Getting Nitrogen on corn

I will be planting my first corn crop this year. I do have some row crop experience with beans, but not with corn. I understand that corn needs alot of Nitrogen, and that it needs most of it after it is knee high or so. I hear mention of "side dressing", I hear of 28% and 32% as well as Anhydrous Ammonia, as well as spreading dry Urea preplant. I'm looking for someone to expand on each of these products, and their application methods, for me so I can decide what method maybe best for me here in Central MN.

I'm thinking about trying to stay away from preplant application due to the possibility of loosing some of the Nitrogen. I'd also like to place the Nitrogen in the ground rather than placing it on top to prevent loss of product. I'm also kind of interested in applying this product myself to get some seat time, I am willing to purchase some equipment needed to do the job, but probably wouldn't want to spend more than $2,000 or so to get the job done. I plant with a 6 row planter, could I rig up a 6 row toolbar to do the job? I only have 40 acres to do, but I kind of wanna be as hands on as possible with my crop. I have a 80 hp and a 125 hp tractor that I could use for this, each with 3 pt. Any help, or ideas would be very much appreciated. Thanks

First, get a soil test or risk wasting inputs by applying the wrong things or the wrong amounts. I'll leave the rest to those with more experience.

Do you have dry fertilizer on your planter?

You could mount the hoppers/ openers on a tool bar and build a drive system.

Urea is by far the most cost effective nitrogen in my area.

Generally, I put on half my N at planting then the rest when the corn is a foot tall. If it is going to rain shortly after application, broadcasting it on is effective. If no rain in forecast, cutting it in with openers and planter hoppers works for me.

Anhydrous is usually cheapest in our area, but depending on where in central mn you are, your ground may be too hard. In the hard clay soils the trench stays open and a lot gets lost. Sidressing liquid is poular too and will work regardless of soil type. In either case the aplicator is available where you buy your nitrogen. The latest I've heard on application is that knee high is about the latest and a little earlier than that is better. If you have heavier soils then dry is also good since little is lost to leaching, but sandier soils leaching is more of a problem and Sidressing is better then.

I do have dry fertilizer on the planter. I'll be planting with a JD 7000. My local agronomist recommends putting very little N on at
planting time, and then making a separate pass later to put the N on. I'm fine with the separate pass, I'm just trying to get things in
order so that I don't have any delays in getting the N put on.

When people talk of side dressing, are they talking about applying a dry product by broadcasting it? or is side dressing merely a term for
applying product once the corn is up and out of the ground, which could include a liquid product as well?

Thanks

Your corn will want a little nitrogen right from the start so there is where preplant broadcast 28%, 32% or urea come in. You have a couple of days to work it in before you plant before you start losing it into the air, depending on the temperature. You could put 1/2 of your N needs on preplant and the other half sidedress but like what was said before, knee high is about as long as you want to wait to side dress or you will be pruning roots. Now, to get more technical: a supposed crop expert told me some corn hybrids respond best to a split applied nitrogen because they use it gradually, and some hybrids need all of the nitrogen right away at pre-plant. He mentioned DeKalb as being the one that wants all of the nitrogen early and Pioneer as being a hybrid that uses it more gradually. You cannot outguess the weather but you do know what soil type you have. Nitrogen is water soluble and can move with excess water. Sandier soil will allow the nitrogen to leach down too far for the roots to find before the plant needs it all if you get a lot of rain. Black, clay soil will hold it better. If you have sandy soil split applying might help you save some of your valuable N. If you have heavy black soil you might just be better off applying all of the N preplant and getting it over with. No specific way is perfect. Did you notice I didn't mention anhydrous?

I have raised thousands of acres of corn in my lifetime and have applied nitrogen every way known to man and the important thing is to get it on, not how you put it on. Anhydrous will be the cheapest and a 3pt tool-bar applicator towing the nurse tank will be the most efficient. That being said if I had only 40 acres to do I would offset the planter on the drawbar of the tractor and use 45% urea. Another way that is very handy and I used a lot was John Blue makes a ground driven pump that mounts on a rear gang cultivator and you can apply liquid 28 or 33% carried in saddle tanks on the tractor and side dress while you cultivate. With the Round-Up Ready varieties today few people cultivate anymore on a large scale operation but it certainly would work well for smaller acres.

with the 7000, you could add keaton seed firmers with the liquid tube option and apply 28 when you plant. shoups have them. shoup parts dot com. for a single liquid tube, pn p100t, or for a wrap around dual tube, 115011, about 30 some dollars a row unit.

side dressing used to mean putting on NH# with a pull type tank applicator after the corn is up. That was in the 1970's and 1980's. may mean many different things now, someone else will elaborate.

