Market Information
The liquid versus dry debate
Striking a balance between consistency and cost can be difficult when choosing and applying fertilizers. Your crop will take up nutrients in either liquid or granular form. How you decide to provide those nutrients is up to you.
�e liquid versus granular fertilizer debate, if there is one, is, at its core, a question of science, nances, tradition and geography. Crops need speci c nutrients during speci c stages of growth. And those nutrients need to be available, whether they exist in granular or liquid form. �e bigger focus is the four Rs of fertilizer: right form, right place, right time, right rate.
Granular fertilizer
Dry fertilizers are generally incorporated into granules. Fertilizer blends can be created by mixing individual granular fertilizer of known analysis( e. g., 46-0-0, 18-46-0 and 0-0-60) in the proper ratio to create the desired blend.
Dry fertilizers can be ground applied as a broadcast; applied at planting as a band, o�en placed 2 inches to the side and 2 inches below the seed( 2-by-2 placement); or applied as sidedress and cultivated shallowly into the soil. When farmers have access to custom blended granular fertilizer, they can ne-tune their crop fertility program and potentially improve crop production efficiency. If all goes well, this can result in more pro table crop production.
With granular fertilizer application, the phosphate granules, or any other nutrient granule, may be too far away from the plant when it needs it most, a problem does not exist when using liquid blends.
Granular and liquid both contain and provide for the crop the needed nutrients to survive and thrive, but one main difference between the two has less to do with form than placement and coverage.
Banded, nitrogen and potassium granular fertilizers may burn your seed due to a higher salt content. And, in other cases, the growing plant will steer its roots away from the nitrogen-banded granules of fertilizer. In starter blends, the nitrogen component may be“ too hot” for the plant to access the phosphate granules in the band.
Liquid fertilisers
Liquid fertilizers have greatly increased in popularity in recent years. �ey can be either ground applied or foliar applied. Liquids can be broadcast, used in a band application at planting and as mid-season sidedress. When foliar applied, the plant nutrients are absorbed through the leaves and are more readily available for plant use than if ground applied. However, the availability of foliar applied nutrients is short-lived and not continuous for the rest of the growing season. Foliar applications are a good way to correct midseason de ciencies or supplement soil applied nutrients.
Unlike granular, liquid fertilizer is a homogeneous blend— every drop contains the desired mixture. �e granular market knows and understands the bene ts of coverage consistency and is steering research and development dollars towards homogeneous blends Many agricultural sources say liquid fertilizers contain less salt and, as a result, are the better choice for putting down directly with the seed. �e lower salt content limits potential seed burn and tissue damage.
Corn growers o�en prefer liquid to start their crop, citing reasons of placement, consistency and“ pop-up effect” giving corn a better start than any form of fertilizer. Also, corn growers o�en nd alternative, more affordable means( o�en manure) to top-up nitrogen levels in their elds, making the cost of a simpler liquid formula worth the tank, pump and hose infrastructure worth it.
January- February 2017
FARMERS
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