Broadcasting fert in middle of winter

[AG_guy]

last winter i was doing a bit of trucking and i saw tracks going up and down the field through the snow. Later i seen a fert spreader behind the tractor and this was in about November. I actually ended up in the yard of the farmer whos fields the spreader was in. the workers told me he broadcasts in the winter and a few other guys so it as well.

Does anyone have an idea of what the pros or cons to be of this. I could see maybe freeing up some time in the spring or i've filled guys bins in the winter so it was sitting there waiting for spring. I can think of a few cons for this but to many pros ANY IDEA'S

[bluefargo]

Les Henry used to say it was a terrible way to treat stuff you paid hundreds of dollars a ton for. I don't remember specifically what his objection was. I think loss to runoff may have been one. Another might be losses to the air.

[ado089]

I've had good luck with it but timing is key. Alot was done with ESN, as long as there is no crust on the snow it's fine. As for urea timing is much more important. Since urea will melt snow above -7c it can be vulnerable to sublimation with the snow so it should be applied on no more than 5 or 6 inches of snow and around a melt, therefore it works alot better in chinook country.

[Hopperbin]

These are sulfer fines right? Myself I cannot understand how anyone can get any value out of this. Does nitrogen not get attracted to and bind to any moisture as the melting one would see , so if you put it in the snow above the ground does that not mean that most is bound to the snow and very little makes it to the ground? Well in our area a lot of snow runs off in the spring or at least down the hills. Some of these guys normally put on quite a large amount so to add nitrogen to the soil also. Wondering if the bennefit they see is just from some of the extra sulfer. Just my thinking.

[AG_guy]

well i'm still not leaning either way on this one. My thought is when banding N it has been proven that anywere from 30-50% of N never reaches the plant. My thought would be that with applying durning winter it would get you that 50% or a higher. I would get soil sampling done to see how much actually got in the ground. Not everthing is cut and dry ,if it works for you then so be it. But it is a very interesting concept.

[macdon02]

We are broadcasting 28 in late fall, prior to snow or just on top of 1-2in of snow. You can see where the fert melts the snow. My theory is it binds to the soil and isn't as prone to run off. Think we have done enough would see the low spots loaded up if it was running off. I woul;dn't want to do this on any more then 1-2 in snow.

[ado089]

That's rite, because it's cold and/or frozen you won't have the microbial activity converting to urea to NH3 therefore volataliztion isn't the concern. You do however need to worry about it leaving any way the snow can run-off, wind, sublimation on sunny march days. With that said if you can get it on the ground or very close to it, it will be disolved prior to reaching temps when volatalization will occur, giving it a chance to wash into the ground. Agguy is right on the efficiency of broadcasting vs. banding, but if you have some off spec or scraps it's a good option.