Gordon's Liquid Fertilizer

Tractor supply has a liquid fertilizer in 2 1/2 gal. cans. 20-0-0
Was toying with the idea of testing some on a few acres as a top-dress/mid season application to a grass hay field.

Anyone use a product like this.

Small enough test that I would apply myself with a broadcast sprayer.

It will make the grass look greener, so you will see a difference.

2.5 gallons times about 10 lbs a gallon is 25 lbs times 20% is about 5 lbs of actual n you get per jug.

That ain't much, price granular and bulk granular to see what you pay for actual N each way.

To the plant, n is n, the liquid will absorb a tad faster and green it up nice, but for tonnage of hay you might do better with a much cheaper slower release granular product that adds growth, not just pretty, to the hay for a lot cheaper.

I do like your testing it out and won't take much to see what happens, but do the math on what you are getting. Fun to test such things out and give it a try.

Paul

Paul,
I already fertilize with a plan based upon soil tests. I use pellets broadcast in April with a slow release to fight the volatilization.
One of the fields I'm thinking of is a really sandy soil with not much for topsoil. I was curious if topdressing mid-season would help the plant any. I have never been able to hit the yield goal set by the agronomist (partly I think they're unrealistic in their goal) I have a theory that the fertilizer is moving through the soil profile too fast to do the roots all the good the nutrients are intended for.

My thoughts were that the liquid would make a more efficient topdress than another application of pellets. The ground is flood irrigated and I fear that an application of pellets mid season would just get washed off the field.

The math on the application is why I want to do a test strip. I agree with you on the application rates. It appears to me that the label recommendation is for 15 acres with 2 1/2 gallons of liquid to 15 gallons of water putting out around 6lbs N per acre. The cost on this is very high. My estimate is $89 per acre. It costs about $60 to put out 70lbs of N per acre with the pellets. Hay prices around here it would take a bit over 1/2 ton to the acre to make the liquid break even. Liquid can be purchased much cheaper in bulk but I was curious what results people had with liquid. I wanted to try a test strip before purchasing a lot of product.