Grassland sulphur fert.

[FG.]

Use sulphur Gold on the arable and looking to use same product on the permanent pasture and seeds.
Any pros/cons?
Had a friend use it first time this yr and couldn't of tray tested as had some pretty impressive stripping and some of his round bale silage/haylage doesn't seem to be that nice.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Slag and LimeX good source of sulphur

 

[neilo]

Use sulphur Gold on the arable and looking to use same product on the permanent pasture and seeds.
Any pros/cons?
Had a friend use it first time this yr and couldn't of tray tested as had some pretty impressive stripping and some of his round bale silage/haylage doesn't seem to be that nice.

Does grassland need that much Sulphur, relative to the Nitrogen?

I had a part load of Axan last summer for the same. That is 27N & 9 SO4, which I thought better matched grassland requirements? I didn't manage to stripe anything (at 24m).

 

[Macsky]

Think sulphur is quite acidifying so may need to keep an eye on pH.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Think sulphur is quite acidifying so may need to keep an eye on pH.

Haven’t a clue if that’s right but there was no talk of lack of sulphur in the days of acid rain

 

[neilo]

Think sulphur is quite acidifying so may need to keep an eye on pH.

That was certainly part of my reasoning when I chose to try some Axan (S is from Calcium Sulphate), rather than some Ammonium Sulphate, which is used in small quantities in most acidifying products for glyphosate.

I normally apply S in various products, seperate to the N.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Would recommend, used to have most clients on N + S products. Basically you can put on 40kg/cut. In reality you can't put on too much. If you are going out with nitrogen, the reality is that sulphur wants to be going on as well. Will help with grass/forage quality rather than outright yield. Axan is good but I don't subscribe to the calcium in fertiliser thing.

 

[Macsky]

Would recommend, used to have most clients on N + S products. Basically you can put on 40kg/cut. In reality you can't put on too much. If you are going out with nitrogen, the reality is that sulphur wants to be going on as well. Will help with grass/forage quality rather than outright yield. Axan is good but I don't subscribe to the calcium in fertiliser thing.

Think it ups the protein content significantly where it’s deficient of I remember correct, saw some trials locally a couple of years ago.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Think it ups the protein content significantly where it’s deficient of I remember correct, saw some trials locally a couple of years ago.

I don't doubt it one bit.

 

[neilo]

Would recommend, used to have most clients on N + S products. Basically you can put on 40kg/cut. In reality you can't put on too much. If you are going out with nitrogen, the reality is that sulphur wants to be going on as well. Will help with grass/forage quality rather than outright yield. Axan is good but I don't subscribe to the calcium in fertiliser thing.

You most certainly can put too much on. High S levels will not only acidify the topsoil (hence it’s use when wanting to acidify soils), but it will lock up Selenium in grazing grass.

 

[Al R]

Always used to run sulphur with N.
YARA SULPHAN 24-15 was available but the best was YARA Sulfan 26-35 which I used a lot of!! Had incredible yields on grass and cereals with it, it was that good that I stopped using liquid N for a long time but partly due to the accuracy of the KV Geospread too

 

[Farmer Keith]

Little and often is the best way with sulphur half of a big application will leach away before its utilised I’m told here. Like already said boosts grass protein content and yield.

 

[Boysground]

Years ago I had a sulphur trial on the farm. It was field scale so 10ha field split into 1ha blocks. The difference between the sulphur product and not was huge.

I tend to go with sulphur for 1st cut about 150 kg/ha 26 0 0 37. After that there are a few applications of slurry so have the sulphur in that. I do keep pondering that I should put more on.

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[som farmer]

we have used sulphur in fert, and done 'trials', part fields, the biggest response was in forage rape, 6in difference, and now use it as standard now. Back in the 60/70's acid rain was the thing, talk of sweden/norway suing us, for the damage it was doing, over there. And farmers hadn't even thought about sulphur, and crops ! Coal fired generators are gone, and so has sulphur, so we have to apply it, long term effects, dropping soil ph ? I think we have an awful lot of details left to find out, how soil/enviroment/crops interlink. While i think claims of 'only 50 more harvests left' might be scare tactics, there is a definite need to improve our soil health, and use. After all, if we get it right, it will mean more crop, from less imputs, and that has got to good, chuck in carbon sequention, spell checker doesn't like that, we might improve our standing with the 'green brigade', now that would be good.

 

[Andy t]

I was told if you put 1kg sulphur for every 12kg nitrogen it should be balanced and not affect other minerals. May need to convert sulphur to sulphate for your calculation

 

[Global ovine]

I thought the two chapters about sulphur and protein by Dr. Rex Dolby in the booklets (Maximising Profits At Minimum Cost, and The Post Brexit Survival Guide) published by @easyram1 would be of interest to followers of this thread who did not receive one of the thousands of copies distributed over the last 5 years.

 

[deleted user 837354]

You most certainly can put too much on. High S levels will not only acidify the topsoil (hence it’s use when wanting to acidify soils), but it will lock up Selenium in grazing grass.

Heard it all before. I've customers who have dished on AN, sulphur and other materials on their land for decades and I bet some of them are using fertilisers at rates that would be way up there compared to what the bulk of people are doing on TFF. Yet their pH's remain largely unchanged. The amount of calcium in fertilisers is pish all. Waste of time. You've been listening to that bilge spouted by that consultant again.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Years ago I had a sulphur trial on the farm. It was field scale so 10ha field split into 1ha blocks. The difference between the sulphur product and not was huge.

I tend to go with sulphur for 1st cut about 150 kg/ha 26 0 0 37. After that there are a few applications of slurry so have the sulphur in that. I do keep pondering that I should put more on.

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You won't go far wrong, around 40kg per cut is supposedly optimal, or 30kg for every 100kg of N I think it used to be? There is some sulphur in slurry, but it is not hugely available from memory. The figures in RB209 look pretty rough and ready to me.

 

[Top Tip.]

I have been using sulphur for the last 3 years on my grassland fert ,definitely notice a big difference.

 

[som farmer]

we tried it, and kept using it.