Posted 4/8/2008 17:11 (#352869 - in reply to #352848) Subject: RE: P and K, going without
This is anecdotal but a farmer friend does custom work for an older neighbor. Friend is a good farmer who applies whatever soil test recommends and has kept his soil fertility up. Neighbor usually grows beans and has not applied P or K in recent memory. Last year friend planted his own corn and then neighbors corn immediately afterwards, same variety. Friend averaged 60 bu/ac while neighbor averaged 80 bu/ac. Obviously water was the most limiting nutrient but the 20 bu difference really bugged my friend. For me this year the only $500/ton K I can justify is for alfalfa and that's only if the first 3 cuttings are decent. I saw the handwriting on the wall from reading this board and applied my first shot of K last fall while it was still in the $300 range. I'd be happy to give anyone all the P they want if they can find a way to extract it from my soils.
P and K, going without
