Volume 20 Issue 6 November 2010

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CROP QUEST AGRONOMIC SERVICES, INC.

EXTRA N SPEEDS STALK DECAY IN NEW GMO CORN VARIETIES

with poor nitrogen performance in corn is commonly attributed to thicker rind and slower degradation of the stalk, the problem existed long before Bt corn hit the market. Microorganisms that cause decay of corn stalks work best if the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio are less than 30. Most corn hybrids, conventional and Bt, have a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio much higher than 30, in many cases 60 or 80 to 1. That simply means that nitrogen will limit the rate of decomposition, unless the organisms can obtain additional N from the soil, fertilizer or some other source. (Many farmers and agronomists also want to maximize the conversion of residue to soil organic matter. Speeding up the process doesnt necessarily mean you reduce the amount of organic matter produced). Adding extra nitrogen to speed the decaying process is a natural solution, but the high cost of N and the time and cost of application has left many farmers wondering how much nitrogen to use and how and when to apply it. Plus the question exists as to potential environmental threat from the extra N. Kansas State Agronomy Professor and Extension Specialist Dave Mengel says, There has been a lot of work over the years showing that adding 30 to 40 lbs. of N will speed up the decay process. Ideally, this N is sprayed on in a UAN solution that gives more uniform coverage. While the practice has been discussed in the past, most farmers and Agronomists felt it wasnt cost effective. If a grower decides to add N to corn stalks, they should do it as soon as possible after harvest. The whole idea is to get N into the system quickly, so that microbes will tie it up and utilize it to decompose the residue rather than tie up fertilizer N added the following spring ahead of the corn crop. So, in this situation you want the nitrogen to be lost temporarily- because thats what gets the residue to break down quicker, Mengel explains. Back in the 1980s a number of farmers added nitrogen to corn fields in the fall to break down the residue back then we did a lot of deep tillage and by adding additional N, the stalks were broken down more quickly which got them out of the way for spring tillage and planting. Now, no-till is so popular, and farmers just dont think the same way about corn residue as they did back then. However, plenty of high yield producing farmers in Kansas, especially those who grow corn-after-corn are getting a tremendous buildup of residue, which can interfere with
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Crop Quest Perspectives 1

Corn seed containing Bacillus thuriengensis (Bt) and other genetically modified traits have played a big role in the continued increase in corn yields across the High Plains. Bacillus thuriengensis use for insect control goes back to 1938, when French farmers used it for control of European Corn Borer. Getting enough of the naturally occurring soil bacterium on the plant and keeping it there proved to be too challenging for widespread use of Bt. Then along came gene technology that allowed for splicing of slivers of protein genes from one organism and transplanting it into another. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are products of biological engineering that allow the transfer of specific genes within the organism or genes from one organism to another. Bt-containing corn is one of the most popular GMO products in the world. Although there are many advantages to GMOs, there continues to be challenges when adopting the new technologies. The slow decomposition of these GMO corn stalks after harvest has been heralded by some as another good thing, because it may slow feeding of insects and make laying eggs more difficult for other insect species and generally provides a less desirable environment for both insects and disease organisms. However, research and plenty of farmer reports in recent years indicate these slow decaying corn stalks, which produce a high yield and high volume of residue, ties up a lot of nitrogen in the soil, makes tillage and planting difficult, and has led to a nitrogen deficit in some fields. The time required for conventional or Bt corn stalks to decay depend on the carbon-nitrogen ratio. This is simply the ratio of carbon-to-nitrogen in the corn stalk. Though the problems associated

field operations. Going back to some of the practices we did in the 1980s, specifically adding extra N to corn residue, could help solve that problem, and if managed effectively, could be safer for the environment than tillage to reduce residue loads the Kansas State researcher contends. If a farmer leaves a lot of crop residue in the field and tries to clean it up with shallow tillage or leaves it on top of the soil, there will be a significant amount of carbon remaining to decompose. Then, the farmer is in a situation in which the carbon ties up fertilizer N and reduces its availability to the intended crop. Irregardless of if a farmer makes the determination to apply some N in the fall to speed up residue decompsoition, it is critical in high residue conditions that they do everything they can to avoid letting the nitrogen they apply for the corn crop come in contact with residue in the spring. Using a source like anhydrous ammonia and knifing fertilizers below the soil surface is the best way to keep N from coming in contact with corn residue left on the surface of the soil. We have done a lot of work on nitrogen management in both irrigated and non-irrigated no-till corn. We are finding that in general when we surface apply liquid UAN sources, whether broadcast or surface banded, we significantly lower utilization even more than placing urea on top of the soil. The buildup of residue in a lot of the no-till fields we work with today is very active lots of microbial activity going on decomposing crop residue and they are rapidly tying up a fair amount of N. As a result, we get poor

