It is well known that
fertilization is essential to today’s successful
farming operation, but with so many options, choosing
which method is right for you can be extremely difficult.
Should you fertilize before or after your crops have
emerged? Should you use strip-till, pre-plant, mid-row
banding, or side-dress techniques?
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The answers to these questions
are as varied as the growers asking them and as unique
as the fields they farm, but one thing is certain:
corn is a heavy feeder of fertilizer. If you are
growing corn, you need to consider which technique
you will use to replenish your soil in order to ensure
maximum health for your plants.
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Generation III fertilizer coulter
on mounted toolbar
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Side-dressing is a proven
method of fertilizer application that can give your
crops—corn in particular—that extra burst
of nutrients they need to thrive. Placing fertilizer
in a shallow trench beside the row allows the correct
placement where plant roots can grow into the band
and will make the most use of it.
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3600 Series Folding sidedress
bar
for Self-propelled Sprayer
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Why
side-dress? When the side-dressing technique is properly
executed, it encourages more even stands and increases
your potential for better yields. Nitrogen tends to
leach down through the soil and away from the roots,
and side-dressing replenishes those needed nutrients
for enhanced growth. |
| This process
of placing fertilizer just to the side and slightly
below the seed puts nutrients directly on target to
intercept emerging roots. When roots hit that zone,
there is a growth explosion. As more roots develop,
they too encounter the fertilizer for an ongoing boost
during critical growth stages— almost half of
a corn plant’s roots are within 12” of
the soil surface during tasseling. This means that
your precision-placed fertilizer keeps working through
the growth life of the plant. |
Side-dressing also
allows you to apply that essential fertilizer without
causing damage or burning of the roots or leaves,
which could come into contact with the fertilizer
if it were applied nearer to the plant.
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Generation III fertilizer coulter
on pull-type toolbar |
Additional benefits of applying side-dress
nitrogen (N) are:
- Typically side-dress nitrogen is lower priced
than Fall or preplant N
- Improved water quality
- Spoon feed N closer to crop uptake
- Reduced power requirement
- Higher speed – more acres per hour
- More free time in spring to plant earlier, planting
date is crucial to top yields
- No grace period before planting begins
- Reduced soil compaction
- Better use of available labor
- Meet lower N recommendations from Universities
without lowering yield
- Can tank mix other nutrients with liquid nitrogen
- Ability to raise or lower N rate based on yield
potential of growing crop
There are various ways to apply side-dressing techniques
to enhance your operation. Many toolbars and high clearance
sprayers are equipped for side-dressing. Rigs like
Yetter Manufacturing Company’s 3600 Series
Fertilizer Toolbar for the JD 4710/4720 Sprayers can
take on the task of side-dressing as soon as plants
emerge and continue well into the growing season. Including
high capacity fertilizer hauling equipment just before
the toolbar is also an excellent way to side-dress;
it saves a great deal of time, as there is no need
to continually stop for refills.
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Visit www.yetterco.com to
review past issues of The Leading Edge
and Yetter products that maximize your yield potential. |