Side dressing refers to applying the product after the corn is up, in practice, it is placed beside the row, hence the term side dressed. A rule of thumb is 1 pound actual nitrogen per bushel of expected yield, that is, if your area has an average yield of 150 bushels per acre, then apply 150 pounds of actual nitrogen per acre as a starting point. Since little nitrogen can be stored in the soil overwinter, you need to supply the full needs of the plant early in the growing season. Exceptions to this apply if the previous crop was a legume....alfalfa, clover, beans,...or if the field has been manured in the last year. A split application of nitrogen is best, but only a small amount should be applied with the planter as a band beside the seed. Amounts greater than 20 or 30 pounds per acre combined with banded potash will burn the seed. This small amount is referred to as starter fertilizer. Urea can be broadcast...spread. ..before planting, and the balance side dressed before the corn is too tall to drive through with the applicator, either as NH3 or 28 percent aqua. Where you buy your fertilizer should give you the best practices for your specific area. Per pound of actual nitrogen, dry urea at 48 percent N is mid priced compared toNH3 which is cheaper per unit, but more dangerous to handle, and 28 percent liquid sometimes called aqua, which is usually more costly per unit but is safer and easier to apply. Good luck with your crop! Ben

When people talk about side dressing corn they generally are talking about laying a band of fertilizer along the side of the row of corn and perhaps two or three inches deep and it can either be a dry or liquid product. With anhydrous ammonia they will be talking about running the applicator knife down the center between the rows. With your 7000 planter you already have a fine applicator, just swing the drawbar over to one side so that you do not run down the rows and use that system. Remember that when corn gets about 6 or 8 inches high it really starts to grow fast and a wet spell can keep you out of the field for days and by the time it dries out the corn can get big on you fast. It will only take you a day to do this and when that corn is about 4 inches I would get the job done.

We preplant broadcast 100# potash and 100# urea with a fertlizer buggy(both notill and conventional fields).Then we apply 200# 0f 9-12-28+ 4.8 sulfer with the planter. We then come back at about knee high and use a fertlizer buggy to apply 200# of urea. If it looks like no rain we have the urea treated with Agritane to keep from lossing any N. On some feilds we cultivate after putting on our urea( depends on how the field lays because we do not like erosion).Cultivating in our area adds several bu to the acre of corn. The Agritane cost $7.50 per acre and adds a week or more before you start loosing any N. We run about 185-200 bu yields on our farm. Tom

Anhydrous is usually the cheapest source of N, since other products are manufactured from it. Fert plants have pull type applicator tanks with knives, with a reasonable rental rate. If the ground is dry, cultivate first to minimize gas loss. You can also use dry urea in a bulk spreader, and cultivate it in. No need to buy your own applicator, especially if this is your first year of use. With custom fall application, N-Serve is available to minimize loss over winter. Make sure you get a soil test first to plan a yield goal.

If you spread a mixture of Urea and ESN (slow release urea) you'll feed early and later and won't have to make another pass. I do it on my smaller farms so I don't have to come back in making too many tracks through nice corn in irregular fields. It does cost more than Anhydrous, but get a quote and see how it pencils. I've raised 275 bushel corn with ESN.

That's what I do on my mini farm. A little 7 acre field I have went 200 dry bushel/acre a couple years ago. Custom combine guys said it was the best field they did up until that point in our area.

Put your P&K on with the planter. It's more work but the most efficient use of p&k. I used to put on 18-46-30 with the planter and the rest of the N by side dressing. Fertilizer boxes on the planter don't do well with a lot of N. It attracts moisture and gums up the augers. My local coop has a 28% side dresser a person can rent or a person can spread dry urea (46-0-0) and either use agretain which is $7.00 per acre if I remember correctly or cultivate it in within a day of applying the N.

When you swing the draw bar what keeps the planter tires from running down the rows?

