Which way to apply AD digestate on growng crops

Wobblebox

Member
Arable Farmer
I'm going to apply AD digestate onto growing crops this spring, and got 2 competing contactors touting for the work.
Both have nurse tanks to receive from tankers, one has 12 m dribble bar and would umbilical hose on, the other has a 2500 gal Terragator.
One says the Terragator is too heavy and cause compaction, the other says the dragged hose will cause uprooting of plants on headlands.

I can see both sides, anyone here got any opinions?
 
I'm going to apply AD digestate onto growing crops this spring, and got 2 competing contactors touting for the work.
Both have nurse tanks to receive from tankers, one has 12 m dribble bar and would umbilical hose on, the other has a 2500 gal Terragator.
One says the Terragator is too heavy and cause compaction, the other says the dragged hose will cause uprooting of plants on headlands.

I can see both sides, anyone here got any opinions?
What’s rate per ha you thinking of applying?
 

Wobblebox

Member
Arable Farmer
Not sure at the moment as never applied it before, waiting for the analysis to come back.

Would like to get 30-40 kg/N/ha if possible

Field size range from 4-25 acres, but several fields in one block
 

D14

Member
Not sure at the moment as never applied it before, waiting for the analysis to come back.

Would like to get 30-40 kg/N/ha if possible

Field size range from 4-25 acres, but several fields in one block

Thats a very low rate. We get 100kg N from 20-30 cb/ha depending on the analysis of that batch. We test it independently as well by taking a sample from random loads.
 

SRRC

Member
Location
West Somerset
Umbilical every time. Don't bother with tankers as too much damage. I'm assuming winter cereals, spring crops don't usually have enough root to withstand the pipe drag.
If it's dryish you'll barely see a mark and be able to put on much more.
Leave a strip not done and 2 weeks later you'll see a huge difference.
 

Wobblebox

Member
Arable Farmer
Thats a very low rate. We get 100kg N from 20-30 cb/ha depending on the analysis of that batch. We test it independently as well by taking a sample from random loads.
I've never applied any digestate before, what rates and timings would you be aiming for?
 

D14

Member
I've never applied any digestate before, what rates and timings would you be aiming for?

Timing is as soon as the closed period ends for your soil type so either 31st December onwards or 31st January onwards. Our osr will be done on the 31st January and then the wheats 15th February onwards. The application rate is as said 20-30cbm/ha depending on the analysis. We are aiming for 100kg/ha of N. Generally this is a good guide to use for food based AD digestate.

Dry matter content % 4

Nitrogen (N) kg/t 5

Phosphate (as P2O5) kg/t 0.5

Potash (as K2O) kg/t 2.0

Magnesium (as MgO) kg/t 0.1

Sulphur (as SO3) kg/t 0.4

Readily available nitrogen kg/t 4

Not sure where those figures originally came from as they were sent to us by the digestate supplier. That said any analysis we've done certainly gets very close to those figures but we are using food waste so animal waste could be drastically different.
 
Timing is as soon as the closed period ends for your soil type so either 31st December onwards or 31st January onwards. Our osr will be done on the 31st January and then the wheats 15th February onwards. The application rate is as said 20-30cbm/ha depending on the analysis. We are aiming for 100kg/ha of N. Generally this is a good guide to use for food based AD digestate.

Dry matter content % 4

Nitrogen (N) kg/t 5

Phosphate (as P2O5) kg/t 0.5

Potash (as K2O) kg/t 2.0

Magnesium (as MgO) kg/t 0.1

Sulphur (as SO3) kg/t 0.4

Readily available nitrogen kg/t 4

Not sure where those figures originally came from as they were sent to us by the digestate supplier. That said any analysis we've done certainly gets very close to those figures but we are using food waste so animal waste could be drastically different.
That's what it should be but seen some as high as 7/8kgs n per m3 all to do with retention period some plants go high rushing food waste through system supplier should give you a indication per batch
 

Wobblebox

Member
Arable Farmer
Thanks, 100 kgN/ha for 1st dose seems a lot to me especially as digestate is more available, if I was spreading AN then I'd be going on at 40-50 kgN/ha

What is the specific weight? Does 1 CBM = 1 ton?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I'm going to apply AD digestate onto growing crops this spring, and got 2 competing contactors touting for the work.
Both have nurse tanks to receive from tankers, one has 12 m dribble bar and would umbilical hose on, the other has a 2500 gal Terragator.
One says the Terragator is too heavy and cause compaction, the other says the dragged hose will cause uprooting of plants on headlands.

I can see both sides, anyone here got any opinions?

which one is free ? you can usually get application paid for by the waste disposer
 

Wobblebox

Member
Arable Farmer
The guy with dribble bar has told me that the waste disposer pays me £1.50/cube and I pay spreading contractor (£40/hr reeling, £80/hr spreading)
Not sure if thats competitive or not?
 

Speedstar

Member
Location
Scottish Borders
The guy with dribble bar has told me that the waste disposer pays me £1.50/cube and I pay spreading contractor (£40/hr reeling, £80/hr spreading)
Not sure if thats competitive or not?
You will find that at them rates there will be a lot of the time were they are waiting of the tank getting filled by the truck as this is a problem working out of nurse tanks, if you have 24 meter tramlines try & find some one with a dribble bar that size as it will be batter with no mess in the crop .
 
Timing is as soon as the closed period ends for your soil type so either 31st December onwards or 31st January onwards. Our osr will be done on the 31st January and then the wheats 15th February onwards. The application rate is as said 20-30cbm/ha depending on the analysis. We are aiming for 100kg/ha of N. Generally this is a good guide to use for food based AD digestate.

Dry matter content % 4

Nitrogen (N) kg/t 5

Phosphate (as P2O5) kg/t 0.5

Potash (as K2O) kg/t 2.0

Magnesium (as MgO) kg/t 0.1

Sulphur (as SO3) kg/t 0.4

Readily available nitrogen kg/t 4

Not sure where those figures originally came from as they were sent to us by the digestate supplier. That said any analysis we've done certainly gets very close to those figures but we are using food waste so animal waste could be drastically different.
That's what it should be but seen some as high as 7/8kgs n per m3 all to do with retention period some plants go high rushing food waste through system supplier should give you a indication per bat
Yes we do & like to think we make a nice tidy job with a 24 meter dribble bar & hose humper, rate can be any were from 15 c/m per hec to 50c/m , best not to go to early
you wouldn’t apply 50m3 digest ate in one application would you?
 

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