Topdressing winter crop with digestate

[cowboysupper]

We have been ploughing digestate down prior to sowing winter crops for years and have occassionally topdressed spring crop in May with digestate as well, however we have very little experience of applying it on winter crop in early spring. We normally retain most of our digestate for grassland in March, but we have a little extra to play with this year and we were thinking of giving our hybrid rye an application in the coming weeks. This block of land is black sand and can be travelled on really at any stage. We're not in the business of wasting organic manures so we'd be keen to make sure whatever we do is done as accurately as possible and in settled weather.

On our most recent nutrient report the available NPK was 26:8:76 (units). Application would be via unbilical system with dribble bar. Normally we would apply 120-130 units of N to hybrid rye.

Have any of you any advice on best practise with this exercise? We're always weary of lodging and don't want to apply too much, but equally we're keen to keep fertiliser costs down so want to maximise the use of the digestate. Someone else suggested to me that the tyre tracks can leave plants more at risk of frost damage at a later stage. Is there anything in this?

Keen for your thoughts!

 

[teslacoils]

Decent operator on dribble bar and it won't go flat - although we grow wheat. We apply the full quantity allowed in one application. It's down to the person who puts it on and not worth saving 50p a cube done bad.

You should use experience as to how much will be available, and be aware of how the organic N limits work.

 

[ollie989898]

Do it once and early, then it is done.

You need someone who is switched on to be applying it, not a donkey who just wants to 'dispose of' cubes.

 

[cowboysupper]

Do it once and early, then it is done.

You need someone who is switched on to be applying it, not a donkey who just wants to 'dispose of' cubes.

I can't guarantee I'm not a donkey, but we have a good setup for matching application rate and speed along with a return to tank system for headland management. 'Disposing' of cubes is not something we're into!

Was probably thinking of an application rate of either 2500 or 3000g/acre. Crop is looking good around GS 23.

 

[ollie989898]

I can't guarantee I'm not a donkey, but we have a good setup for matching application rate and speed along with a return to tank system for headland management. 'Disposing' of cubes is not something we're into!

Was probably thinking of an application rate of either 2500 or 3000g/acre. Crop is looking good around GS 23.

So long as you are mindful of the potency of the digestate you won't go far wrong. It's very different to just hosing on cow slurry. Someone with more recent experience of it that myself will be able to tell you what a 2500/3000 gallon per acre application is 'worth' using the analysis you provided.

In the past I had clients who fertilised their crops with digestate or chicken litter and gave no other additional nitrogen at all, your background fertility may differ though.

Given the large number of AD units around now there shouldn't be many farmers in the UK who actually need to ever buy much P or K.

 

[whitefox]

How much K would you normally apply to rye?

 

[jg123]

Is that a fairly average analysis for digestate? Lot of K in it.

 

[cowboysupper]

Is that a fairly average analysis for digestate? Lot of K in it.

Normal for our digester but every site is different depending on what they feed. We feed alot of grass silage and because we use it all on our own ground, at harvest there is most likely luxury uptake in the grass but it's not a concern for the digester...just makes the nutrients go round in circles.

 

[Brisel]

Rye will enjoy the K.