. “Environmental conditions play an important role in nutrient availability,” Fernández says. “Plants obtain most of their nutrients and water from the soil through...

It’s been a while since global fertilizer prices started sliding from record highs, but the beginning of the new year could usher in some good fertilizer buys for farmers. The world market’s dipped but returned from its lowest point. Still, prices are well below the highs from a little over a year ago, when prices for urea, phosphate and potash were all hovering at or near record levels. That means...

University studies sponsored by Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation (GSL), North America’s largest producer of sulfate of potash (SOP), indicate that sulfate of potash may be a more effective potassium fertilizer for sweet potato crops than traditional muriate of potash (MOP), increasing the yield of U.S. #1 sweet potatoes by as much as 32 percent in preliminary studies. Ongoing crop trials at Louisiana...