Keeping an Eye on Nutrition After Heavy Rainfall

Heavy rainfall has disrupted farm work across the country in recent weeks. The excess moisture is not only delaying planting, but it’s also raising concerns about nitrogen loss.

“It’s definitely going to have an impact,” says Derek Emerine, National Agronomist with Helena Agri-Enterprises.

Rain plays a major role in the efficiency of nitrogen commodity fertilizers, which typically varies from 30-70%. According to Emerine, when heavy rainfall events leave standing water for long periods of time, “you're going to be on that lower end.” The decrease in efficiency is likely the result of leaching or denitrification under these conditions. However, the main question farmers will want to answer is, “how much nitrogen did I lose?” To find out, Emerine recommends Extractor.

“Let's do some plant tissue analysis at key times and kind of do a temperature check,” says Emerine.

Extractor is an AGRIntelligence tool from Helena used to gauge the amount of nutrients actually in a plant. It allows farmers to monitor their crop in-season and make sure nutrient levels are on target to meet the demands of every unique growth stage. Steve Seamon, National Marketing Manager for AGRIntelligence, agrees with the importance of leaning on Extractor this season.

“Given the conditions with a lot of the moisture that we're faced with in many areas this year, that means a lot of the nutrients are mobile,” says Seamon.

If a loss in soil nutrition has created a deficiency in the plant, Extractor will reveal it and provide a prescription. Seamon explains the tool does more than just analyze plant tissue. It comes with the expertise of Helena and AGRIntelligence specialists, who base their recommendations on years of data, geography, crop, timing and much more.

“We’re constantly trying to fine tune,” says Seamon.

Over time, Extractor makes farmers aware of evolving issues in their area. One constant from year to year is the demand for nitrogen in certain parts of the country. Because nitrogen is “one of the most complex nutrients,” Emerine says there are always dynamics in the soil and weather conditions occurring somewhere that cause deficiencies.

Potassium and sulfur are deficiencies that show up across all crops in Extractor data. Crop-specific needs that are becoming more common include magnesium in corn and boron and copper in wheat. With this knowledge, farmers can be proactive with an in-season, foliar plan to supplement their commodity fertilizer program and make up for any losses. Because they are aligned with key uptake periods, foliar sources also offer farmers excellent efficiency.

To hear more from Derek Emerine and Steve Seamon, check out Episode 61 of The FieldLink Podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen. Contact your local Helena representative to get started with Extractor and to find the best foliar nutritionals for your crop this season.