Spring malting barley N - agronomics

[ajd132]

Having quite a good year on spring barley and generally getting good nitrogen levels.
However we generally try and guess how much N the crop will need without going over and is very hit and miss. We use a lot of organic manures also. Obviously yield is an important factor.
How else can we monitor and tailor for this?
Some ideas:
All n under the seed with the drill
N core sampling
Handheld n testers
Tissue samples

What are thoughts and what ideas do people have on this subject?

 

[Chae1]

You can now yield map N grain levels with new technology. You can then tailor N applications next year accordingly. Was at a farm visit where farmer was trialling it.

For low N malting i generally give it 100 units N. If i give it 8t/acre fym count that as ten units and adjust accordingly. Thats light land. Works most years, but with last years drought N levels were from 1.9-2.3.

 

[Brisel]

It's hard to do, as the short growing season means you have to make the call as you get the drill out of the shed. Your NIAB TAG guides will help. I learned what mine will take by growing it every year & measuring grain N post harvest. 120-150 kg/ha N applied here depending on soil type, variety and end market. Split 50% pre drilling or on the rolled seedbed. The rest pre or peri emergence up to the beginning of tillering at the latest. Planet is less sensitive to N doses than others but it's only a 1.85N brewer. I've put 125 kg/ha N on late March drilled Laureate aimed at 1.65N but it is going flat in places after the June rain made it put on lots of lush growth.

Placed starter N is a great way of getting going but you only need around 30 kg of N to do this. The rest can be top dressed unless you're worried about it being very dry afterwards. Are you liquid or solid?

 

[ajd132]

It's hard to do, as the short growing season means you have to make the call as you get the drill out of the shed. Your NIAB TAG guides will help. I learned what mine will take by growing it every year & measuring grain N post harvest. 120-150 kg/ha N applied here depending on soil type, variety and end market. Split 50% pre drilling or on the rolled seedbed. The rest pre or peri emergence up to the beginning of tillering at the latest. Planet is less sensitive to N doses than others but it's only a 1.85N brewer. I've put 125 kg/ha N on late March drilled Laureate aimed at 1.65N but it is going flat in places after the June rain made it put on lots of lush growth.

Placed starter N is a great way of getting going but you only need around 30 kg of N to do this. The rest can be top dressed unless you're worried about it being very dry afterwards. Are you liquid or solid?

I’ve just harvested some laureate that has done 8.9t/ha, it had 100kgs N and is still 1.75! Planet has done very well but propino too high and lower yielding, will not grow again.
We are liquid, with chicken muck generally going on in the autumn pre CC I am tempted to put all the fert down the spout and leave it at that.

 

[Brisel]

Was it grown in clay? There’s a reason malting barley is traditionally grown on light land...

It will still make it into a brewing market at 1.75. Burton On Trent will take fairly high N barley. The muck is the unknown quantity, even if you analyse it - you just don't know how much N you will recover & I don't think Soil Mineral N testing is very reliable.

 

[jh.]

I think this year , there will be a lot of residual N carry over. The drought last year with lower yields, especially for straw and a mega dry winter . Crops have never looked as well and lush all year imo.

I've never been convinced at the return on spring barley for a big fungicide spend but this year I have gone with the sdhi chemistry the agronomist recommended as every little bit will help dilute the N back

 

[deleted user 837354]

Put all the fert in the seed bed. Its barley the stuff is a weed and it seems to find nitrogen for fun.

 

[ajd132]

Put all the fert in the seed bed. Its barley the stuff is a weed and it seems to find nitrogen for fun.

I’m thinking if it’s all underneath the seed and easier to access I can cut the total rate back fairly aswell? I have the machinery to be able to do this very easily.