Early N

[richard hammond]

It was only 10 ha ,,,,, ground was frozen enough that the tractor hasn't left a mark and I have only put a 600 kg bag of urea on so no amount really ,,,,, if the rape wakes up it has at least got something to start on ,,,,, the rest of the rape which is sat on sludge can wait near on a month !!!!!

The ground was NOT frozen as you should not apply N ferts to frozen ground, NVZs good farming practise etc.(But I will be corrected if wrong)

 

[DRC]

I was going to say the same. Don’t admit on a public forum to breaking x compliance rules. People are watching all the time .

 

[Iben]

I thought he said it was the compacted tramlines that were frozen, rest of field was nicely thawed.

 

[Mr Charisma]

Just been and read the NVZ rules ,,,,,, you will be all glad to know no NVZ rules have been broken ,,,,,
Date ,,,,,, check
Frost,,,,,,,, not frozen for more than 12 hrs in previous 24 hrs ,,,,,,, check
Standing water ,,,,,,, no standing water except 1 small puddle in gateway ,,,,,, check
Slope of field ,,,,,,, field is near on level and no where near the 15% that is a point at which other questions are asked ,,,,, check
Records ,,,,,, not in the book yet but will be in by 8am

 

[franklin]

Urea on now isnt going to be working for a fortnight anyway.

 

[Mr Charisma]

Urea on now isnt going to be working for a fortnight anyway.

That was my thought , I'm no fert expert but I thought it would be a lot more stable in the ground as well compared to AN , sods law says when I wanted to give this field a bit of tonic I won't be able to without making a mess

 

[Grass And Grain]

Personally, in the situation described i think that @Mr Charisma has made the right decision to spread with a suitable product.

 

[Flat 10]

Unusually my winter barley looks a lot better than my neighbours. I put it down to more N being available to mine as its a second cereal and his is continuous barley. If mine looked as terrible as his I would have been tempted to sneak out with a few kgs on a frost.

 

[Flintstone]

I don’t know why people think that N will suddendly miraculously turn a backward crop into a barn filler when there is a frost on the ground and it’s waterlogged. It physically can’t use it.

A complete waste of money and time, and a case of looking for something to do now the gun is locked away until October. Hold off - you’ll be sick of that tractor seat by October.

 

[Mr Charisma]

I don’t know why people think that N will suddendly miraculously turn a backward crop into a barn filler when there is a frost on the ground and it’s waterlogged. It physically can’t use it.

A complete waste of money and time, and a case of looking for something to do now the gun is locked away until October. Hold off - you’ll be sick of that tractor seat by October.

Not everyone is blessed with land that you can just go out in the morning and think " oh I think I will go fertying " ,,,,, we have always made use of late frosts and have done well by them in the past ,,, ideally I would of waited another week but the chance was there and I took it ,,,, it was one 600 kg bag of urea on one field which looked like it needed some help so it's not as if I turned the place white or wasted a lorry load of fert

I still think I made the right decision but won't know for a few weeks

Not a shooting man either !!!!!

 

[franklin]

Suppose it depends a lot on how you view the action and availability of urea. In a normal year I would aim for half the fert on around Valentines day, and the other half a month later. Given the cold and wet, I think we will be a fortnight later than usual. In this case, I am going to change to a three-split program and go with 50kgN AN, 100kgN urea + sulphur, 75kgN urea and will space each roughly three weeks apart depending on heat.

Sopping wet here. Really sopping. Cant think I can remember a winter so generally dull, wet and lacking in frost.

If we saw a frost, I would actually be more tempted with a little something on the later drilled barley and 2nd wheat, of which thnkfully there is not a lot.

 

[bankrupt]

we have always made use of late frosts and have done well by them in the past

The alternative here, Mr Charisma, is to wait a week or three then inevitably start making great rutted tramlines which run water all through to harvest.

We've always avoided this like the plague - it's extremely bad practice for soil conservation and none too good for cross compliance.

Ground usually starts finally to dry up here about the 4th week of March, so Easter this time now looks to be even busier here than was Christmas.

 

[Andrew K]

The alternative here, Mr Charisma, is to wait a week or three then inevitably start making great rutted tramlines which run water all through to harvest.

We've always avoided this like the plague - it's extremely bad practice for soil conservation and none too good for cross compliance.

Ground usually starts finally to dry up here about the 4th week of March, so Easter this time now looks to be even busier here than was Christmas.

If February is as dry as you say it often is, the land will be nicely dry by March.

 

[bankrupt]

If February is as dry as you say it often is, the land will be nicely dry by March.

Hopefully, quite a lot of it will be.

It's the spring lines everywhere here which always stop us travelling for that extra month, unless it's been a dry summer previous, which it wasn't.

 

[Flat 10]

Suppose it depends a lot on how you view the action and availability of urea. In a normal year I would aim for half the fert on around Valentines day, and the other half a month later. Given the cold and wet, I think we will be a fortnight later than usual. In this case, I am going to change to a three-split program and go with 50kgN AN, 100kgN urea + sulphur, 75kgN urea and will space each roughly three weeks apart depending on heat.
.

You talking OSR here yes?
I think I said earlier in this thread my barley looks greener than almost all about and I put this down to more residual N than many others (most following spring barley that probably didn't use all of it due to drought). This suggests to me that some of them could go out with a smidge fairly soon. Also hyvido Syngenta protocol is for a third N before end of Feb as I recall. To be fair that it is nearly a fortnight away but frosts at the end of next week might be tempting?

 

[Feldspar]

I don't see why @Mr Charisma is being so chastised here. It's urea, not AN, and so it's not going to go very far. Because everyone knows I love quoting NIAB, here's another extract from Strategies 3 in the wheat section: "Earlier NIAB TAG work showed that the only input to increase final tiller populations in later sown crops was an early start to spring nitrogen treatment, preferably splitting the first dose, say 20 kg/ha in early February and 20 kg/ha in late February." It goes on to say that it is probably impractical to do this, but the principle remains.

Anyway, it's nice to see the cropping side of things liven up on here. I'd been getting bored of reading about livestock problems.

 

[yellow belly]

if I could travel I would be spreading urea as crops will use the n when it warms up
denitrification when it is too wet is a bigger risk than leaching

 

[Feldspar]

if I could travel I would be spreading urea as crops will use the n when it warms up
denitrification when it is too wet is a bigger risk than leaching

A good point about denitrification. That is a concern. Must brush up on my chemistry!

 

[Banana Bar]

OSR is moving here and all had its first dose on Monday and Tuesday

 

[Brisel]

I don't see why @Mr Charisma is being so chastised here. It's urea, not AN, and so it's not going to go very far. Because everyone knows I love quoting NIAB, here's another extract from Strategies 3 in the wheat section: "Earlier NIAB TAG work showed that the only input to increase final tiller populations in later sown crops was an early start to spring nitrogen treatment, preferably splitting the first dose, say 20 kg/ha in early February and 20 kg/ha in late February." It goes on to say that it is probably impractical to do this, but the principle remains.

Anyway, it's nice to see the cropping side of things liven up on here. I'd been getting bored of reading about livestock problems.

A few worthwhile pointers there. Small doses for a start. Tillers don't equal yield. Despite a few awful days this week walking osr was a pleasure today, with the first signs of growth appearing after the cold snap. February can be a long month waiting for something to happen!