Spreading Kalfos/Fibrophos VR?

[Clive]

Quick update on this thread - we have spread over 130t of Kalfos in the last coupe of weeks, VRA via a K45 and its has spread fantastically to 12m. Accuracy was amazing - in 130t of spreading we are 40kg out !

Looking forward to seeing some soil samples next year to track changes in P and pH but at £45/to delivered I can see us using a lot more of this going forward

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Thank you for tagging me @Rob Holmes but I didn't receive an alert.

All good stuff and advice so far.

 

[David_A]

Thank you for tagging me @Rob Holmes but I didn't receive an alert.

All good stuff and advice so far.

Why is Half is not available in Scotland? Where is produced? Is it a haulage cost problem again? @KALFOS

 

[KALFOS]

@David_A KalFos is not currently available in Scotland due to SEPA's differing acceptance criteria for end of waste status. At this moment in time we do not foresee a huge market in Scotland so have not gone down the route of providing the dossier that SEPA need to classify KalFos as End of Waste under their regime, which differs to England, Wales, N Ireland and Europe. We have End of Waste and End of ABP for all these territories. KalFos is produced in Widnes.

 

[Andrew K]

Quick update on this thread - we have spread over 130t of Kalfos in the last coupe of weeks, VRA via a K45 and its has spread fantastically to 12m. Accuracy was amazing - in 130t of spreading we are 40kg out !

Looking forward to seeing some soil samples next year to track changes in P and pH but at £45/to delivered I can see us using a lot more of this going forward

What is the moisture content Clive, ours is too dry and needs wetting IMO as has consistency of dry powder?

 

[Elliott]

What is the moisture content Clive, ours is too dry and needs wetting IMO as has consistency of dry powder?

Did you wet it in the end? Just started another thread on this seeing what people's thoughts were.
@Clive did yours seem wet enough to spread well and not create a dust cloud?

 

[Andrew K]

Have left heap outside to wet naturally.Supplier was supposed to wet to 10%MC before delivery but failed in this task, so I have arranged to pay in the Spring instead! Should have rejected it at delivery with hindsight.

 

[Clive]

Did you wet it in the end? Just started another thread on this seeing what people's thoughts were.
@Clive did yours seem wet enough to spread well and not create a dust cloud?

Spreading was very straight forward , nice even pattern at 12m

Very similar to lime really

 

[Clive]

What is the moisture content Clive, ours is too dry and needs wetting IMO as has consistency of dry powder?

Didn’t measure moisture but spread as delivered

 

[ollie989898]

If I had sufficient areas/tonnage involved I would use one of the 'lime spreader required' type materials over any bagged product every time. They are definitely kinder to the soil and it's residents, plus the bonus of other nutrients on board. It is definitely cheaper to buy them unit for unit even with the cost of a man and spreader having to apply it.

That said, there are increasing amounts of digestate and other materials people are looking to dispose of FOC in some cases. Although arguably something like fibrophos which has been incinerated will definitely have no blackgrass in it which may not be the case for others, no minor consideration these days!

 

[Clever Dic]

I would take some convincing putting fiberphos on at VR. I have had it twice and won't be using it again. Maybe bad luck with the contactor applying it but never seems to spread that evenly and I think new seed grass keys show it up.Prefer straights out of my KV Geospread fields look consistent green all over, plus no trampling all over every 12m.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

That’s disappointing to read, sorry you’ve not got on well with it.

I don’t think any distributor claims it spreads 100% accurately, certainly I don’t. It’s a dusty product which is subject to the usual variations when it leaves the spreader disc. But, obviously, we do our best to get it right.

Maybe try a different contractor, or different make of spreader?

 

[super4]

Have left heap outside to wet naturally.Supplier was supposed to wet to 10%MC before delivery but failed in this task, so I have arranged to pay in the Spring instead! Should have rejected it at delivery with hindsight.

Had the opposite here, what arrived was too wet! Reckon it had been left outside for the last year or two!

 

[Brisel]

Had the opposite here, what arrived was too wet! Reckon it had been left outside for the last year or two!

Who did you buy yours from? DMAC?

 

[yellow belly]

If it is wetter the p concentration will be lower

I use it extensivly as it is the most cost effective source of p with other benefits sulphur and liming effect on top

Put plenty on some will be available this year some next

When we used to use basic slag on top of compounds and manure nutrient level increased

P mobility is very slow on heavy land so 1 tonne per ha is an cost effective application

 

[ollie989898]

If it is wetter the p concentration will be lower

I use it extensivly as it is the most cost effective source of p with other benefits sulphur and liming effect on top

Put plenty on some will be available this year some next

When we used to use basic slag on top of compounds and manure nutrient level increased

P mobility is very slow on heavy land so 1 tonne per ha is an cost effective application

You can nearly put as much P on as is practical, if there is a significant clay content it won't go anywhere.

 

[Colin]

I put on fibrophos pre ploughing on all ground now using an agrispread lime spreader. Seems to work ok but ploughing it down maybe isn't the best as you see stripes in the growing crop. We are high p low k so use the higher k one. Was putting on 650kg/ ha this backend. Have used from 500 to 1000 in the past depending on crop.

 

[Mounty]

Are you sure the stripes aren't from compaction on the wheelings from the spreader. There's no N in it so can't see how that would create stripes unless its a really bad spread pattern?

 

[Colin]

No its every plough furrow, at angle to drilling, spreading etc. Even when ploughing shallow. I think it the K as we have loads of P and I see it after chicken litter as well. I think the skimmers put it at varying depths.

 

[J 1177]

I get 500kg ha fibrophos spread onto ploughing or cultivated land then work it into the seed bed. I cant see any differences in the spread pattern. Iv seen an improvement in the crops tho. Especially on the odd bits of ground in fields that stuggled to pull their weight. Iv thought about kalfos but it doesnt seem as much of a balanced product.
I put 500kg on before beans on heavy land and they did very very well.