Air December 4, 2002

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. It’s hard to believe that it is already December. Christmas is three weeks away. A new year is just 4 weeks away. And then it’ll be spring before we know it.

Which brings up what isn’t really all that untimely of a subject, crop fertilizer rates. It seems that it is difficult to pick up any popular ag press publication without reading someone's theory of crop fertilization. And the amazing thing is that nearly every single one of those people’s fertilizer program is right. They have found what works for them. First and foremost, you have to know what you are growing, what your goals are and what you are working with. Your fertilization plan for optimizing yield are going to be different than your plans for maximizing yield. And if you are looking for specific plant quality factors you will have a different plan. I personally don’t buy into a lot of the theories about CEC or excess magnesium or this fertilizer is more plant available than the next. A lot of this stuff is theory that has not been proven. And be careful of results from one field by one person. We call this unreplicated results and can be due to weather, the management skills of that one producer, good luck or truly a reproducible result. But the best predictor of what’s going to work for you is what your fields have produced in the past. Something may work for you and for no one else. But if it’s working, don’t mess with it. But if you aren’t happy with the results you’ve been getting, then maybe we need to sit down and look at your entire production plan. It may be your fertilizer, it could be your variety selection, it could be planting rate, weed control or a host of other management factors. Or it just may be that your problem field simply won’t produce like you think it should. Not all fields are created equal. But it comes back to having a written plan, having good records, knowing what you’ve got and the working towards meeting that goal. And now is a good time to start on that. Don’t make a lot of changes based on this year or last. We’ve had some weird years. But start reviewing and trying to decide which direction you want to go with your crop production plan!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page