Fertilizer placement

[shamus]

I own an 8800 cult. and a3165 cart by Bourgault and am seriously thinking of putting on mid row banders for next year. I am wondering the pros and cons of putting all my blend down the mid row.{P,S,N K} Realising putting the phos. away from the seedbed isn't the best,but would save me from going to gas or liquid for my nitrogen requirments. Any thoughts please?

[emiled]

Your question is a good one and has been debated for years.

The simple answer is a mid-row application will be OK provided;

1. Soil test levels for P (and to a lesser extent "K") are at a reasonable level.

Crops are more likely to respond to starter phosphorus fertilizer when soil test levels for P are low (<30 lbs/ac in 0-6" depth)to very low (<15 lbs/ac in the 0-6" depth).

2. The amount of N placed with the P and K is not too high.

In situations where high levels of N are banded with P and K, we may encounter a situation known as "hot-bands". The crop is most likely to access the N portion of the band first and may not be able to penetrate the band adequately to extract enough P and K till later.

How much N is too much? This depends somewhat on row-spacing as the wider the spacing, the higher the concentration of N in the band...

For 12" spacing, 80-90 lbs of N is considered the maximum suggested rate. Rates of N above this could lead to "hot bands". For 16" spacing, 60-70 lbs is considered the maximum and for 24", 40-45 lbs of N/ac.