Update from the Field: Starter Fertilizer: Not a Dud
Posted by Dave Dyson, Agronomist on July 25, 2019
Hopefully everyone had a happy Fourth of July celebration and no injuries were incurred. I’m an avid fireworks participant as I enjoy witnessing the display of colors explode in the sky. Similar to fireworks, when you apply a starter fertilizer during planting, the corn shoots up and explodes with vegetative growth. The worst part of the fireworks festivities are miss-fire, hang-fire, and duds! Nothing is worse than spending hard-earned money for a product that doesn’t provide the anticipated return. I fielded a few questions this spring about whether starter fertilizer would provide a bang or be a dud this year, given the late planting conditions. Several growers asked if they could save time and money by omitting the starter fertilizer during planting. Every time, my recommendation was to include the starter fertilizer, and these fields are seeing the benefits. As we look to preparing for 2020, let’s review the benefits of using a starter fertilizer, even in a late-planting year.
The arguments I often hear against using starter are: 1. “It takes too much time to refill my planter,” and 2. “It does not return enough money when planting corn late to justify the expense.” Let’s resolve the first portion of that argument. The Andersons has done a great job at producing high-quality, low-salt starter products. This allows growers to place our Diamond and GoldStart® starter products in-furrow with the corn seed and not worry about negatively affecting the seed’s germination. By putting these high-quality, low-salt products in such close proximity to the seed, we can use less product and see just as good or better results as putting 10-15 gal/ac of a high-salt product in a 2x2 placement. Using less product not only benefits you by allowing more acres to be applied per fill-up, it benefits the environment by applying less, while doing the same or better job.
The statement about saving money by cutting out the starter on a late-planted year is discredited by the results we have seen so far this year. I have set up several different starter plots this year in central Indiana. In Figures 1 and 2, you can see a 10-inch height advantage where our GoldStart starter was applied versus no starter. In Figure 3, you can see a whole collar increase where our Diamond product was applied versus no starter. Due to the late start we had, any advantage in height or leaf stage will pay dividends this fall. I saw the same one-leaf stage advantage last year, as well, with an application of InfuraMax™, a low-salt starter available only from The Andersons Farm Center Retail locations, at a rate of 5 gal/ac applied in-furrow. Last year, I followed the one-leaf stage advantage through to harvest, and the corn ended up yielding a 7 bushel/ac advantage over the corn that did not have starter applied.
In conclusion, even with the late-planted crop this year, we are seeing an advantage with the use of The Andersons’ Diamond and GoldStart starters applied at planting in-furrow with the seed. Contact your local representative from The Andersons for more details on our starters and a recommendation for 2020.
Figure 1: This picture was taken on July 3, 2019, at the Walton, Indiana, plot. This corn was planted on June 8, 2019, with no starter applied. Compared to Figure 2, this corn is 10 inches shorter.
Figure 2: This picture was taken on July 3, 2019, at the Walton, Indiana, plot. This corn was planted on June 8, 2019, with 5 gal/ac of GoldStart 6-24-6 applied in-furrow. Compared to Figure 1, this corn is 10 inches taller.
Figure 3: This picture was taken on June 28, 2019, west of Kokomo, Indiana. This corn was planted on June 5, 2019, with 5 gal/ac of InfuraMax applied in-furrow to the corn on the right and no starter applied to the corn on the left. An application of InfuraMax in-furrow has advanced the corn on the right by one-leaf stage.
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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.