We plant with a kinze 6 row planter too. Put on 200lb-18/46/0.phosphate with a little Nitrogen. 200lb-0/0/60. Potash. 100lb. 45/0/0. Nitrogen. 200 lb. Pellet lime. Preplant with a buggy. Set buggy on half and double spread. So have 63lb. N. Then when corn is 6 inches or so. Put on 125 to 135lb of actual Anhydrous. We just pull 3 knifes on everyother row. Or 60 in centers. Old tool bars are cheap. $350 years ago. But run two hoses per knife. Hope this helps. Vic

Answering your question is not quite as easy as it may sound, simply because there is not a "one size-fits all" answer to your question. There certainly were a lot of answers with some points to consider. I appreciate and applaud those who provided you some things to consider. I have been involved in my family's farm for most of my 49 years of life. I spent 13 years in the agronomy business and have been a Certified Crop Advisor for 20 years. My most recent 14 years have been working in local government in environmental services and natural resources conservation. With that in mind, I know good and proper management of nitrogen where my family's farm is located, is different than in parts of the locale where I work just 39 miles away. I do not by into everything that comes out of the "agronomy center" nor do I "drink" all the "Kool-Aid" fed to me by the regulatory sector and tree-hugger interests. I would suggest starting out with obtaining a soil test to obtain an idea of where your soil fertility levels are, particularly phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, and zinc, as well as soil pH. Since this is your first year with corn, I would work with an agronomy supplier with a CCA certified agronomist. They can help you get started, making recommendations to you based upon the soil tests, your soil type and texture, possible local groundwater protection standards and requirements, and other issues. In that conversation, you can ask the questions about possible restrictions on rates and timing of nitrogen application, as well as services they may be able to provide to you, or nitrogen products they may have that may fit into your farming operation and its practices. If you are looking to maximize production, I feel you are going to have a better shot of it working with your local agronomy input dealer than someone who might sell you on the idea of ultra low rates and some "snake oil" products, where they promise you the "moon."

I noted earlier I have been actively involved in my family farming operation for the better part of 49 years, with my greatest involvement in the past 35 of those years. I have made the decisions with respect to nutrient management for the past 26 years, as well as pesticide products used. When I started doing this, we used anhydrous ammonia as our primary nitrogen source in fall application, then to urea spring applied, then back to fall applied anhydrous ammonia with dry fertilizer impregnated with Dual, then to fall applied phosphorus and potassium and spring applied urea and ammonium sulfate, with a liquid starter fertilizer in furrow at planting. This year I am trying something a bit different. We applied our phosphorus and potassium this past fall, impregnated with Dual, and we will be using the liquid starter on the planter with side-dressed 32% UAN and ammonium thiosulfate into the standing crop. I have been renting the family farm for the past 8 years and have managed my fertility program three different ways. I rely heavily upon the services provided at my local cooperative, where I have known these people for over 20 years. I have made my fertilizer decisions based upon prevailing weather conditions, how busy my supplier is with their equipment at critical times of the year and its impact upon the nitrogen products available, what I can and cannot do on my own and with my own equipment.

If you are located in an area with good, heavy clay soils and no groundwater protection standards or concerns, and are utilizing a field cultivator before planting this spring, I would strongly lean on spring pre-plant application of urea or 32% UAN, incorporated with a field cultivator. The spring pre-plant application of nitrogen has historically produced towards the upper end of yields at the research stations located at Lamberton and Waseca in southern Minnesota. The key reason I am shifting away from all spring pre-plant application of urea and ammonium sulfate, and trying the side-dress of UAN and ammonium thiosulfate, is I have wanted to try this based upon some treatments like this back in the early 1990's in our area. I am wanting to see if I can push my yields even higher with this treatment. I have been very happy with all the other applications/treatments, however with the prevalence of rainy, wet conditions in late May and early June, I felt the fall application of anhydrous ammonia made my corn crop more vulnerable to nitrate loss. I am trying to extend the life of my soil applied nitrogen through this side-dress treatment. The soybean yields on the family farm have been quite good for the better part of the past 30 years, and exceptionally good in the past 10 years, with very few local producers who have produced the consistent high production numbers I have seen. My corn yields have been consistently very good, but I think I can do better.

You may wonder why I have not or do not farm for a living. I was 41 before my father rented our farm to me. I had to invest in a college degree in order to make a living for me and my family. Believe me, I truly wanted to farm. My father could not turn the farm over to me, as had been the case of a respectable number of my friends who had the opportunity. I also "had the door slammed in my face" to numerous opportunities I pursued. I can now say that it was God's intervention that prevented my being able to actively farm until I was into my early 40's. I am too invested into my community and my career to give that up at this time. I will add that all I learned up to the time I was able start farming, has helped to make me a better manager, better business man, better farmer, and more appreciative of what I have. Sorry for the "mini-sermon." When I share my thoughts with others, either in spoken or written word, I typically get the question, "Why are you not farming?"

