- Location
- Lincolnshire
You'd not go on stubbles here.
Fertilizing winter cereal
- Thread starter Plough on
- Start date
Fish
Member
- Location
- North yorkshire
Nor here, went to the coast yesterday, almost nothing done, water in t lines, glistening fields, it’s all a bit grim.
Thick fog this morning.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Terras , they will go wet ir dry .. get em
On quick
- Location
- Lincolnshire.
A good morning for shooting a few cocks and watching them splash down into a puddle.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Light frost but not for working.
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
I’d agree with you, but only to a certain extent.
There is no doubt that not disturbing soils by any form of cultivation allows us to travel more easily on them.
However, it also very much depends on soil type and how free draining that soil is.
As you have said previously, your soils are more sandy, free draining and drought prone.
Heavy lands are still firm, but as the tramlines remain in the same place, tend to smear and end up as a rainwater trap. Travelling on them, results in the tramline becoming deeper and you end up in a catch 22 situation.
It needs to stop raining long enough for the tramlines to dry out, or we need a hard enough frost to support the weight of the tractor and spreader, without making the tramlines so deep, that we will need to cultivate them to level them out, before the next crop.
But even on the lighter, sandier bits here, it will need several days of dry weather, before I can even think about going.
Then we have the unprotected Urea situation:
Normally I’d happily get all my Urea on by the end of March. I always used to want it all on by 7th April to make sure it had time to all get used up. A week sooner, would hardly make any difference and the extra cost of protected Urea is unjustifiably.
However, that would normally mean that I had got the first 3rd of it on in February and the crop would be ready for its main dose by the end of March.
That hasn’t happened this year and at least half of my crops will not be far enough forward by the end of March to get the second dose on.
So, what do we do?
Lie?
kevindb880
Member
- Location
- Herts
Welcome to Global warming!
It ain't going to get any better in the future!
It ain't going to get any better in the future!
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
Do you, like me, believe that given a more normal year, Zero-tilled crops need less total Nitrogen to achieve the same grain yield?
I’d say somewhere between 10 and 20% less. No point putting more on as it will actually reduce yields and we go over the top of the N response curve.
Is this not only due to lower leaching amounts, but because the vegetative volume of the crop (Straw volume) is less?
Which then begs the question on all obviously yield limited crops this year.
How much do we put on it total?
serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
That's better
no, I tend to put about 120 on malting barley, 200 on wheat and about 80-100 on spring cereals.
a 10-20% reduction is basically impossible to tell if its made any difference or was the correct thing to do or not, its so season dependant. I have listened to loads of various consultants over the years make all sorts of claims that are impossible to back up in real world situations, especially with regards to zero till and the agronomy around it. I have been building up my own knowledge and experience for a long time now and can only go with what I have learnt here.
its needs more (certainly in the first few years of no till) and it needs it sooner - thats' my experience
All I know is the same soils I have had to 360 digger a Bateman or a tractor with fert spinner out of in the past now travel anytime with much heavier kit, its taken years but they have actual structure now
was raining yesterday - just done VRA biomass application plans and will be applying this afternoon
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agree.
and the optimum nitrogen required by a crop regardless of establishment is not know until after its harvested. I would suggest (and niab say this also) that getting within 50-60kg/ha of the optimum with current technology is a good result.
- Location
- Lincolnshire.
Really? Notill is being subsidised by the government on the altar of “net zero” yet N fertilizer is the the biggest single contributor to arable emissions. I wonder if defra realise they are buying extra greenhouse gas?
longer term I have been able to cut rates but there is no getting away from the fact that increased OM uses N to break it down
overall I have always used less N under no-till though my rotation however dues to growing more crops with lower (or zero) requirement, SFI will amplify that effect with none cash crop rotational options
With no soil movement no till mineralises les soil N - hence why I think early application is benificial or notill crops can look behind cultivated crops in early spring
- Location
- Lincolnshire.
I notice you are not actually supporting these dubious claims with any quantifiable evidence. Absolutely not a case for committing public money.
- Location
- Wiltshire
He’s giving you his experience, on a forum. No one is forcing you to copy Clive