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Thread: Side dressing nitrogen on corn

  1. #1
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    Default Side dressing nitrogen on corn

    My soil sample recommendations always suggest putting down the nitrogen in a couple stages. I'm stuck with broadcasting urea granules. I've been looking for a two row spider gang cultivator with a fertilizer hopper to use for cultivating and side dressing all in one shot. I read that some folks use liquid nitrogen with a modified sprayer that has a tool bar with opener and closer discs. What do you real farmers do?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Palmetto Bug View Post
    My soil sample recommendations always suggest putting down the nitrogen in a couple stages. I'm stuck with broadcasting urea granules. I've been looking for a two row spider gang cultivator with a fertilizer hopper to use for cultivating and side dressing all in one shot. I read that some folks use liquid nitrogen with a modified sprayer that has a tool bar with opener and closer discs. What do you real farmers do?
    Real farmers pay me to spread it.......

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    I just reread and saw you wanted it all in one shot. We cultivate then put down nitrogen right after. It would be easy if you could do it in one shot .

    I use my normal sprayer and put drops on it and put on nitrogen tips. I have the drops in the center of the row. A 20 oz bottle with the bottom cut out put over the spray tips work well to keep the nitrogen from spraying all over the corn. Just make sure you wash everything very well. Liquid nitrogen is hell on equipment.

    drops I use.
    https://www.shoupparts.com/502646-24-in-Hose-Drop



    A guy I work with just uses his spreader and goes over the top of the corn. He picks a day when the corn is dry and later in the day with no dew so that the fertilizer will not stick to the corn and just slides off. He makes pretty good corn. I would be worried and the fertilizer get in the top of the stalk and burning it up, but he says it works.
    Last edited by Rem11-87; 04-06-2021 at 09:29 AM.

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    Liquid nitrogen is corrosive. You need a ground drive pump such as a John Blue or equivalent to apply at a desired rate. Otherwise its almost a guessing game. Opener and closer disc are not essential.
    Lot of folks use applicators with drop nozzles to run 4-6" off the ground. Again most have a ground drive pump metering the nitrogen. Look up KBH lay by rigs for an idea. Easy to mix in herbicides at this point too.

    Granular is easier on the small scale farming. There is a 2 row cole distributor on cultivator frame in waycross ga. on Facebook Marketplace. $1200 Few single row models in Conway. That guy buys and fixes them up as a side business.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Whackumstackum View Post
    Real farmers pay me to spread it.......
    I'm too small time for you guys. I tried to get lime spread a couple years ago and eventually had to get my money back after a couple months because they never got around to it. I understand that real farmers take precedent but I'm on the same weather schedule.

    Anyway, I'm looking for a solution that's a bit more efficient than broadcasting granules all over for the weeds to suck up and also risk sticking to the corn and burning it like Rem11-87 mentioned. I need to look at my sprayer and see how well the nozzles are positioned. That sounds like a better solution even if I have to make a new bar for holding nitrogen nozzles.

    How do you convert lbs. per acre recommendations to the appropriate amount of liquid? What type of liquid nitrogen should I be looking for?

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    I believe the calculation for the 32 liquid nitrogen. It weighs like 11 lbs so 3.5 lbs nitrogen per gallon. It comes in i think 28 with low sulfur also. I am small time i only plant 8 acres in dovefield. Someone else might have a better answer

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    I put 20 gallons of 28-S to the acre when side dressing
    Last edited by Smilee; 04-06-2021 at 10:00 AM.

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    Palmetto other things to consider. How are you going to haul liquid nitrogen? Filling a 300 gallon tote isn't real easy and gravity filling a sprayer tank is messy. Or you need a pump to transfer from nurse tank to sprayer, plan on buying one every 3-4 years at $250-300 each.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Smilee View Post
    Palmetto other things to consider. How are you going to haul liquid nitrogen? Filling a 300 gallon tote isn't real easy and gravity filling a sprayer tank is messy. Or you need a pump to transfer from nurse tank to sprayer, plan on buying one every 3-4 years at $250-300 each.
    We use totes and gravity fill or pump into the tank. Never been too bad for us.
    Quote Originally Posted by Birddawg View Post
    I dont know how it was done. For all I know that weird bastard that determined it's gender licked it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CUduckreeper View Post
    We use totes and gravity fill or pump into the tank. Never been too bad for us.
    Always had to have a second tractor there or hay bale to set tank on. And limited to 200gallons per tote based on lift capacity of my tractors.

