Speakers
Kelly Garrett
XtremeAg and Garrett Land & Cattle, Arion, Iowa
Reid Abbott
AgroLiquid Agronomist
About
N-P-K have been our go-to primary nutrients for years. As we continue to push yields higher, N-P-K will only get us so far. That’s why we’re drawing more attention to other nutrients like sulfur and calcium. Learn from agronomy experts on how to integrate these “other primary nutrients” more precisely as a part of your crop nutrition management plan.
Fast Facts
1. Calcium and sulfur can help overcome base saturation issues.
“Lime is for low pH, sulfur is for high pH. But it isn’t the pH, it’s the base saturation,” says Kelly Garrett from XtremeAg. “On my farm, high pH, or base saturation calcium, is our #1 yield-limiting factor so it becomes my #1 priority.”
Garrett says calcium also ties up quickly in his soil. He addresses the issue by applying calcium in-furrow and foliar to spoon-feed it throughout the season.
AgroLiquid’s Reid Abbott adds that every farm needs to manage calcium, explaining even when soil calcium is in the perfect range, fertility applications may be needed if soil conditions don’t allow for efficient uptake by the plant.
Watch XtremeAg Video Cutting the Curve: Choosing the Right Lime for Your Farm
Watch Back 2 Basics: Calcium and Magnesium
2. You can turn down nitrogen without hurting yield.
Garrett says his operation is seeing positive results with lower nitrogen applications.
“When I started farming, we were putting on 200 pounds across the whole field. We started to bring it down, and now we variable-rate all of our farms. In a high-yield area, we put on 80 pounds. In a low-yield area, it’s 160 to 180 pounds.”
Watch Ag PhD Video Variable-Rate Fertilizer
3. There’s already room in your budget for nutrients like sulfur and calcium.
“To increase your ROI, consider leaving your budget the same and reallocate some of your fertility dollars,” says Garrett. “Look at shaving a few dollars off of N-P-K and allocating them to calcium and sulfur. I believe you’ll watch your yields and ROI go up.”
Both Garrett and Abbott agree that the terms secondary and micronutrient don’t mean these nutrients are less important than N-P-K. Because no nutrient exists in a silo, they work together for optimum crop performance.
Read Nutrient Interactions in the Soil: A Firm Foundation
Watch XtremeAg Video Why Calcium Should Be a Bigger Part of Your Fertilizer Budget
Event Videos
Check out other video resources to help you elevate your crop nutrition plan.
