Fertilizer Decisions

With fertilizer prices skyrocketing, University of Minnesota Extension Nutrient Management Specialist Dan Kaiser is fielding fertilizer application questions.

“One of those questions is about starter fertilizer. Farmers want to know if they can do in-furrow alone. It all depends on starting soil test values, to know where you’re at. With low soil tests, we know starter alone isn’t going to do it, we’ll need a broadcast fertilizer. A combination of the two can reduce costs.”

Specialty products could be an option, but Kaiser says be very careful with those.

“The only time I’ve seen the benefits of those is when we’ve seen wet soils that respond to side-dress nitrogen applications. If you’re looking at bio-stimulants as a way to trim back some of the costs, be careful and look at the data.”

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