burning off wheat fields

gbs · Jun 2, 2011

my question is what percentage of the N P K is destroyed with the straw when it"s burnt off

Handyman · Jun 2, 2011

I had a neighbor that decided that burning was the thing to do, So as soon as they finished the harvest they went out with a weed burner and set everything ablaze. after five years their fertilizer costs exceded the income on their wheat, so they went back to plowing down the stubble and the first year their yields went up and their fertilizer costs started to go back down. you need the organic matter in the soil that crop residues provide.

JDseller · Jun 2, 2011

Just about all of the fertilizer value is lost when stubble is burnt. There might be a little P that is left but all of the K and N will be gone. Also the sooner after harvest you can get the stubble buried, or in contact with dirt, the more nutrient value saved.

keh · Jun 3, 2011

Went by a palce today where they were combining wheat and baling in big round bales behind the combing. Possibly they are going to use the straw for bedding at some nearby large dairies or maybe have contact with landscapers or the state highway people.

KEH

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 3, 2011

Every study I've seen is very little lost or gain by burning stubble, only a tiny bit more lost by baling and removing. Very little nutrients in it. No significant n,p or k. Some organic matter but not even much of that, plowing stubble under causes almost as much loss of organic matter from the soil as whats added back. More lose where erosion is a problem.

burning off wheat fields

gbs

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Handyman

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JDseller

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keh

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Ken Macfarlane

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