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When to fertilize?

Posted By: Ant67

When to fertilize? - 10/23/19 02:56 PM

When do you fertilize your plots and why?
Posted By: blumsden

Re: When to fertilize? - 10/23/19 03:33 PM

I usually put out my P and K when I put out my seed. When its about 3 inches tall, I hit it with 100lbs ammonium nitrate per acre. I like to come back in December and hit it again if possible. The reason I do it that way, is to get the most out of the nitrogen while still adding my P and K. Nitrogen will evaporate after awhile, maybe a week, so I like to hit DRY plants with 34-0-0 before a rain.
Posted By: dirkdaddy

Re: When to fertilize? - 10/23/19 05:17 PM

I aim for once a month depending on rainfall and access. So once while planting, once in November, once late December, and one more time late January. The last time is mainly to provide early spring food for the animals. If I was on a lease I'd probably skip the last application. My plots are small and heavily used so I try to treat them right.
Posted By: 257wbymag

Re: When to fertilize? - 10/23/19 05:36 PM

I like getting a stand. About finger high. Then putting my 40-30-30 on it
Posted By: Ant67

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 03:25 AM

Planted on the 19th. Got some pretty good germination. Fertilized on Nov 6. Hope that’s not to big a gap. Hopefully we get a good rain tomorrow
Posted By: 257wbymag

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 03:38 AM

I put a 40-30-30-24 on mine today.
Posted By: jwalker77

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 03:42 AM

I hope it rains tomorrow, I put the nitrogen to my kale, rape, and daikons today. Fertilized my chickory and my fall garden too. By the way deer love chickory.
Posted By: bambam32

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 04:15 AM

We fertilize the same time we plant. Never been a problem.
Posted By: CNC

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 04:36 AM

I think technically you're supposed to put your P&K out several weeks to even a month or more ahead of time.....P stays in the soil a long time but also takes awhile to become available to the plant. It doesn't move through the soil very fast. There's a word I'm looking for here....hmmmmm…...I think of it in a minute....Anyways, K is similar but not to the same extent. I added K in the fall and had my levels at 220 lbs/ac.....by spring it had only fell to 180 lbs...I'm dealing with good holding capacity in my field now though but you can see that its not something that you're gonna put out and it just be gone in a few weeks. You really want to have those levels in check when you plant so that your seedlings emerge in good growing conditions instead of those nutrients kicking in weeks later.....N is a little different. It becomes available much quicker but its also gone a lot quicker too. What I've seen in my sandy soil is that it usually takes about 10-14 days to really kick in and I can usually run for 6-8 weeks off of an application before seeing signs of N deficiency again. I have a lot of organic N built up in my soil but it only seems to be available to the plants during warm weather. The soil just isn't mineralizing nutrients at the same rate once it cools down
Posted By: N2TRKYS

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 02:03 PM

I wish it was dry enough for me to fertilize. The odds of that happening before Summer is very slim.
Posted By: 257wbymag

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by CNC
I think technically you're supposed to put your P&K out several weeks to even a month or more ahead of time.....P stays in the soil a long time but also takes awhile to become available to the plant. It doesn't move through the soil very fast. There's a word I'm looking for here....hmmmmm…...I think of it in a minute....Anyways, K is similar but not to the same extent. I added K in the fall and had my levels at 220 lbs/ac.....by spring it had only fell to 180 lbs...I'm dealing with good holding capacity in my field now though but you can see that its not something that you're gonna put out and it just be gone in a few weeks. You really want to have those levels in check when you plant so that your seedlings emerge in good growing conditions instead of those nutrients kicking in weeks later.....N is a little different. It becomes available much quicker but its also gone a lot quicker too. What I've seen in my sandy soil is that it usually takes about 10-14 days to really kick in and I can usually run for 6-8 weeks off of an application before seeing signs of N deficiency again. I have a lot of organic N built up in my soil but it only seems to be available to the plants during warm weather. The soil just isn't mineralizing nutrients at the same rate once it cools down


A lot of that is true in deficiency soils. I’m just adding to my bank with P&K. And my planting is only 3 weeks old. A lot of N would be gone after the 8” rain we had of been out earlier
Posted By: hallb

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by bambam32
We fertilize the same time we plant. Never been a problem.