    I’ve got a 1000 gallon nurse tank trailer now but running a lot more acreage of hay.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Palmetto Bug View Post
    How do you convert lbs. per acre recommendations to the appropriate amount of liquid? What type of liquid nitrogen should I be looking for?
    It's not difficult. There are 3 typical liquid N solutions in SC. Use this for reference:

    28% = 3lb N per gal *Contains sulfur
    30% = 3.25lb N per gal
    32% = 3.5lb N per gal * Contains sulfur

    Shoot for using 28S or 32S%, mainly to get the sulfur you need for corn. Most corn recommendations say to apply 1 to 1.5 pounds/units of N per bushel as your goal. To put in perspective, Smilee is applying 20 gal of 28S, which equates to 60 units of N/acre. This would be acceptable for a dove field, but not so much if you're a farmer feeding a family.

    Handling liquid N is nasty. It gets everywhere, sticks everywhere and rusts everything. If I were you, I'd apply "Superkicker" from a bag, but if you're dead set on liquid, I'd get 2 totes, plumb them together with a tee in between them on a trailer I didn't really care about. Get a transfer pump from Harbor Fright to transfer from the totes to your applicator. You don't need to knife it in if you can dribble it beside the row. Many old-school farmers still side dress this way.
    Quote Originally Posted by ecu1984 View Post
    Go Tigers!

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    Yep and I'm putting down 40 units of granular with my P-K pre-plant.

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    Thanks for the great replies.

    I have a flat top dirt mound just for putting a tote tank on so I could gravity fill my sprayer tank pretty easily. I've got a spare utility trailer that I can use for hauling the tote tank. I can add down tube nozzles for my existing sprayer. It will take some effort to calibrate it for the correct rate but I've done that kind of stuff before. I'll practice with water until I get it figured out. I can always fall back on broadcast spreading granules.

    I still want to find a two row spider gang rolling cultivator with a fertilizer hopper if anybody runs across one.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Palmetto Bug View Post
    Thanks for the great replies.

    I have a flat top dirt mound just for putting a tote tank on so I could gravity fill my sprayer tank pretty easily. I've got a spare utility trailer that I can use for hauling the tote tank. I can add down tube nozzles for my existing sprayer. It will take some effort to calibrate it for the correct rate but I've done that kind of stuff before. I'll practice with water until I get it figured out. I can always fall back on broadcast spreading granules.

    I still want to find a two row spider gang rolling cultivator with a fertilizer hopper if anybody runs across one.
    Where is your land? I haven't had any issue getting lime spread on my 6 acres of fields.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Smilee View Post
    Yep and I'm putting down 40 units of granular with my P-K pre-plant.
    That’s perfect.
    Quote Originally Posted by ecu1984 View Post
    Go Tigers!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Habit View Post
    Where is your land? I haven't had any issue getting lime spread on my 6 acres of fields.
    I'm sure my experience was an anomaly. The gentleman that gave me my refund was truly mortified. I could tell they don't drop the ball often. I have never had any other problems and have always had great service.

    It was the peak of the season for real farmers and I'm sure they were quite busy spreading fertilizer and lime on big acres. I probably represent the worst customers they have...relatively small purchases, always a ton of questions, and I still take up the time of the front office. I plant less than 20 acres each year and don't even harvest it so I classify more accurately as a gardener than a farmer. Food plot, dove field and hobby "farmers" take up an inordinate part of their time and resources compared to the revenue they bring in. They are in the position of having to try to scale their ability to service the farmers that come in for tens of thousands of dollars worth of chemicals and seed and they're too polite to tell someone like me to go shop at Tractor Supply or my local lawn and garden where my business actually belongs. I always feel like the guy that pulls up to the gas pump at the internet truck stop on a lawn mower.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Palmetto Bug View Post
    I'm sure my experience was an anomaly. The gentleman that gave me my refund was truly mortified. I could tell they don't drop the ball often. I have never had any other problems and have always had great service.

