Liquid Fert 101.

[Stuart J]

What would I need to go to liquid Fert?
Asking from a beginner's point of view!

Do I need to have twin lines on my sprayer?
Does plastic sprayer lines do the job or do they need to be stainless?

What tends to be the minimum order quantity for liquid N?
How long will liquid N store?

 

[teslacoils]

If youre on heavy wet dirt, and without a self propelled with fat tyres, you will also want a friend with a crawler and a strong chain.

 

[Brisel]

1. What would I need to go to liquid Fert?

Asking from a beginner's point of view!

2. Do I need to have twin lines on my sprayer?
3. Does plastic sprayer lines do the job or do they need to be stainless?
4. What tends to be the minimum order quantity for liquid N?
5. How long will liquid N store?

1. Tanks and a sprayer fit for purpose. You can rent the tanks but will need at least 6" of reinforced concrete for the bases. The sprayer will need to be capable of carrying an additional 30% weight as liquid N has a specific gravity of 1.2 to 1.3. Water has a SG of 1. That's going to put additional strain on tanks, chassis, wheels etc. Liquid N is also extremely corrosive, eating anything ferrous other than stainless steel. No matter how often you wash it down your bolts & jubilee clips will dissolve in a couple of years if you're not careful. You'll also need a tolerance to leaf scorch! The workload will put a lot of hours on the sprayer so consider your logistics. Bigger tanks & wider booms helps, though you're adding weight to the vehicle, hence the above comment by @teslacoils
2. No twin lines required. You can fit fertiliser nozzles in normal spray caps. Hardi Quintastreams are good. I have duo bodies with remote fitting for dribble bars but that's because I bought the sprayer knowing I'd be doing liquid and I can swap from liquid to spraying at the flick of a switch.
3. Plastic lines are fine.
4. An artic load of 29 tonnes really. Depending on location, you could be up to 2 weeks waiting for delivery after ordering. This is why you need your own storage tanks. They are a couple of hundred quid/year each at the most from your liquid supplier as long as you use their product. The market is competitive so you won't pay more as a result. I monitor prices very carefully & have found no deception in 9 years of use. The cost/benefit of on farm storage is weighted in favour of you having tanks. The current price rise is £3/cubic metre/month so that doesn't take long to justify a few quid on concrete bases and tank rental. March/April deliveries are crazy. I hold 50% of my peak spring requirements on farm as a buffer.
5. Straight N keeps for years. NPK blends can settle out after a few months but aren't usually difficult to agitate. Don't even think about suspension fertilisers without the right specialist equipment. Accept you're still going to need other sources of P and K as the max concentrations in liquid aren't really enough for all crop needs, especially for K. P isn't so bad.

 

[fudge]

I did it for years with a very basic gem sprayer. But when I got a flo based constant rate controller it becomes more convenient for the operator as with spraying really. The weight issue is real but on a small scale under filling the tank remedies that problem. I still maintain, others differ, that UAN should not be applied after Gs 32 to eliminate damaging scorch. No matter what anyone tells you scorch cannot be avoided altogether. I now use solid urea and solid AS purely because it’s the economic choice.

 

[Clive]

What would I need to go to liquid Fert?
Asking from a beginner's point of view!

Do I need to have twin lines on my sprayer?
Does plastic sprayer lines do the job or do they need to be stainless?

What tends to be the minimum order quantity for liquid N?
How long will liquid N store?

all you really need is a half decent sprayer and a set of fert bars or jets and a storage tank


twin lines etc make swapping between spray and fert faster and nicer but you don't NEED them, and you don't need stainless either but its nice

more tank space you have the easier the logistics basically, stores fine for long periods as far as i'm aware , would be expensive to order less than full loads


way more accurate than solid N and much easier logistics IMO but that's very much farm situation dependent

 

[teslacoils]

Looking into my crystal ball, I see spinner applied nitrogen to be next to be hit with the hurty stick - think 20m buffer zones by watercourses.

 

[Stuart J]

That's all interesting thanks.

Never had anything to do with it before and was just a thought in my mind for an upcoming sprayer change.

How about on grassland, still the scorch issue?

 

[Oscar]

No, never scorched grass. The issue on wheat is that the final N goes on just as flag leaf is coming out and its everybody s ideal to keep flag leaf clean disease wise and so scorch is reducing leaf area. If you were being stupid, yes you could do real damage but as long as you don t apply in windy hot days or at high pressure then the leaf tipping is slight . I do a lot as a contractor and go early or late in day and use bars rather than nozzles at low pressure. Still get a bit of tipping but it grows out and it yields well so don t think I m doing too much wrong.

 

[fudge]

Looking into my crystal ball, I see spinner applied nitrogen to be next to be hit with the hurty stick - think 20m buffer zones by watercourses.

Whether that comes before, after or at the same time as the compulsory use of stabilizer products on urea is a moot point. When that happens that will favor liquid products because it equalizes the cost.

 

[Brisel]

Whether that comes before, after or at the same time as the compulsory use of stabilizer products on urea is a moot point. When that happens that will favor liquid products because it equalizes the cost.

They will be added to UAN (UREA Ammonium Nitrate) too.

 

[fudge]

They will be added to UAN (UREA Ammonium Nitrate) too.

That’s what I told the omex rep. He vehemently disagreed. Time will tell.

 

[ewald]

I have been using liquid in an old trailed Gem for the last 10 years, using dribble bars on the standard lines, and a basic speed/area meter with a flowmeter to give an application rate.
I haven't found corrosion to be a problem - the booms aren't any rustier now than ten years ago, and any steel pipe fittings still seem ok - I am not fanatical about washing down either.
I feel that liquid is the best way to achieve accuracy without spending much money - far better than a basic spinning disc spreader (and no problems with hedges/ditches)
Your tramlines must be accurate though - you will see the half metre over- or under-lap! Garings/short work and ins and outs are a problem without good section control - easier to judge with a bit narrower boom if you are doing it manually