Which fertilizer is better: Liquid or Dry?
Marianne Stamm from Jarvie, Alta., is working on an article for Grainews about liquid fertilizer. A company in her area had a workshop recently about the benefits of liquid fertilizer, and Marianne's article will share some of the highlights.
Here is a teaser:
—With dry fertilizer it is difficult to get all the nutrients to every seed. Especially the prills of P are spaced fairly far apart, simply because there isn’t as much P in a blend. You just won’t get P prills to every seed. With liquid fertilizer you get every nutrient to every seed all the time because every drop of the blend has every nutrient in the same strength.
—Only in liquid fertilizer can you get all three forms of N – nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen and urea. The three different forms release their nutrients at different times, so that the plant has some N available from the first moment on until maturity.
—With liquid fertilizer it is possible to put more nutrition closer to the seed than with dry.
—With liquid, one-pass farmers can seed far more acres at a time before having to fill again.
—Liquid fertilizer is easy to store and handle. There aren’t any safety concerns as with anhydrous ammonia. You just need to have a few tanks to keep a supply handy in spring.
I'd like to get your thoughts. Do you agree with these arguments in favour of liquid fertilizer? Are these benefits enough to overcome the extra cost? Please email me.
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Im sorry, but I and most of the agriculture community would completely disagree with the above comments. Very few of the above facts are true, which is disappointing because we all learn basic plant sciences in high school chemistry & biology and/or afternoon agronomy courses which would dispell the above myths.
Yes, 28 has 3 types of N, but plants dont take up Ammonia or Urea, they have to convert these sources to Nitrate first, this happens in only a matter of days after application. Carrying N all the way to maturity is possible, not from the applied fertilizer but from your soil Organic matter. There is NO manufactured source of N (like there is of elemental Sulfur) that will carry through in the soil to maturity, nor is it needed. 95% of plant nitrogen needs are met by the time a crop is flowering.
Phosphate needs to surround every seed? Well, plants do have roots that are mobile, and phosphate does break down to become available, so can we assume that the roots of plants will grow and seek out nutrients that have been placed by the seed? Most soils, especially in Saskatchewan, have a nice P residual that a crop will take advantage of. Yes, P is tied up in the soil, but did you know a crop will only utilize about 30% of the P you place in the soil each spring?
Did you also know a crop can get away without seedrow applied P for a couple years before the soil starts to get mined and large yield losses happen? That is why products like PowerRich and Jumpstart only work for a couple years, expecially when no supplemental fertilizer is applied. Using these gimmick products for a few years, will only rob soil reserves and greatly deplete the soil. If you dont think this is true, take a soil test, dont apply P & K for a few years with normal crops then soil test again. Bet your down 20 lbs P and 100K in 6" test (if you are taking off straw).
Thus, P does not need to be that close to the seed, infact being as close as liquid with high P rates can actually cause seedling damage...depends on SBU, but thats a whole different topic.
More Fills with Liquid? Are you crazy, infact could take more. When applying high rates of fert, upwards of 50 to 60 US gals (not including K) 1500 gal tank = 25 to 30 acres, 2500gal = 40 to 50, plus you still need to tow aircart.
NH3 not safe? The only time it isnt safe is when it is in careless hands! If it was not safe would it be used in the food industry? Now, if you want to max out seeding acres per day you want to goto 1-pass ammonia seeding, plus its delivered to the field at a 8 to 10 cent discount to liquid, 5 cent to dry. With Ammonia I can only see convenience, no extra product to truck, pump or auger!
Sounds to me like someone is trying very hard to sell, or is trying to justify having switched to liquid now realizing they are going to pay much much more.