Update from the Field: Beware the Ides of March
Posted by Dave Dyson, Agronomist on March 05, 2019
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February is in the rearview mirror and with the ides of March nearly upon us, agronomic thoughts need to be turning to wheat topdress. The famous line from William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, “Beware the ides of March” also bodes well to our impending wheat crop. We may not be worried about a looming imperial assassination from an unfriendly senate, but by March 15th we should know if our wheat crop has survived the winter.
Determining if your wheat field is worth keeping and fertilizing can be a stressful decision. Counting wheat tillers can take the emotion and stress out of the equation. A tiller is basically another stem or semi-independent plant. A week after planting wheat you have an individual spike emerge from the soil, and then soon after that you have a plant with three leaves on it. Once the plant has a fourth leaf, a tiller will emerge. From that point on, with each leaf that emerges from this main stem, a tiller will be produced between the leaf and the stem. The number of tillers matters because each tiller can produce only a single head. A rule of thumb is if you have at least three tillers per plant by the middle of March, go forth and finish your total nitrogen prescription. If you are trying for 80-100 bu/ac crop of wheat, you will need to have a total of 120 units of nitrogen applied to that crop. Hopefully you have applied some MAP and AMS in the fall, during seeding, to help in the tillering process. That amount can be subtracted from the 120 total units needed and applied during topdress.
The next question you may have is whether to split-apply the topdress of nitrogen, half now and half before Feekes Stage 6. Ten years ago, I would have agreed that split-applying the nitrogen application during topdress would not only be environmentally responsible, but the most economically sound practice, too. Today, we have products that can be added to the UAN solution to protect your nitrogen from both denitrification and leaching. UltraMate® Zn (Figure 1) at a rate of 1 gal/ac would be an excellent addition to the UAN solution. The analysis of UltraMate Zn is 3-0-3 + 1.0 S and 3.75 Zn containing 12% humic acid. The humic acid will carbon chelate the UAN, protecting the nitrogen from denitrification and leaching. Additionally, for every gallon of UltraMate Zn you apply per acre, you will be providing your wheat crop with 1 qt/ac of Nulex® Zinc 15%. According to A&L Great Lakes Labs, almost 80% of soils tested in 2018 came back with values under 5ppm of zinc. (Figure 3)
Figure 1: UltraMate Zn applied at 1 gal/ac will give you the carbon chelation that will protect your nitrogen and 1qt/ac of Nulex Zinc 15%.
Figure 2: UltraMate Zn continued.
Figure 3: 50% of all soil test results from A&L Great Lakes Lab come back as deficient in zinc. 80% of all soil test values are under 5ppm, at that level adding Zn will show a crop response.
In conclusion, “Beware the ides of March!” Check your wheat tillers to help determine if you will be keeping and fertilizing your crop. If the decision is made to keep the crop, consider adding a quality nitrogen stabilizer to your UAN when topdressing. If you use UltraMate Zn, you will be able to protect the nitrogen being applied while adding zinc into the cropping system.
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Dave Dyson is a regional agronomist for The Andersons’ Farm Centers which are located throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. He is an Indiana native and grew up on a dairy farm in Miami County. A graduate of Purdue University with a degree in Crop & Soil Science, Dave has a deep knowledge of various agronomic topics and is committed to helping growers improve their crops. If you have any questions, Dave can be reached at david_dyson@andersonsinc.com.
Nulex and UltraMate are trademarks of The Andersons, Inc.
