CNC I didn't take any pics but my fields are doing considerably well. since I've mowed the white clover has really started growing and is seeding out. The peas, and sunflowers are about 8-10 inches tall and there are a few weeds starting to grow because I didn't spray. my question is should I fertilize my fields even though there are some weeds coming up. I just really don't want to fertilize the field and have all the fertilizer wasted on weeds. what do you think? I'm on day 20 after planting
Any fertilizer that is being taken up by a plant in your field and growing biomass for future OM gains is not wasted. When those plants eventually die and begin to decompose back into the soil then those nutrients are recycled. Do you remember the short video a couple pages back where the professor was standing in the field looking at a soil profile and talking about how much organic N was available to the plants in that field on a continual basis due to building organic matter? This is where those nutrients come from. It comes from biomass taking up nutrients…decomposing…and recycling them. The vast majority of the real wasted fertilizer that food plotters are throwing out is coming through leaching and washing due to poor soil structure….no holding capacity…erosion..etc.etc..
Look at the pic of my field as an example. The whole field is a nice green color no matter what plant specie you’re looking at. The field has all kinds of plants growing in it that folks would call a weed. The deer are also hammering nearly everything in field. The deer will consume some of the vegetation and some will be recycled back to the soil to increase fertility. The more I increase my organic matter and my fertility,,,then the more you’ll see the field boom with lush growth. The cycle will feed on itself sort of like a snowball effect. If you just keep trying to grow only beans and sunflowers and eliminate the rest of the plants in the field….then when those plants get wiped out, you won’t have any biomass to add back to the soil and your fertility will not change.
So to answer your question….yes, go ahead and fertilize the field. Don’t worry about the other stuff that’s growing in the field unless its just something really nasty like the sicklepod. Spot spray those kinds of things and let everything else just grow as much biomass as it will produce. It will actually benefit you greatly long term if something like crabgrass would produce a good crop in your field this year. That would be a nice crop of hay to get the soil OM headed in the right direction.
