Fertilizer for Sweet Corn

The rain and flooding have finally broke, and although late I got my first field of sweet corn in the ground last night just before the rain! The old IH 2 row planter worked great! I may have had the sprockets and chains a little off as my corn is probably planted 6" but it will do.

My concern now is the application of a kick start fertilizer. I did not use the fertilizer bins on my 2 row as I have read many of the posts on here that people have completely burned out their corn with using the old hoppers as the application rates are just too high for today's fertilizers. So right now no fert is on this ground.

I really should order a darn soil test one year, but I have had ok results with soy beans on this field for the last few years. I do have a bunch of liquid 20-0-0 spray, I am also reading online to use 10-34-0. My dairy friend swears by using 19-19-19, I'm even seeing others mention using 46-0-0 fert!

I also seem to always be limited with the types of fertilizer I can get locally, 20-0-0, 10-10-10, sometimes I can find 13-13-13.

Any tips and recommendations? With my new sprayer I am perfectly fine using liquid instead of having to broadcast pellets. In a 4-6 weeks I plan on running the cultivator through the rows for hopefully very little weeds and hitting a side dressing of fert. I'm guessing with a side dressing, I want something more slow released so I'm better with granular application?

I assume this is a hobby patch, for home and friends use.

For real farming, we don't want to waste money or hurt the environment by applying too much of anything.

We want a great crop so we want to apply enough of everything.

So, to answer your question it is a lot more details than you seem to have available.

1. What does your soil have in it?

2. What kind of yield are you trying to aim for?

3. What fert sources do you have, and application.


So, crops use some fertilizer to grow the grain you will harvest. It also uses some fert to grow the stalks, leaves, roots, etc. you need the total
amount of fertilizer available for your crop. But you will get the portion used to grow the stalk, leaves, and roots as they. Decompose for next
year, or perhaps in 2 years.

The chart I'm including is for 100 bu corn. I don't know what you plan to raise, probably less than that?

Corn needs a lot of nitrogen. It needs some P and K as well. Often we are short on sulphuric as well with no more acid rain.

It would be best to know what your soil has, and then go from there to add what is needed of the three main fertilizers.

Of course, the most important part you didn't mention - soil ph? What is the ph of your ground? Does it need lime? Plants gather nutrients by
putting out a weak acid through their roots, and then sucking in the fertilizers they loosen up. If your soil is already acidic (below 6, best to be
around 7), then the roots cant really gather much at all, no matter how much you have sitting in the soil.

Some fertilizers like P attach to the soil and don't move very much, you can expect them to be available for years if you have them. Others, like
nitrogen or sulphuric, tend to dissolve in water and move around in the soil, and might leave your field, you want to apply them carefully and
closer to when they are needed if you can.

As for type of fertilizer, liquid is the most expensive, some types are very salty and will burn the roots or leaves, but are not as costly. Others are
low salt, but can only afford a small dose as they cost a lot. Typically liquids are used as small starter doses, or to apply to solve a problem that
appears later.

Granular is cheaper. You can apply less of it in a band, perhaps 2-3 inches beside and below the seed, so the roots find this rich band of
fertilizer and feed easily off of it. If you broadcast the fertilizer across the whole field, you will need the full amount spread, because the roots
won't find every bit of it, have to work harder to gather what they need.

In any case, fertilizers break down differently, and over some time. What you apply this year some might first be available 6 months, or a couple
years, from now. So it is a process, you don't want to fall behind, or the crops will starve a bit. And you don't want to overdo it, that has bad
effects and is bad for the environment as well. And is costly.

Also, nutrients should be in a balance in your soil. There are relationships between them; if you have too much of one by a whole bunch, it can
affect how much of the other the roots can get to. This gets really complicated; but as with most things, you don't want an extreme high level of
just one nutrient, it can affect the he crop poorly. So if you happen to have very high P levels, you would hurt your crop by adding more.....

This is how fertilizer is managed.

I realize for a small hobby plot, just slopping some 19-19-19 on works and makes it look good and no big deal.

But if you want to know the how and why, my info would start you done the real path of how fertilizer is applied and why, and really how much.

Paul

Plow down 100 lbs of 0-60-60. Then pull NH3 after corn comes up.

I received my soil tests back today, although I believe there is some missing information but my results of the main field are below:

I have sweet corn already planted in this field and have great germination thus far but have not used any fertilizer as of this season.
Loamy Sand
PH:6.20
Lime Requirement Index 7.11

Macronutrients (lbs per acre)
Phos 86
Potas 280
Mag 236
Cal 1509

Micronutrients
Zinc 4.59
Copper 1.84
Manganese 9.41
Boron .38
Iron 151.6

Should I let this field go as all numbers seem in check? Being there was no starter fert used, should I get an early move on side dressing or liquid application? At what rate should I be applying if, at all?

Another field that I have not yet touched other then grass/weed kill off in which I hoped to get field corn or soybeans down this received poor results and will certainly need some work

Loamy Sand
PH:5.35
Lime Requirement Index 7.11

Macronutrients (lbs per acre)
Phos 46
Potas 206
Mag 146
Cal 752

Micronutrients
Zinc 3.67
Copper 1.13
Manganese 5.41
Boron .37
Iron 173.70

This field will need extensive lime work, I am also not very clear on any fertilizer requirements. Being the time required to get the soil PH raised up, am I better off just planting some clover etc in this field and letting the soil do its work before wasting any money planning anything in this field?