Ferrie: Additives Placed With In-Furrow Starter Yielded Dryer Corn
This past week, Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and his agronomic team at Crop-Tech, Inc. harvested many of the 2019 test plots. Here is a brief look at some of the results:
Starter-additive plot: This May 18 planted plot yielded from 237 bu. per acre to 272 bu. of corn—excellent results, given the weather conditions this season.
The plot involved the use of eight different additives placed with in-furrow starter.
“The most interesting thing about this plot was the moisture response,” Ferrie says. “Some of the treatments compared to the checks, while they had a 7- to 15-bu. better yield, they also produced up to a point-and-a-half dryer corn. Half a point is not uncommon, but I’ve never seen a point-and-a-half.”
The result, he notes, is that most of the starter fertilizer was paid for by the savings in drying costs.
Ferrie says he will be digging deeper into the data this fall to see what other factors may have influenced the outcome in the starter-additive plot.
Starter placement plot: This plot was planted June 3 and contained eight different starter placements. Yield outcomes ranged between 240 bu. to 253 bu. per acre.
Nitrogen plot: In another June-planted plot, Ferrie and team assessed corn response to nitrogen (N) on the planter and sidedress rates. “We changed the N rates on the planter from 0 to 60 pounds with both UAN and ammonium nitrate. This was coupled with a number of different application methods,” he says. “As we changed the rates on the planter, we adjusted the sidedress rates to keep the total N rates the same.
“Yields in this plot did respond to higher N rates at the planter. This was a surprise because we planted the plot after the big rains had quit.”
Yields at harvest ranged from 222 bu. per acre to 237 bu. per acre.
In the following Boots In The Field podcast, Ferrie highlights the results from several additional test plots that were harvested this past week as well as some harvest yield results from across the Midwest.
12 Steps to a Weatherproof Harvest
Ken Ferrie: Prevent Plant Acres Need A Management Plan