Extra N Speeds ... Continued from Page 1

performance from surface applied N, Mengel points out. If we knife the liquid N below the soil, we get much better results, comparable to knifing in ammonia. There is a sink for nitrogen that has accumulated in many no-till fields, and the farmer really needs to be in a position to manage that, Mengel concludes. What about the environmental issues? Is there a risk of increasing N in the ground water? Not necessarily, Mengel says. We hear a great deal about sequestering carbon as organic matter in no-till production systems. But we also sequester N with that carbon, since soil organic matter has a C:N ratio of about 10:1. So a portion of the added N will likely be incorporated into soil organic matter in the long run. Eventually as residue decomposition nears completion, some of the N will likely be released back to the soil and be available for use by crops. By utilizing spring soil N tests or other tools such as crop sensors, this increased mineralization can be accounted for and crop fertilizer N rates can be reduced. So over time, the total N fertilizer applied may not change, just when it is applied. Plus, if speeding decomposition of residue with N can reduce the need for tillage, the resulting reduction in erosion and increase in infiltration of water from the additional organic matter and residue cover can be a big environmental plus. A high percentage of the corn grown in the Plains contains the Bt gene and subsequently has a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio above 30. Combine this reality with the ever-increasing popularity of no-till systems, and its easy to explain the loss of nitrogen performance in the past few years. Though applying 30 to 40 lbs. of N in the fall may seem like a cost at the time, in the long run the farmer may actually be making money by producing more corn. At $5.00 a bushel for corn, the extra yield will quickly offset the extra cost of fall nitrogen.

Having a tabletop smooth cotton field is nice from an esthetic point of view, but keeping all those cotton plants fruiting at maximum capacity is much more important to the bottom line. Thanks to application of some relatively new technology to existing software programs, Crop Quest agronomists in Texas and Oklahoma are helping their growers have both a uniform looking and a uniform producing cotton crop. Crop Quest Precision Agriculture Specialist Nathan Woydziak says, Over the past couple of years weve worked with both satellite imagery and ground-driven GreenSeeker equipment to get NDVI ratings. These ratings were fed into our software program to generate zone maps for variable rate application of plant growth regulators (PGR) on cotton. The GreenSeeker was easier to use, but the problem is getting across enough acres to make it economically feasible for growers. The satellite imagery worked better in our early work and thats likely what we will use in the future, Woydziak says. The satellite imagery is probably not quite as accurate as the Greenseeker, but for our use, the data from the satellite imagery will be sufficient, he adds. Kyle Aljoe, Crop Quest agronomist in the Texas Panhandle used satellite imagery to generate his zone maps for variable rate application of PGRs in cotton. We actually got started with variable rate application of PGRs on cotton because a local crop pilot got a variable rate rig on his plane. He was looking for something to spray, and with Nathans help, we were able to
2 Crop Quest Perspectives

Variable Rate PGR Application Works for Crop Quest Farmers

figure out a way to apply growth regulators on cotton using zone maps generated from infrared satellite imagery, Aljoe says. In our area, we have a lot of fields that have low areas in which the cotton tends to get growthy, while other areas are growing along just fine. Traditionally, we would decide the best rate of Pix or whatever PGR the grower would use and apply it uniformly across the cotton field, Aljoe adds. As you would expect, some areas got too much and never set as many fruiting bolls as some of the faster growing plants. So, we were getting too much PGR on some parts of the field and not enough on other parts. Overall, we probably used about the same amount of material with the variable rate application, but we got much better use of the PGR, Aljoe explains. The trick was to get the satellite image when we needed it that was the hardest part of figuring out how to best use these zone maps and aerial application. We could get an image every two weeks from a 100 square mile area, and we bought the images of the fields we wanted. On the fields we used the zone maps (generated from the satellite imagery) our PGR rate ranged from six ounces per acre up to 20 ounces per acre. Going from the low rate to high rate can be a challenge, Aljoe
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WHEAT PLANTING DECISIONS IN DRY SOILS