    It was the peak of the season for real farmers and I'm sure they were quite busy spreading fertilizer and lime on big acres. I probably represent the worst customers they have...relatively small purchases, always a ton of questions, and I still take up the time of the front office. I plant less than 20 acres each year and don't even harvest it so I classify more accurately as a gardener than a farmer. Food plot, dove field and hobby "farmers" take up an inordinate part of their time and resources compared to the revenue they bring in. They are in the position of having to try to scale their ability to service the farmers that come in for tens of thousands of dollars worth of chemicals and seed and they're too polite to tell someone like me to go shop at Tractor Supply or my local lawn and garden where my business actually belongs. I always feel like the guy that pulls up to the gas pump at the internet truck stop on a lawn mower.
    Quote Originally Posted by Palmetto Bug View Post
    I'm sure my experience was an anomaly. The gentleman that gave me my refund was truly mortified. I could tell they don't drop the ball often. I have never had any other problems and have always had great service.

    It was the peak of the season for real farmers and I'm sure they were quite busy spreading fertilizer and lime on big acres. I probably represent the worst customers they have...relatively small purchases, always a ton of questions, and I still take up the time of the front office. I plant less than 20 acres each year and don't even harvest it so I classify more accurately as a gardener than a farmer. Food plot, dove field and hobby "farmers" take up an inordinate part of their time and resources compared to the revenue they bring in. They are in the position of having to try to scale their ability to service the farmers that come in for tens of thousands of dollars worth of chemicals and seed and they're too polite to tell someone like me to go shop at Tractor Supply or my local lawn and garden where my business actually belongs. I always feel like the guy that pulls up to the gas pump at the internet truck stop on a lawn mower.
    I feel like there is a niche market in there somewhere for a place that’s between a tractor supply and a true Ag supplier. Like wannamaker combined with a fertilizer/chemical supplier that can also do custom
    Application


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    Quote Originally Posted by Quackhead22 View Post
    I feel like there is a niche market in there somewhere for a place that’s between a tractor supply and a true Ag supplier. Like wannamaker combined with a fertilizer/chemical supplier that can also do custom
    Application


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    The trick is to get your fields combined with a larger customers order- or a few smaller customers all at the same time.
    I can spread lime with my tractor and spreader- it's big enough- but sure don't want to fill the spreader with bagged lime- mine took 2 spreader truck loads last year- that's a lot of bags

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Habit View Post
    The trick is to get your fields combined with a larger customers order- or a few smaller customers all at the same time.
    I can spread lime with my tractor and spreader- it's big enough- but sure don't want to fill the spreader with bagged lime- mine took 2 spreader truck loads last year- that's a lot of bags
    That’s exactly how we handle lime and nitrogen. But there are a lot of folks out there that don’t have that luxury.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men. -Gifford Pinchot

    The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. -Thomas Jefferson


    The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

  20. #20
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    Ok. I have my 4 row sprayer rigged up with drop tubes and I calibrated it with water. If I run 4.8 mph with the sprayer pressure at 10 psi, I'll put out 20 gallons per acre. How much different will nitrogen be? Is it a lot thicker, less viscous than water?

    The tubes just drag the ground and leave a nice thin bead of liquid. How close do I dare put it to freshly emerged plants? One problem is that I plant with a 2 row planter and now want to fertilize very close to the plants with a 4 row sprayer. I'm going to have to be very careful with my row spacing.

    Now all I need is some rain in the forecast. I wanted to get the fertilizer spread and corn planted this weekend but it's just so damn dry.

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