Same here, fertilized per soil tests at time of planting. Would like to come back sometime in the next month and put out some N, but don't think it's going to happen b/c some of our fields stay so wet once it starts getting rain. Our plots look great, so think we're just fine. I saw an 8 point hitting a pitching wedge out there yesterday afternoon.
Posted By: Remington270

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by CNC
I think technically you're supposed to put your P&K out several weeks to even a month or more ahead of time.....P stays in the soil a long time but also takes awhile to become available to the plant. It doesn't move through the soil very fast. There's a word I'm looking for here....hmmmmm…...I think of it in a minute....Anyways, K is similar but not to the same extent. I added K in the fall and had my levels at 220 lbs/ac.....by spring it had only fell to 180 lbs...



Are you talking about cation exchange capacity?
Posted By: CNC

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/07/19 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Remington270
Originally Posted by CNC
I think technically you're supposed to put your P&K out several weeks to even a month or more ahead of time.....P stays in the soil a long time but also takes awhile to become available to the plant. It doesn't move through the soil very fast. There's a word I'm looking for here....hmmmmm…...I think of it in a minute....Anyways, K is similar but not to the same extent. I added K in the fall and had my levels at 220 lbs/ac.....by spring it had only fell to 180 lbs...



Are you talking about cation exchange capacity?


Nah....I think maybe that P is pretty "immobile" in the soil is what I was going for....something to that effect.
Posted By: jaredhunts

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 02:46 AM

Originally Posted by hallb
Originally Posted by bambam32
We fertilize the same time we plant. Never been a problem.


Same here, fertilized per soil tests at time of planting. Would like to come back sometime in the next month and put out some N, but don't think it's going to happen b/c some of our fields stay so wet once it starts getting rain. Our plots look great, so think we're just fine. I saw an 8 point hitting a pitching wedge out there yesterday afternoon.
Posted By: CNC

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 04:32 AM

My post was geared toward describing trying to do it the “optimal” way. That’s not meant to say that you won’t achieve good results just throwing your fert out at planting time. One thing to think about though is that just because your food plot is doing “good”….you may still be able to achieve better results. It’s not all about just looks…..productivity is an important word too in all of this. A nascar driver could get in a car and take a lap around Talledega at 150 mph and get out saying…”Wow that’s fast!” and he would be correct…..but he could actually be going 200 mph with a little fine tuning of the engine. Now maybe you don’t need to go any faster (produce more yield)….but maybe you do….maybe you have a high deer density and small acreage plots and you need to produce as much yield as possible. This is where tweaking and fine tuning the small details like I’m describing may be beneficial to you.
Posted By: jaredhunts

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by CNC
My post was geared toward describing trying to do it the “optimal” way. That’s not meant to say that you won’t achieve good results just throwing your fert out at planting time. One thing to think about though is that just because your food plot is doing “good”….you may still be able to achieve better results. It’s not all about just looks…..productivity is an important word too in all of this. A nascar driver could get in a car and take a lap around Talledega at 150 mph and get out saying…”Wow that’s fast!” and he would be correct…..but he could actually be going 200 mph with a little fine tuning of the engine. Now maybe you don’t need to go any faster (produce more yield)….but maybe you do….maybe you have a high deer density and small acreage plots and you need to produce as much yield as possible. This is where tweaking and fine tuning the small details like I’m describing may be beneficial to you.

Exactly but it's not a perfect world. Most folks have to do things when they can. Time and weather was and still is a big constraint on our place this season.
Posted By: CNC

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by jaredhunts
]
Exactly but it's not a perfect world. Most folks have to do things when they can. Time and weather was and still is a big constraint on our place this season.


I completely agree……it still doesn’t hurt to have the knowledge in your back pocket though. I’m just answering the question of when and why to fertilize.
Posted By: jaredhunts

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 01:28 PM

Yup.
Posted By: mike35549

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/08/19 06:59 PM

We fertilize at planting, then add 100lbs of N as close as we can to 1st of Dec depending on rain.
Posted By: AUwrestler

Re: When to fertilize? - 11/10/19 05:44 PM

Usually just once around Christmas. That way it gets a jump start during the rut.
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