Hang around national corn yield champions David Hula and Randy Dowdy for any time at all, and you realize how much fun the two farmers have giving each other a hard time.
Case in point. Dowdy, who’s based near Valdosta, Ga., just recently purchased some timber ground in Michigan that he cleared last year, put into cover crops and is planting to corn this season. On a frosty March morning, he’s asking Hula for advice on what kind of fertility program to use to fuel the crop.
Big mistake. A mischievous grin sweeps across Hula’s face.
“Knowing you, you’ve probably got a 500-bushel goal, or maybe 650, so just slow down a little bit,” Hula tells Dowdy, who laughs and retaliates in kind.
“Yeah, well, yours is probably 624 this year,” Dowdy says.
Both men laugh and then get down to business, discussing their favorite topic – how to grow better and bigger corn yields.
Start With A Yield Goal
“You’ve got to set a yield goal on that ground,” Hula tells Dowdy who finally shares that he’s shooting for 300-bushels per acre this season.
“I’m assuming you did soil samples and got that ground all tiled and you got the irrigation,” Hula replies. “But, with that ground coming out of timber, you’ve got a long way to go. I’d focus first on soil pH, that’s No. 1.”
It’s the same advice the two yield champs say they routinely pass along to other corn growers looking to boost yields and nutrient use efficiencies.
They say it’s important to have a soil pH in the neutral to 6.8 range across all corn acres. “An old timer told me a long time ago, ‘the cheapest fertilizer you’ll ever buy is lime,’ because it’s going to help you get the maximum efficacy from all your nutrients,” Dowdy notes.
Consider Lime Type And Source
Not all lime is created equal, and some types are better suited to a spring application than others.
“Understand the source of lime, whether you need magnesium or not and also understand whether it is a coarse or a fine-textured lime,” says Hula, who’s based near Charles City, Va.
The finer textured lime is what’s needed for spring application. A coarse lime can take a couple of years to break down and become available for soil uptake.
Farmers who applied a coarse lime last fall or anytime last year need to be aware of that, so they don’t over-correct on lime applications this spring. “You don’t want a situation where it all kicks in on the same year,” Hula cautions.
“Likewise, don’t use that as an excuse to not lime, if what you applied two years ago still hasn’t shown up. Understand what kind of lime or other fertility need your soils have now going into the season,” Dowdy advises.
Check Off All The Nutrient Boxes
Hula likes to remind farmers that while fertilizer efficiency is important, to reach your yield goals you have to fuel the crop adequately.
“We’ve got to realize that it takes pounds to make a crop, even if you’re using them in an efficient way,” he says.
Every grower knows corn crops depend on adequate amounts of macronutrients, especially nitrogen (N). But not every grower knows the specific amount needed for a 300-bushel crop.
Mark Jeschke, Ph.D., agronomy manager for Pioneer, says corn grain removes approximately 0.67 lbs. of nitrogen per bushel harvested, and stover production requires about 0.45 lbs. of nitrogen for each bushel of grain produced.
With that in mind, for a 300-bushel per acre corn crop, the nitrogen requirement is around 336 pounds per acre. Only a portion of this amount needs to be supplied by N fertilizer; N is also supplied by the soil through mineralization of soil organic matter, Jeschke says in his article 7 Management Practices for 300 bu/acre Yields in Corn.
Ken Ferrie says corn’s phosphorus (P) requirements are nearly as important as its need for N. “The right timing and placement of phosphorus can boost yields 30 bu. to 40 bu. per acre, especially in years of late planting,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.
Hula says he increasingly is giving potash more credit for helping him hit record corn yields. “Corn is a crop that just loves potash. It’s a luxury consumer of it,” says Hula. “We like to front-end load our entire potash in the first part of our rotation.”
Hula’s Potash Strategy For High-Yielding Corn
To front-load potash applications and improve nutrient uptake, Hula says to focus on these key strategies:
1. Apply potash primarily during the corn rotation year, as corn is a heavy potash consumer.
2. Use humic acid alongside potash to:
· buffer salt indexes
· help chelate nutrients
· improve nutrient absorption by the crop
· provide a food source for soil biology
3. Distribute enough potash to meet the nutrient demands of your entire crop rotation, including subsequent small grain or soybean crops.
4. Leverage the corn crop’s residue as a “holding tank” for potash, which will break down and provide nutrients for following crops.
5. Don’t neglect soil sampling, especially deep soil samples, to understand your soil’s potassium retention characteristics, particularly in clay-heavy soils.
Learn more about how Dowdy and Hula grow high corn yields and work as partners in their Total Acre program.
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