Our long-time Internet readers will notice our new web interface. Readers can now print single articles, rate articles’ usefulness to help other readers, email articles to friends, signup for an RSS feed and much more. We appreciate suggestions from you, our readers. Please contact Andrea Buchholz at (517) 353-4703 or email catalert@msu.edu We look forward to joining with MSU’s faculty and educators to provide you information this season for a successful harvest.

– Joy Landis, editor, and Andrea Buchholz, assistant editor.

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March is a good time to frost-seed red clover into wheat or spelt. Seeding red clover will help you control weeds and provide your field with nitrogen for next year’s crop.

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University researchers around the Corn Belt have shown that early planting is critical to producing high soybean yields. The ideal planting time for soybeans is basically the same as it is for corn; the first week of May for the lower half of the Lower Peninsula.

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As growers strive for higher yields, there is a tendency to push planting dates to capture yield increases that are associated with early season planting. Seed treatment for soybeans is recommended to control seed-borne infection, to improve stand emergence, and when seed quality is poor.

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Topdress nitrogen (N) studies over the past four years have most often shown topdressing 75 to 80 lbs N per acre to be the most economical N rate. Top yields ranged from 95 to 110 bushels per acre. The amount of nitrogen available for the roots of wheat to take up from green up to the boot stage can have a major effect on tillering, head number and grain yield.

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Having current information about the soil pH and available soil nutrient levels is the passport to effective and economical use of nutrient inputs. With the cost of phosphorus and especially potassium remaining high relative to the value of the corn, soybeans and other fields, it is important to understand the response of crops to nutrient additions in relation to what is available in the soil.

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Over the last five seasons, we have conducted field trials that have examined the economics of commercial weed control programs in corn and soybeans currently marketed to Michigan growers.

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The high cost of fertilizer this year has everyone looking for ways to use it more efficiently and to use no more than necessary. One way to be sure that you are getting the most for your fertilizer dollar is to apply fertilizer as uniformly as possible.

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Pull out your soil tests and use the following information to assess phosphorus and potassium levels along with your 2009 crop plan to determine where fertilizer will benefit, and where you can save money on nutrients without sacrificing yield. The following charts will help to assess your current soil test levels, showing you where your test values are within the ranges, and help you decide how risky reducing fertilizer will be.

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Hopefully you have experienced a year when corn yields exceeded the nitrogen applied. Soil N can provide as much as half of the total N available to the crop. (Camberato et al., 2008.) Rain and sunlight are often the two most sought after resources for high yields, and when these two resources are abundant and timely, plants seem to find the additional nutrients to exceed yield expectations.

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The economic risk of applying too much nitrogen (N) on corn is just as dramatic as applying too little. In 2004, university agronomists from the North Central region began a project to determine maximum agronomic production of corn at the most efficient economic level.

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A word to the wise: question everything these days. Our reasoning powers that worked in the past are strained today. Farmers used to watch the Chicago Board of Trade for commodity prices; today they watch the price of gas at their local fuel station to gain some sort of rationale for how much fertilizer will cost and what the price of grain will be in the coming year.  While change may be risky, not changing may be even more risky.

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An MSU timing study on post emergent weed control showed that 95 percent of weed control or better can be achieved when weeds are 9 inches tall, but yields were reduced 25 bushels per acre. (Everman et al., 2008)

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