Potassium on wheat to improve grain fill in a drought?

[Pilatus]

As above,have any of you tried it in the past , is it cost effective?

 

[teslacoils]

Tried it. Does seem to work. Cost effective? Marginal. I will be using a foliar k on some oats in an early ear spray as the benefits of higher bushel is likely to be high.

 

[DrWazzock]

A few years back it was magnesium that was supposed to help grain fill. 5kg per ha bittersalz in with the earwash. Maybe it did.

 

[robbie]

Not sure on foliar K I've tried it and I could really decide if it was worth it or not. I have found consistently that epsotop and strobe at t3 raise bushels on my ground.

 

[teslacoils]

Not sure on foliar K I've tried it and I could really decide if it was worth it or not. I have found consistently that epsotop and strobe at t3 raise bushels on my ground.

Aye. Mine will be in the mix with mag sulphate and amistar.

 

[Sandy]

@4course

 

[Brisel]

Paging @Fromebridge …!

 

[Gong Farmer]

Not done anything with us I don't think. Magnesium has had some benefit, not consistent but still the best we've seen of all the 'magic elixirs'.

Water's cheaper, and that's all it needs.

 

[NeilT123]

Here are a couple of papers on this subject

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/29214732.pdf

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/22ca/d7e81fe855f16aa3e7ab23bad5a14a752d10.pdf?_ga=2.244804741.1048597502.1591863098-2023079677.1591863098

 

[DrWazzock]

Tried foliar K on the beet and couldn’t see any effect. K is a bulk nutrient needed in huge quantities. Can’t see it ever getting enough through the leaves IMO.
Did hear of trials that showed it was effective against potato blight but at borderline scorching levels ( as MOP solution).

 

[shakerator]

Tried foliar K on the beet and couldn’t see any effect. K is a bulk nutrient needed in huge quantities. Can’t see it ever getting enough through the leaves IMO.
Did hear of trials that showed it was effective against potato blight but at borderline scorching levels ( as MOP solution).

potassium bi carbonate ?

 

[Brisel]

Wheat needs over 350 kg/ha of K at this time of year but gives a lot back closer to ripening. I’ll dig out the demand graph in a bit.

 

[Bogweevil]

Isn't it that foliar potassium is said to get potassium into leaves where it is said to help stomata function in periods of drought stress rather than contribute to overall potassium fertilisation?

i am not sure if it works.

 

[4course]

Ive found a positive effect on wheat by a foliar potash in lifting bushel weights by a few points we also think it helps standing and keeps the crop going , we will be trying some on sp barley as well this year iim convinced it helps in a drought if used earlier ,though having had 60mm ( unbelievable but true)of welcome rain overnight might be a day or two before we can get on with the last pass

 

[Farmer Roy]

Err, just a thought . . .

if just adding potassium or magnesium or any other product reliably, consistently & cost effectively helped grain fill, or stress through “drought”, do you think maybe it would be standard practice in arid lower rainfall wheat growing regions around the world ? ( a large proportion of the worlds cereals are grown in “arid” environments )

Rather than constantly looking for another product in a bag or drum to apply, the best way to minimise the effects of low in crop rainfall is to increase the water holding capacity & infiltration of your soil, increase the carbon & humus in the soil, retain as much groundcover as you can, reduce wheel traffic as much as possible, reduce or eliminate cultivation & soil disturbance, have a hard look at plant species & varieties, row spacings & population etc etc. The worst thing you can do in a year with limited moisture is apply too much N - all that moisture is used on vegetative growth not reproductive . . . You need to carefully match fert applications to available moisture & ( realistic ) expected yields.
In other words, the most effective “drought” strategies are ALL cultural or managerial, which effectively cost nothing, rather than buying & applying more “product” . . .

 

[Hjwise]

Snake oil and weasel pi$$ often have the biggest margin so are heavily pushed by distributors. Most agronomists have a commission element to their salary so are happy to along with it. What the UK lacks is independent research/advise in my opinion.

 

[teslacoils]

Err, just a thought . . .

if just adding potassium or magnesium or any other product reliably, consistently & cost effectively helped grain fill, or stress through “drought”, do you think maybe it would be standard practice in arid lower rainfall wheat growing regions around the world ? ( a large proportion of the worlds cereals are grown in “arid” environments )

Rather than constantly looking for another product in a bag or drum to apply, the best way to minimise the effects of low in crop rainfall is to increase the water holding capacity & infiltration of your soil, increase the carbon & humus in the soil, retain as much groundcover as you can, reduce wheel traffic as much as possible, reduce or eliminate cultivation & soil disturbance, have a hard look at plant species & varieties, row spacings & population etc etc. The worst thing you can do in a year with limited moisture is apply too much N - all that moisture is used on vegetative growth not reproductive . . . You need to carefully match fert applications to available moisture & ( realistic ) expected yields.
In other words, the most effective “drought” strategies are ALL cultural or managerial, which effectively cost nothing, rather than buying & applying more “product” . . .

Not sure.

Despite moisture limiting yield, wheats produced in your climate seem to be higher grade milling wheats.

Here in our climate our grain would very much like to be a big heap of feed wheat. Hence we had to apply protein sprays to the ear to hit the protein requirements . Similarly the foliar mag, k etc applied late seems to help get the bushel weight up to milling level.

It's not pushing for yield, but aiming to be the right side of an indicator of quality. I'm using it on oats as 50+kg oats Vs 45kg oats is a lot of money difference.

It's not a large cost if you've already got the sprayer out.

 

[Hampton]

Err, just a thought . . .

if just adding potassium or magnesium or any other product reliably, consistently & cost effectively helped grain fill, or stress through “drought”, do you think maybe it would be standard practice in arid lower rainfall wheat growing regions around the world ? ( a large proportion of the worlds cereals are grown in “arid” environments )

Rather than constantly looking for another product in a bag or drum to apply, the best way to minimise the effects of low in crop rainfall is to increase the water holding capacity & infiltration of your soil, increase the carbon & humus in the soil, retain as much groundcover as you can, reduce wheel traffic as much as possible, reduce or eliminate cultivation & soil disturbance, have a hard look at plant species & varieties, row spacings & population etc etc. The worst thing you can do in a year with limited moisture is apply too much N - all that moisture is used on vegetative growth not reproductive . . . You need to carefully match fert applications to available moisture & ( realistic ) expected yields.
In other words, the most effective “drought” strategies are ALL cultural or managerial, which effectively cost nothing, rather than buying & applying more “product” . . .

as long as their is a margin over input cost then surely it’s worth it.
most of your wheat makes milling. Over here, with our higher yields we often have to force it to become milling wheat on our better soils.
doesn’t make either right or wrong

 

[yellow belly]

as long as their is a margin over input cost then surely it’s worth it.
most of your wheat makes milling. Over here, with our higher yields we often have to force it to become milling wheat on our better soils.
doesn’t make either right or wrong

the biggest factor in milling quality is harvest weather
uk is often wet
Australia usually has an advantage With harvest weather. ( they need some )

 

[Farmer Roy]

I appreciate there are big differences in our geographic & financial environments, our markets / end uses & our production systems.

my comments were purely in the context of the thread title, ie - applying product to improve grain fill in a “drought” ( or drier than “normal” season ), that is all