Liquid fert, is it worth it small farm?
- Thread starter David.
- Start date
yes
- Location
- East Sussex
Guess it depends what you need, you don’t need an all singing dancing sprayer, nozzles might be £400-500 on 24m, you can get fert in IBCs so no tank hire needed, but most firms can sort you a tank for little to no money, as long as you put their fert in it. It’s one of the better moves I’ve done switching.
You won’t regret it....just go earlier than you normally do with solid!
what set up cost ? - most suppliers do “free” tanks and I bet some would even find you a free set of nozzles if extra business depended upon it !
Surely it costs more to have a spreader as well as a sprayer ?
no brainer imo
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
how big a tank would you need
ollie989898
Member
Make far more sense to have a more spangly sprayer and use it a bit more than have the money spent on a conventional spreader which does a worse job.
Tanks can be obtained very reasonably, there is no dust, don't have to be around when unloading and no bags to stack or mess about with. Just fill up and go. Can apply in wind or rain without penalty and no more throwing fert at the hedge or where you don't want it to go. Get contractor in to spread bulk P and K as needed, things like muck or fibrophos are kinder to the soil anyway.
In a dry time crops fed via liquid get their N faster than with solid, for many people this is no small factor.
Tanks can be obtained very reasonably, there is no dust, don't have to be around when unloading and no bags to stack or mess about with. Just fill up and go. Can apply in wind or rain without penalty and no more throwing fert at the hedge or where you don't want it to go. Get contractor in to spread bulk P and K as needed, things like muck or fibrophos are kinder to the soil anyway.
In a dry time crops fed via liquid get their N faster than with solid, for many people this is no small factor.
That is another question.
Average 180kg/haN across the 100ha, plus 60units of So3, be nice to apply one product all season..
ollie989898
Member
There is nothing to stop you doing that if you so wish. I had a client who had a modest area of arable but shared the sprayer with a neighbour, which was then used to apply liquid to all his crops, including his grass and maize for his dairy herd. It really is a no brainer.
- Location
- Bedfordshire
I don't think you will get better crops, but as long as you haven't got too many in field trees or poles then go for it. Just wash the sprayer down every night just like you would a spinner.
I'm sure you will get a 40cu m tank for nothing, just need a concrete base and preferably a bund around it.
I'm sure you will get a 40cu m tank for nothing, just need a concrete base and preferably a bund around it.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
one drawback surely is that if there's a leak...tap left open ect...the whole lot runs away into the watercourse?
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Were you not looking to buy a fert spreader?
Has anyone doing liquid fert, not spreading any solid or calciprill?
I doubt it.
I’m not looking at moving away from liquid - no chance !
the solid fert spreader I started a thread about is for a one off job I want to experiment with next spring
Only solids we have used for over a decade is belt spread stuff like fibrophos etc and also some calcifert - only reason I have that machine is as a hang over from when we used to use solid N and it meant we could do our own lime
New tank installations should be bundled
Not a legal requirement but it would be a smart move.
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Wasn't suggesting you did.
But your argument about it costing more to run a spreader and spreader wouldn't add up for most as they'd need both. Albeit a lower spec fert spreader.
I use Yara N30.3 SO3 10.8 all season on all crops. Osr gets kieserite for extra sulphur as I need magnesium too. Sulphur demand is at the same time as N demand. Lots of varying N:S ratios available from all the suppliers. P and K are harder to get in stronger concentrations.
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- Location
- Lincolnshire
Carting and storing water never appealed to me. The only advantage is even application as far as I can see, though I have got away with that on my old twin disc ZAM so far.
Look closer - you'll see the leaf scorch! That hurts for the last pass when you're tickling leaf 2 or 3 that contribute to yield. Yes, it's available to the crop sooner but I wouldn't say it was a game changer. Better to consider logistics that suit you.
I still have an old spinner for base fertiliser and have had to put in concrete pads for the tanks. To offset that I no longer have to clear grain stores early for space. Liquid is not cheap. Normally priced as equivalent to CF or Yara branded products unless you're thinking of setting up a melting plant.