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Coldwater, Michigan | Gordon,
Although you didn't say AA, I assume you did use it since you brought up N-Serve? There are several delayed release products coming on the market. One is a slow release Urea product, been out a couple, or more years. N-Serve, of course, has been out forever. It at one time was made for 28%, but never seemed to meet with much success. Word is there is a new product coming out for 28% from "DOW" (N-Serve manufacturer) using something similar to the N-Serve mode of action.
The idea behind it sounds wonderful, like most Ag products. Unfortunately, the idea and the reality is often different. I was in Wisconsin and in Central Minnesota a couple of weeks ago, and most of the corn was pretty common. I wouldn't trade Michigan corn for theirs in most cases. Most of what I have seen in Michigan looks fair to great. Most of what I saw in those 2 states looks average. Don't get me wrong some of the best corn in those states was just across the fence from some of the worst. There is some good corn there, just not what you normally see.
As a whole, the corn in Wisconsin and Minnesota was pale in color. My cousin who hasn't been around a farm in 30 years commented, "Don't they use nitrogen here?" You who live there of course realize that the weather either wasn't cooperative for getting it on in the first place, or as Gordon points out, it didn't holdup with all the rain.
So, what to do? At one point in time nitrogen was cheaper than the N-Serve, so the answer was fairly easy. Some possibilities: 1) Do it as in the past. 2) Put some down, plan to sidedress the rest. In your case with 15" rows, Gordon, I suspect that might not be a good answer. 3) Put it down like normal, if you get a big rain like this figure you have lost some of it. Fly 25-50 units on as Urea as an insurance policy. 4) Ride it out like you did this year, then scratch your head trying to figure out how to do it different next time!!!!
A-Typical weather is just something you have a hard time planning for. If this happened in a big way every year, you would have a better idea of how to handle the situation. This year so much of the corn belt had issues with flooding weather over millions of acres of crops. It's good to see the American farmer still knows how to raise record crops (according to the USDA), in spite of the widespread weather disasters. Of course, if we weren't raising "record crops" the price would be reflected in the Chicago board. Right?????
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N-serve and nitrogen retention