Sorry for a very long answer, but I wanted to emphasize there are options out there, but not all these options may fit your farm or the needs of your operation. You might find that spreading urea over the top of the standing crop of corn and cultivating it in might work for you, or adding the nitrogen stabilizer to that urea and spreading over the top and letting it alone might work. While it is true that anhydrous ammonia IS the lowest cost source, it may not always be the best option for you. I don't use anhydrous simply because it does not necessarily fit in with my schedule at work, especially if we have uncooperative weather for applying it. I do manage my corn fields differently with respect to nitrogen source and application timing.

Anhydrous is usually the cheapest if you figure the direct cost, not if you figure the total cost. Most times when you see somebody trying to apply anhydrous they are leaving a trail of it that you can see following them for a couple of hundred feet, that amounts to how much going direct up in the air and the cost of that. Now a lot of places that used to handle anhydrous do not any more because of the hassards with it. You have to use speciliezed items to handle it and if you get a bit of it to breath it can and will kill you. Years ago neighbor thought he was going to be smart and kill ground hogs with it, about killed himself as the hose he put in hole and filled around when he turned valve hose popped out and he was able to get valve shut off and stop flow but in that minute the air was so saturated with it he was barly able to craul out of under the gas. I have filled the tanks at fertilizer plant and delievered them. First and only time I tried using it after a half hour called company and told them to come pick up their equipment, no more for me. That was yeas befor I worked at plant. We went to 28% that I applied incorperated for years, might have cost a bit more but I am still here years later. I also loaded and delievered many a tank of it while working at the plant. You can handle it without thinking about it killing you. Never had or heard of 32%. We at the one place that I worked and it was only place around that carried it was 14% and it was to be sprayed on top of growing wheat and it would not turn the wheat brown. And for that you just used a high output field type sprayer with a fertilizer rated pump and large nozzels. That same sprayer can be used with 28% to sidedress corn, just put a hose with nozel that is so big it will just run a drip stream instead of spray out streem and drop it directly on top of the ground so it is midway between rows. You will not loose any this way unless you get a gully washer rain imideatly after and you would do same if it was put on any other way. That sprayer is your cheapest way of doing the application. You could put the drops on your tool bar with saddle tanks on your tractor. May take a few more fillup than with a larger trail type tank sprayer but with that many acres you could do it, if you were doing a thousand acres then you would want an outfit that you could pull a thousand gallon tank on a wagon gear behind your tool bar. Please weigh the bit extra cost of the 28% over the anhydrous and the fact your family might just want you around, not going to your funeral.

sorry to clarify, I do this application right in front of the field cultivator

The only way not to lose 28% is by using a 28% applicator. Over the top with 28% nitrogen is a guaranteed way to lose nitrogen.

Much good information already stated, I also enjoy the seat time, but when it comes to spreading fertilizer, I hire it out.
First we till the field ( we disc ) Second we plant round up ready 92 Day corn/ not conventional so it can be sprayed. We plant bare with no starter fertilizer. Third we spray as needed when weeds start to take over, most of the time if corn is small four leaf stage it may rebound if you drive on a little on the end rows. Forth we spread or side dress with Urea (try and time before rainfall but plant must be dry and not dewy) when corn is about to canopy ( just so highboy spreader can get through). Some of the main reason we contract this are A. They cover about 60 ft per pass, not running as much down. B. Same as you we only do 20-40 acres and don't have to tool up. C. We don't have to handle and transport fertilizer; last year It was cheaper for them to just spread it then deliver small amount.

We plant 34 inch 4 row wide. Around 30,000 plants per acre. Spray with any Glyphosate ( Round Up)
Apply coated Urea (ESN slow release if you want $$) base on your ground? I put 300 lbs. plus preplanting cow manure!

Pics are at planting May 9th, after spray/before Urea June 22nd, Harvest Oct. 17th.

If we get 165 Bushel/Acre were doing good. West Wisconsin

28% is always a liquid and does not dissaper into the air any more than plain water.

You are both right Leroy,but 28%on top needs a good rain within a few days or you do start losing it.AS FAR AS NH3 loss,that is the operators fault.Dad had 2 rigs starting in 50 or 51 and run Mid May to early July side dressing corn.(10 yrs.custom work)I started running when I was 14 and we kept 1 rig going 24 Hrs(2 of us) a day,weather was the only stopping point.AND I'am still alive and well with no NH3 side affects.We just cut up the last of the equip.couple yrs ago,but still have a 13-15 shank toolbar yet.