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Finding Better Nitrogen Options

By Katherine Meitner

YOU'VE SEEN the promotion pieces. You've browsed through the program. You might have even considered picking up the phone and registering. But if you've never attended a National No-Tillage Conference, you are missing out.

At least that is what Don Ballagh of North Rose, N.Y., would tell you. It was because of the 1997 conference in Des Moines, Iowa, that he is seeing the highest yields his farm has ever produced.

Learn From Errors. "It started with a mistake, actually," Ballagh explains. "One of the guys at the conference was talking about how he had left his anhydrous knives in the ground after it ran out until the end of the field.

"He was running those knives 6 to 8 inches deep. After the anhydrous had been re-filled, he didn't drop his knives into the ground until the mark came up in the field. When the crop came up, it was clear. Having those anhydrous knives in the ground made quite a difference in yield."

With this information fresh in his mind, Ballagh headed off to another no-till session at the conference — only this time dealing with no-till nitrogen usage.

"They told us if we spray liquid nitrogen over the top of the crop, we could lose up to 10%," he says. "Liquid nitrogen should be injected just under the surface, preferably around an inch. If we run anhydrous too shallow or the ground is hard, we stand to lose much of it due to vaporization."

Ballagh had heard more than he needed. He was going home to incorporate these two ideas and others he had learned at the National No-Tillage Conference. And he didn't waste any time.

Ideas To Work. "When I got home, I built 16 brackets for my heavy cultivator and mounted field cultivator teeth on each side of the row," he explains. "I set them 7 to 8 inches from the row.

"Then I mounted stainless-steel nozzles like I have on my no-till planter on the back side of the field cultivator teeth. After a few adjustments, I was able to inject liquid nitrogen an inch from the surface on each side about 7 to 8 inches away from the row.

"Then I ran anhydrous knives on the no-till shanks of the cultivator for the aeration effect that fellow had suggested in the talk at the conference."

Ballagh explains yields increased remarkably after his modifications. This new practice also made it possible to get into the fields another time to keep an eye on weed problems and to cultivate.

"I run 20 gallons of a 50-50 mix of 32% liquid nitrogen and 11-37-0 Polyphos at planting behind coulters on my zone-till cart 3 inches on each side of the row," he says. "When the corn is about boot high, I sidedress with 24 to 31 gallons of 32% nitrogen, depending on whether the corn is following soybeans or corn.

"During this sidedressing operation, I have a chance to see if there are any weeds or other problems in the field."

Ballagh's tractor is equipped with 500-gallon saddle tanks that feed both the sprayer and cultivator. A radar-controlled Raven monitor controls the amount of sprayed liquid to correspond with tractor speed. Behind the Raven system, Ballagh has a Redball indicator with eight hoses, one leading to each row, being split to the 16 nozzles.

Nitrogen Makes Sense. "One of the reasons I got away from anhydrous was safety," he says. "We've had guys lose their sight from hose leaks that got anhydrous in their eyes."

Ballagh explains that the safety aspect of liquid nitrogen more than makes up for the slightly higher cost per acre.

"Last year, we had 10 inches of rain following 400 acres of application with the cultivator," he says. "During the next 3 weeks, I never turned a wheel. Rather than cut up the fields with the heavy tractor and cultivator, I called the local crop duster to apply 46% urea treated with Agrotain.

"We dropped 180 pounds per acre over 3- to 4-foot corn. Needless to say, the yields were not as good as where the cultivator had been. The crop duster is not the best way to go, but it filled the bill for the situation.

"Thanks to the National No-Tillage Conference, I'm doing well when it comes to applying nitrogen."

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