applying fertilizer

[bdog]

I am wanting to fertilize my 5 acres of crop land. I talked with the local ag extension agent and he said that in my area nitrogen is all that is usually needed and to apply 40-60lbs actual nitrogen per acre.


Question is how do I go about applying it and where do I buy the fertilizer? It would cost a small fortune to buy this much in 20lb bags at home dept. Also I don't have a spreader other than a hand held unit. I would really prefer a liquid fertilizer as I have a spray rig with a 20' boom and 125 gal tank, but I have never seen any liquid fertilizer. What do farmers use on their huge fields? Maybe I need to go look at the farm store and see what they have but I am trying to get a little educated on the subject before I go.

 

[thcri]

I would go to your local farm supply/fertilizer place. If you have a tractor they typically will let you use a PTO driven fertilizer spreader that you can pull behind your tractor. Or they typically will have trucks that will spread it for you also if you don't want to attempt it with your tractor. Some of them will have smaller fertilizer spreaders for smaller tractors. They will load the spreader and bring it out with a pickup. You hook on, set the rate and go to it. Not a tough deal.

I know that TSC use to have liquid fertilizer for a tank sprayer but I don't know if it contains a large amount of nitrogen or not or enough for what you need.


murph

 

[Bird]

The local farmers co-op is frequently the best place to get the fertilizer, although other farm supply places should have it, too, and may be just as good a price. In fact, that extension agent can probably tell you several places to get it. Since you're only talking about 200-300 pounds, I don't know whether they'll have a spreader to loan you or not. My closest neighbor in the country would go get a couple of tons at a time in a ground driven wagon type spreader, pull it home slowly behind his pickup, then hook it to his tractor to spread it, then return the spreader wagon. But we also had at least three places that sold the fertilizer, whether granular, liquid, or anhydrous ammonia, that would deliver and spread it for you with their own specialized equipment.

 

[Indydirtfarmer]

Several points....

First, To get 60 lbs of nitrogen per acre, requires more than 60 lbs of actual fertilizer. (10-10-10 is 10% nitrogen...10% N, 10% P, 10% K, 70% filler......34-0-0 is 1/3rd nitrogen. ) So.... to get 60 lbs actual nitrogen, you need 180 lbs of 34-0-0 per acre. (34-0-0 is what was once called ammonium nitrate UNTIL Timothy McVie blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. )

Liquid nitrogen (or any liquid fertilizer for that matter) is more expensive than granular. (about 20% higher here this year) IF you can find it for sale at this date, you will need a transport tank to haul it. (Most liquid nitrogen is "booked" ahead of time. Farmers buy it in the late fall or early winter.)

Many farm supply (read fertilizer dealers) will have a rental "trailer spreader" or a truck mounted spreader. Often times, they will spread it for you (for a fee)