It is not uncommon to have dry soil conditions prior to wheat planting somewhere across the High Plains every year. What makes this year a little different is the larger area (western Oklahoma, western Kansas, eastern Colorado) being affected and the continued lack of rainfall or precipitation. A lot of wheat planting had been delayed throughout this area in hopes of rains to settle the soil and have moisture to germinate the wheat seeds, but finally decisions had to be made to meet the deadlines for crop insurance purposes and the optimum range of planting dates. In a recent online Kansas State Newsletter, Jim Shroyer, Kansas State University Extension Agronomist, discusses planting decisions, planting into dry soil conditions and evaluating the resulting wheat stand to make further decisions. I want to summarize his article as he has some very good points of discussion, but I mainly want to focus on evaluating the resulting wheat stand after the crop has been planted since much of the wheat will have been planted across this area by the time this newsletter is received. Shroyer writes that producers in the dry areas have three main options for planting wheat: 1. Plant into dry soil dust in at a normal seeding depth and hope for a rain. 2. Plant deeper-than-normal hoping to get into some soil moisture. 3. Wait for a rain, then plant. normal is the current wheat stand. Jim writes If a producer uses a drill with 12-inch row By: Ron OHanlon spacings, plants at a 60-pounds-per acre seedPresident ing rate with a variety that has 15,000 seeds per Member, National Alliance of Independent Crop pound, and expects a germination and emerConsultants, CPCC-I gence rate of 75 to 80 percent, there should be Certified 675,000 to 720,000 plants per acre. This amounts to about 15.5 to 16.5 plants per foot of row. For 7.5inch rowsthat would be about 9 plants per foot of row. The next step is to evaluate the current stand and determine an average number of plants per foot of row across the field assuming the stand is somewhat uniform throughout the field, hopefully without large gaps. If the average number of plants is about 50 percent or more of normal, Jim recommends keeping the stand. If the stand is less than 40 percent of normal, he recommends the field be replanted. It is when the stand is between 40 and 50 percent of normal that the decision is more difficult. A thin stand leaves the field susceptible to wind erosion, the potential for weed infestation and a lower yield expectation; although research shows a stand of 6 to 7 plants per foot of row can still produce within 90 percent of normal if the plants are able to tiller well. When replanting in November, the seeding rates on non-irrigated fields in Western Kansas should not be higher than 90 pounds per acre and should never exceed 150 lbs/acre under irrigation. Your Crop Quest agronomist is trained in evaluating plant stands and can assist you in making decisions regarding replanting the whole field, cross drilling the field or just touching up areas. Until the rain begins to fall, decisions are somewhat in limbo.

All three of these options have both pros and cons depending on what the subsequent weather does. When the wheat emerges and where the stand is uneven or poor, the producer will have to decide whether to replant. The first step is to determine what a normal stand is and how much below notes. We tried shutting the plane off in a field with really low need for a PGR, and we learned real quickly we couldnt do that, the Crop Quest agronomist laughs. All we were really doing was raising and lowering pump pressure to regulate the amount of water used in the sprayer. Keeping the pressure regulated is the biggest challenge in going from low to high rates of PGR, the agronomist notes. We found the best time to use the variable rate application in our area is July. If we got the application right, we found that we only needed the variable rate one time. We may go back and use a uniform rate to level off the whole field, but that didnt require variable rate application, Aljoe adds. In Oklahoma, Crop Quest Agronomist Tim Reh says his growers are not likely to pay for the extra time and cost it takes to go across a cotton field with a Greenseeker. We did that last season, using a fourwheeler, and it worked, but the time requirement just isnt going to be feasible for growers in Oklahoma, Reh says. Next year, he says, they plan to use satellite imagery to map fields. The key he says is to be able go online and look at the available satellite imagery, determine how old it is and which parts are best for us, and just purchase the ones we need. If we can do that, I think more growers will be interested in going to variable rate PGR application, Reh adds. The actual maps are generated after the Crop Quest

