Perry Estebo

How much nutrition is my crop removing from the "fertilizer bank"?? Couple charts showing what it would take in commercial fertilizer to replace what gets hauled away to the bin. Whether you use commercial fertilizer, manure or soil biology mineralization, or a combo of them, try to ensure you bank account does not get drawn down too far. For those raising good alfalfa... the 6 ton per acre/yr equates to nearly 600# of potash. On a four year stand that is 2400#. Is what you are seeding down in 2027 have a bank account that handle that kind of withdraw??

Calculating yield loss from ear drop... typically not nearly as bad as it appears. The past few seasons NE IA has had more than its fair share of wind damage to tress, structures and crops. Harvesting this can be challenging and crop loss in inevitable. Seeing full ears on the ground is mentally very challenging. While unfortunate, my experience is that it is not nearly as bad as it seems. Use the charts below to calculate 1/100th (yes 1/100th) of an acre & yield loss associated with # of full ears in that area. Do 5 RANDOM locations, not just where it looks bad, to get a more accurate measurement.

Be sure what is in (or not in!) your fungicide surfactant! Some individuals are calling for fungicide applications to begin now... Prior to tassel fungicide applications made with a surfactant must be APE/NPE FREE!!! If your surfactant has APE/NPE in them, a before tassel application could likely result in arrested ear syndrome, causing very large yield losses!!! Be sure to check what you are applying if you are going before tassel! On a side note, I do not feel fungicide applications should begin now in the geography that I cover.