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Humeston, IA | Was talking with my tenant about nutrient application into no-till fields here in SC Iowa (silt loam loess over clay, highly erodible, poorly drained). Typically dry fertilizer is broadcast with no or little incorporation. We have a friend who does strip-till nearby, putting on dry and NH3 with a shank applicator. But, my tenant is not a big fan of fall. NH3, and spring strip-till is, well, messy (see soil conditions above), and is difficult logistics-wise. We see the benefit of banding the P and K to reduce runoff, get better efficiency and staying in compliance.
We got to thinking about using an air seeder with single disc openers to place only dry in the fall with RTK guidance, place NH3 next to the dry band, then plant on/near (soybeans to corn).
Of course, most air seeders are on 7.5 or 10” spacing, a few soybean machines on 15”, so he’d either block or remove units to get to 30” or apply on 7.5” or 10” and not worry about having the dry indexed with the corn row. He’d probably have less overlap of dry with this approach than with a spinner, but it would go slower and use more fuel.
Would this work and be effective? Would this cost more than the benefit?
Thanks! | |
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Air seeder for banding dry fertilizer (not strip-till…exactly)