PIX is registered trademark of Microflo GreenSeeker is a registered trademark of NTech Industries

agronomist sends the NDVI reading to Woydziak. Nathan runs the data through Crop Quest software and sends that data through a program that puts points on a surface map. Reh then matches up the points to his surface map and manipulates the map to match up zones based on what he sees in the field. After he generates the surface NDVI map, he converts that into a recommendation that includes rates and exports the data into the applicators card that he puts into his controller. Reh gives the applicator a mix sheet that tells the applicator how the load should be mixed. With multiple rates they need to know how many gallons they are running total and how many pounds of product to put in that water, Reh explains. This year I had one grower who planted his cotton and part of the field came up and some had to wait for rain. I had two different growth stages of cotton that obviously didnt need the same rate. Normally, I would have to split the application right down the middle and I like to err on the light side so I dont shut down the short cotton. So, the faster growing cotton would get too tall. Typically, we would have to come back and put another application of a PGR. Getting a custom applicator to come back and do another application based on plant height is not a good thing, Reh explains. The first year we used variable rate application of PGRs on cotton, I was too concerned about getting a tabletop-smooth field of cotton. I learned I needed to be more concerned about controlling a particular zone in the field and allow those plants the optimum opportunity reach full yield potential, Reh stresses. This is new technology that has potential. To learn more, contact your Crop Quest agronomist.

Nathan Woydziak

Kyle Aljoe

Tim Reh

Crop Quest Perspectives

HOW WERE YOUR CORN YIELDS THIS YEAR?

As harvest season rolls on, the common question that farmers ask their friends, neighbors, and agronomists is how are your yields this year? The obvious answer is good or not so good, but there can be many reasons for the answer provided. Weather is the major risk factor that cannot be controlled, and many times it is the cause of good and not so good. Freak storms, winds and hail can all cause obvious damage, but there are other weather factors to consider. Night temperatures 80 degrees and above do not allow the plant to respire and rest which results in smaller seed size and reduced plant vigor. Hot temperature spells at critical growth stages of the plant (during the day and night) can do the same thing. Extended cool periods early in the season that slows growth may affect crop and root development which may also affect the yield. Of course, these same types of conditions, at other opportune times of the growing season, can greatly improve our end results. The barometer that I have used over the years is that if the yields are poor (or good) over a large area or region, then weather was the biggest contributor to the success or failure. If the yield is poor (or good) in a particular field, or very small area, then one may need to look at cultural practices. Experience and long term trends in weather help determine how to proceed in planning for the crop year. John Hecht Remember that farming is all about managing risk. We try to control as much as we can like varieties, fertility strategy, population, etc. Not being able to control the environment is what makes crop production the riskiest business of all. As professionals and with our producers, our job is to create the best environment for crop growth as possible, and then stand back and see how Mother Nature is going to treat us for the remainder of the crop year. Thats the exciting challenge that farming presents for all of us. We pit our years of experience and knowledge against the weather and the variable challenges that it brings to produce the best crop possible.

It May Still Be Herbicide Season

The phrase Start Clean, Stay Clean is used quite often in the herbicide world when it comes to preparing ground for the upcoming planting season. It is a common practice in the spring to apply a burndown treatment on no till and strip till fields. Many times, these treatments are actually applied too late. Mustards, bromes, prickly lettuce, marestail, russian thistle, and kochia are some of the most common species that can easily get out of hand if treatment is delayed prior to planting. Too much early weed growth will use valuable soil moisture, especially top moisture which is needed for even germination. And then we have to deal with the problem of trying to kill large weeds and risk achieving only partial control. Fall and very early spring applications with relatively short residual herbicides, and even a few longer residual products, can keep stubble fields clean all the way to planting time. This obviously makes planting a much easier process, and it allows excellent flexibility for follow up treatments in season. At this time of year, we tend to ignore, or avoid making weed control decisions, By: Dwight Koops mostly because of our out of sight, out of Regional Vice President mind attitude. But, how many times do we Ulysses, Kan. follow that statement up in the spring with I wish I would have. I encourage you to have your agronomist help evaluate your stubble fields, and make a plan to stay way ahead of the game, when it comes to weed control. They will be able to select the best weed management plan for your operation, and may encourage you to try some of those off season applications.

Crop Quest is an employee-owned company dedicated to providing the highest quality agricultural services for each customer. The quest of our network of professionals is to practice integrity and innovation to ensure our services are economically and environmentally sound.

Mission Statement

Crop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc. Main Office: Phone 620.225.2233 Fax 620.225.3199 Internet: www.cropquest.com cqoffice@cropquest.com

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Crop Quest Board of Directors

President: Director: Director: Director: Director: Director: Ron OHanlon Jim Gleason Dwight Koops Cort Minor Chris McInteer Rob Benyshek