Well crap

Urea is $35/bag. That is double what it was last year!

Gonna be a tough fertilizer year.

So far: I have found
13-13-13 at $24.95
10-10-10 at $20.50

The guy that does our food plots and bush hogging for us just informed us today that if we wanted to pay the same price as last year he would not be able to put any fertilizer down on our food plots. We told him to hold off on fertilizer and we plan to put fertilizer on our fields during the season if we can.

How important is fertilizer for food plots? Im assuming we will still have decent fields with out any fertilizer.

Dang that's jacked up.....

Well the upside is the other fertilizer I use is still the same as last year, 17.50 a bag. But my soil test calls for 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Amonium nitrate was $25/ bag. So 34-0-0 is $25 and 46-0-0 is $35. I figured I need $875 in fertilizer. I need some lime too. Guy at the quarry says 3-$400 for a dump truck plus $25/ton and he will deliver. So I need to work on a deal with him. I figure I need about 6 tons, but it might be worth it just to get more and have it there.

Theoretically, if you plant the right rotation, and your PH is good, you can get to a place where you need very little fertilizer. That is what I am working towards. I should probably soil test again next year and see where I am.

What is the other fertilizer?

At those prices I’ll plant wheat and cereal rye and pile the corn to them.

Fertilizer is important, but in some cases its imperative.

Based on my experience fertilizer is a must must in the following situations: areas with high deer density, small food plots (less than 2 acres), poor soil, and sandy soil. If you have any or multiple of these situations planting without fertilizer is wasting time and seed.

By contrast, I have a few larger food plots that always have a lot of clover and through the years I have been able to keep the PH right and they have still managed to be pretty good (though noticeably less) in years when I just never got around to getting fertilizer out or ran short and they were the last field. I do not always do soil samples, but I do pull some every few years and some it seems like a larger field is easier to keep in good shape.

100 lbs of nitrogen is crazy high. I've never had a soil test call for more than 60lbs/acre. It's not like you're a farmer trying to max out crop yield. You're feeding pine goats

Ammonia nitrate 38.50$

Got my fertilizer prices yesterday. Triple 13 will be $20 a bag and 16-4-8 is $17.

GM Lockjaw if I recall from some of your posts you hunt up of 22. I own/lease land up there (Lamar/Fayette Co.). I've been putting out lime with my truck and the buggy from the Hamilton Coop. I do it by myself, and it easy. 3.25 tons was $125. It's a pretty good load for a Tundra (5.7) so the last batch I did was 2.5 tons. Good luck. Rock

I’m glad I never see a bill from the feed store

18-46-0

I am in Columbiana. There is a co-op there, but their prices aren't usually as good as universal. And they never have a price list available. I don't know what their malfunction is. I usually save enough on the seed and fertilizer its worth the hassle to run pick it up and drive it out there, whereas the Co-op is litereally a mile and a half by road.

I am going to soil test next spring and see where I am at. It's been two years since I last did any soil testing. That will give me a good year of having clover on most of the plots. Then I can see if the nitrogen needs have dropped. I plan to plant heavy in cereals this fall, so I get good coverage for when I mow next spring. I need the mulch to help feed the clover and keep the soil covered. THis year has been rough with the lack of rain. I have plots I haven't cut the first time. Or sprayed. I have a few places I plan to target hard for a good clover stand for next year. Based upon what I have been seeing, the deer like it, and the feed there nearly every day. Not much in the woods has the protein content of limed and fertilized clover.

I am really hoping I can get to a crop rotation that reduces greatly my fertilizer costs. Lime isn't that bad, I just need to invest in a good drop spreader.

I called this morning triple 13 is $22 a bag.
And triple 10 is 18:75a bag.

JRF == Where did you get that price? I am in Millbrook

MPM Feed&seed prattville 1313 highway31north .it’s the old gentry steel building.

There are only 6.5 pounds and 5 pounds of fertilizer in each of those bags. If you need 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre, that's a crap ton of bags.

JRF - Send you a PM

Why a lot of folks never put down enough .