For people who use push planters/fertilizers

[FarmboyBill]

Ive been told that placing fert above ground is near useless and a waste. In corn it needs to be off to the side 4in and buried the same.

Well, my new planter has it off to the side maybe 3in and dosent bury it.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Ive been told that placing fert above ground is near useless and a waste. In corn it needs to be off to the side 4in and buried the same.

Well, my new planter has it off to the side maybe 3in and dosent bury it.

My push Earthway Planter buries it. In the garden I prep the soil, then I hand spread the fertilizer down the rows where the seeds will be planted. I then run the tractor tiller down the rows as deep as it will go. I then slightly bed the rows and plant. I use the push planter fertilizer deal to side dress the rows when its time.

My several acres of field corn-----I use the slinger behind the tractor to put out fertilizer and grainuliar nitrogen.

[FarmboyBill]

I was told, if the fert isn't buried, the N evaporates into the air.

[Wanda]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

I was told, if the fert isn't buried, the N evaporates into the air.

Depends on what form of N that is used. The temperature and rainfall also factor in.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

I was told, if the fert isn't buried, the N evaporates into the air.

All my fertilizer is always buried, because thats the way my parents trained me---LOL. If I am using 34% I have liquidfied it and put it out as a liquid--and not buried it---it soaks into the ground.

[bigjon]

plow/disc/fertilize/lightly disc again/plant-40yrs haven't failed yet

[farmerDale]

Depends on the fertilizer analysis and what it is you are trying to provide. Some can be seed placed, some needs to be a little way away, some can be put on top and taken down with rain, some must be covered in soil.

It depends so much on what feretilizer you are talking about using.

[Super55]

Nitrogen fertilizers will most definitely volatile to evaporation from the air. The rest of the fertilizer is very stable to the atmosphere such as the phosphorus and Potassium but the N will evaporate and at a great rate.

Urea (46-0-0) will lose over 50% of its nitrogen content in just a few days if it is not injected into the soil or broken down by rain. Take for instance you spread 100# of Urea. At application you applied 46# of nitrogen, If you just broadcast it out and it sits on top of the soil for 4 days of hot dry weather and it finally rains. The end result is you probably got less than 20# of nitrogen to be used by your plants.

There are a couple ways you can alleviate your losses though. one is apply the nitrogen after the tilling but before the planting as mentioned above. Two, Side dressing the plants with either a liquid fertilizer or granular as long as you have a covering disc. Or third, apply the N. with a broadcast spreader during a steady rain or where there is certainty that rain is on the way.

I have found that my situation applying N. during the rain is the easiest way for me to ensure the nutrient gets to my plants. Since it is readily soluble with water I let the good old H20 do the work to get it to the root zone.

It just makes the most economical sense for me. If you apply N early it promotes fescue weeds and plants such as corn really don't utilize the N until it is about 8" tall. Than it craves it. Side dressing risks cutting plant roots or running over crops with equipment. For me broadcasting my corn going down the rows off my 4 wheeler during a rain seems to have the biggest bang for my buck but my soil has a lot of sand content and is not prone to crusting. If you have a lot of clay in your soil than this is not a viable option because it will just run off.

[Super55]

Farmboy. Just out curiosity what kind of planter did you pick up. I have a JD 290 that has a similar setup like you described wondered if you got the same?

[plowhand]

Old timers always said that fertilizer comes up, and nitrogen goes down.........I fertilize pastures....broadcast..........and it ain't worked in.....I work it in my field crops.....but I've taken to broad casting it, and not using a fertilize distributor.....most folks put to much when they use it anyway...............I've plowed out a many a row of sweet potatoes in the fall.....had plenty of sweet potatoes and enough dry fertilizer, still dry and pelletized...to make another crop.....

[FarmboyBill]

This planter was sold by TSC

[FarmboyBill]

Does any you folks planters directions tell you how deep to set the furrow opener for the various seeds it will plant? Mine says (look on the seed pkt for the proper depth setting). Well, I bought my seed today and the guy took an envelope from a stack and put the various seed variaties in envelope after envelope off of a stack of them. NONE of them had any information about how deep to set the furrow opener.

[FarmboyBill]

also, how does anyone know how to set their fert drop? The bags of fert I saw called for a overall spread, NOT a in line with the seed drop

[FarmboyBill]

Well, I got my fall garden put in. Used the planter on all of itcept taters when I put them in. It didn't push worth a hoot when the furrow opener was at over 2in. I ws wrong. Each seed sack had a listing of all vegetables and it had the various depths to set seed. When I tried to plant corn at 3in deep, I had a heck of a time getting the drive wheel to keep rolling. For the small stuff it worked great.

The rinky dinky fert applicator guage didn't work worth a hoot. If I had it at what I thought was a proper setting, It would dribble a little then stop. I would have to open it up way more than I wanted to get a steady flow.

The 2 wheels are a foot each, and so I figured they would roll better than they did on corn. I tilled the ground 3 times before planting.

[o&itw]

Regrettably, most of us small users are regulated to using urea since ammonium nitrate has been restricted because of the potential for making explosives. Urea is very bad at turning into ammonia from the moisture resident in the air. The ammonia simply blows away with the breeze.

So if you are using urea, it needs to be turned into the soil or one needs to water it after using so it can disolved down in the soil. It still turns to ammonia in the soil, but the ammonia will combine with soil and organic material to form more stable nitrogen compounds which won't drift away.

Sometimes I find myself wating for an obvious rain front to aproach so I can run out and broadcast it. I use a standard hand (cyclone type) seeder, but it must be washed thoroughly after use or it will rot the cloth and corrode the metal.

This obviously won't work for a true farmer, but they are likely using some kind of anhydrous nitrogen.