Foliar Fertilizer
- Thread starter tootall71
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tootall71
Yearling... With promise
Mostly just wondering if anyone has had ANY success with foliar ferts. Don't see too many posts about it. I know most like to throw down urea, but my property is 3 hours away so I can't always time throwing down urea and a forecasted rain.
Powder
5 year old buck +
I've had similar questions. For me, it's difficult to get that much fertilizer to my fields but if I could go the foliar route it would be much easier. The other question I have is, how much do you apply? The ones I've seen don't always say how to calculate the proper amount.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I've done it before. Took several feedings to make any difference and I'm not sure it was worth it...
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Tap
5 year old buck +
Someone gave me this several years ago and it's been taking up space in my garage. Just the other day, I decided to apply it to a small section of a summer plot...sunflowers, rutabaga, radish, cowpea, sunn hemp.
I'm doing a side by side comparison. Too soon to say if it's helping.
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I'm doing a side by side comparison. Too soon to say if it's helping.
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FarmerDan
5 year old buck +
For what we do with food plots...or in production agriculture I don't see the attraction. In theory foliar sprays are beneficial for horticultural crops of high value where there's a defined need for nitrogen at a precise moment in the plant growth cycle. Let's do the math. The jug above is 13% nitrogen. In that 29.8 lb container there are just short of 4 actual pounds of nitrogen. To get 50 lbs of N you will need 11 containers of the stuff....and 50lbs ain't all that much. And, you'll probably want to mix that 2 1/2 gallons in 25 gallons of water so the solution is dilute enough to avoid plant tissue burn. It's a great solution for when your blueberry bushes need a boost for some specific reason (like a tissue test that shows a nutrient deficiency). Good for rose bushes, too. The nitrogen absorption is 8 to 25 times faster than soil applied N. Good in certain situations. Not so much in others. Golf course greens a little yellow? Tournament coming? Foliar N is the perfect solution. Food plots and production ag? I don't see it.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
We need to collect all these foliar fertilizer threads in one place. It just keeps coming back up with new folks. Foliar fertilizers and an expensive way for a commercial farmer to salvage a crop for a short period until the underlying problem can be addressed. I don't see any place for them with food plots.
I also had to chuckle a the thought of using them on buckwheat. That stuff grows in the bed of my truck and in my gravel driveway when I spill seed. When folks start from scratch with a new field and need time for the soil amendments to work, we normally recommend two crops depending on the time of year, one with Winter Rye and the other is Buckwheat. Both will tolerate low pH and infertile soil. Buckwheat is only a 60 to 90 day crop. What was the soil temperature when you planted it? It will germinate with soil temps as low as 45 degrees, but the optimal soil temperature for germination is 80 degrees. I find crops planted early with soil temps below 65 degrees to be very lethargic compared to crops planted later. In my area down in zone 7a, I generally wait until the second half of June to plant it.
Thakns,
Jack
I also had to chuckle a the thought of using them on buckwheat. That stuff grows in the bed of my truck and in my gravel driveway when I spill seed. When folks start from scratch with a new field and need time for the soil amendments to work, we normally recommend two crops depending on the time of year, one with Winter Rye and the other is Buckwheat. Both will tolerate low pH and infertile soil. Buckwheat is only a 60 to 90 day crop. What was the soil temperature when you planted it? It will germinate with soil temps as low as 45 degrees, but the optimal soil temperature for germination is 80 degrees. I find crops planted early with soil temps below 65 degrees to be very lethargic compared to crops planted later. In my area down in zone 7a, I generally wait until the second half of June to plant it.
Thakns,
Jack
tootall71
Yearling... With promise
Didn't check soil temp but I am certain if it wasn't 80, it was damn close. Grew BW last year in same plot with good success and we have had MORE rain this year. Just kinda weird.
tootall71
Yearling... With promise
Had plenty of rain, but this plot is at the top of a hill in super rocky, well drained soil. Usually rain is never an issue, it's getting too dry that is.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
When did you plant it?
FarmerDan
5 year old buck +
Aphids? Spider Mites? Some other tiny "sap sucker?"
Insects
The insects that are seen (wireworms and aphids) usually do little damage in summer-sown buckwheat. Buckwheat that emerges in May, whether volunteers or an early cover crop, is at some risk of aphid infestation. Early aphids attract ladybeetles that protect later crops. Buckwheat attracts many other beneficial insects once it begins to flower, so it may even reduce the insect pressure nearby
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/bjorkman/lab/buck/guide/pests.php
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Don't get us wrong. Foliar fertilizers will give the plant a short term boot as the nutrients are directly absorbed by the foliage. However, it is the most expensive way to feed a plant even though it gives you the fastest response. That is exactly how farmers use it. If they screw up and determine they have some nutrient deficiency with a foliar analysis, they make a cost tradeoff. They may not make money, but they may lose less by applying the soil amendments necessary followed by a foliar feeding. The hope is that the expensive foliar feeding keeps the plants growing until the soil amendments can work and that the money they make selling the crop at least covers their costs.
Thanks,
Jack
tootall71
Yearling... With promise
June 14th
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
#17
X2
X2
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
That is probably on the early side for your area. These are pretty gross and individual fields can vary greatly based on orientation and cover, but this shows soil temps in your general area are still pretty cool now compared to mine: https://www.agweb.com/weather/soil-temperatures/ Mid June is about the earliest I plant it to get a strong crop. Right now is about my end date. My end date is generally because rain becomes iffy after the 4th of July in my area.
Keep in mind that soil temperatures are not close to air temps. They are taken with a soil thermometer between 0800 and 0900 in the morning. A soil thermometer is inexpensive and has been one of my best bang for the buck investments.
Thanks,
Jack
