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Show oil Fertility: -Coraerstome to Soil fertility is the cornerstone on which profitable agriculture is is built. It depends largely on the wise use of fertilizers. Fertilizers are used to supplement the plant nutrients In the soil and to restore the nutrients removed by cropping. They, are not, however, a substitute substi-tute for other sound farming practices. prac-tices. There is no reliable evidence to indicate that proper use of chemical fertilizers present a hazard haz-ard to man or animal. Many factors in addition to plant nutrients affect the growth of crops. These include varieties of crops grown, irrigation, weed and insect control, crop rotation, and timeliness of operations. Proper timing often makes the difference between success and failure. Farm Methods of Appliction Changed According to scientists at Utah State University, the methods of applying fertilizer have changed to a certain extent within recent years. In the past, most fertilizer was applied by the farmer with his own equipment. With the advent ad-vent of anhydrous ammonia, of 11- j quid phosphoric acid, of bulk spreading, a considerable change has been broueht about in the job of applying commercial fertilizers.1 Today it Is often less expensive to have a commercial operator who s.'lls the fertilizer apply it than it is for -a person to buy equipment for application. Large bulk spreaders spread-ers attached to trucks are equipped equip-ped so that fertilizer can be picked up, brought to the farm and spread. One operator indicated he could s;read 100-foot strips. He could soon cover many acres with almost any formulation of fertillzerl Anhydrous ammonia or nitrogen supplied in a gaseous form is one in which approximately all the material is- applied by commercial operators. The firm which sells the anhydrous ammonia will usually apply it or rent out their equipment. equip-ment. To he effective, anhydrous ammonia is usually applied side-dressed side-dressed to sugar beets, corn, or applied ap-plied pre-plant when used with gTaln. The cost for applying these lertilizers Is very small. The trend today is to one of custom operation; one of telling u dealer how much Is wanted and where it is to be applied. This same procedure holds for liquid phosphoric phos-phoric acid which is a very costly gas and requires special equipment to be handled. It is possible for a commercial operator to apply this phosphoric ac d and also anhydrous ammonia simultaneously so both nitrogen and phosphorous can be applied to sugar beets at the same time. There are a number of new machines ma-chines available for farmers to buy and many of them are currently In use. However, the cost of machinery, machin-ery, unless it Is bought on the basis where several fanners go together, might prove prohibitive. Economics are involved In the efficient use of fertil.zer. The philo sophy at Utah State University has bten one of fertilizing the rotation. That is, to apply fertilizer to the crops which will respond most fav orably to that fertilizer and to a- lign these in a sequence so that the residual effects from one crop can benefit another. If a crop rotation ro-tation system Is used where elfa-fa, elfa-fa, sugar beets, small grains, corn. or potatoes are grown, then the type of program which might be followed is: .sugar beets require more phosphorous than any other crop; for this reason if sugar beets are fertilized heavily, then the corn or small gra ns which- may follow would be adequately supplied with phosphorous. No additional phosphorous phos-phorous need be applied until the alfalfa is planted, which might be some time or f'ur years following. At the time the alfalfa is planted, phosphorous can be applied to alfalfa al-falfa because it also uses large a-mounts a-mounts and the . phosphorous applied ap-plied with the initial planting and a subsequent application two or three years later w 11 take care of the phosphorous needs. Nitrogen tenls to accumulate in the so 1 under altalfa because of the symbiotic relationship with nitrogen- fixing nodules so that the crop that follows alfalfa should be a crop that has a h'gh nitrogen requirement. re-quirement. Consequently, it is desirable de-sirable to have a small grain or orn crop follow alfalfa in the rotation. ro-tation. Considerable nitrogen remains re-mains in and on the sol following a crop of sugar beets. As a rejuil, v-ry A'.r. ible to plant a crop following sugar beets that has a relatively his;h .nitrogen r.-qulte ment in order to lake advantage of the n t.on present. M.VMi.-e cji'.aia approclabL" a-rioun'.s a-rioun'.s of bth ph s;)horov.- a id tu'roen. It s de'ra '!-? lo use t.TnaiJ manure on c-ops O: -t ingoing in-going lo neel a considerable a-r.uunl a-r.uunl of nttiog.-n. The ni'rogen portion of manure is 1 s'. whv.i used on al.'aUa. Convquently, nurture nurt-ure should be c eJ e the.- with sugar beets, which requ're n tro-gen, tro-gen, r with small grains or com. Not only will fie nitrogen be ur?d, but phosphorous is also placed in the soil. When a crop requiring large amounts of phosphorous comes about in the rotation, it Is' readily available. ers derive maximum benefits from fertilizers when they follow good soil management practices. Plants need 16 nutrients for normal nor-mal growth; carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are supplied by the air and make up 95 of the dry weight of plants. The remaining 13 elements come from the soil; potassium, cal cium, magnesium, sulphur, boron, chlorine, copper and molybdenum occur in sufficient amounts in most Utah soils and in many irrigation waters to satisfy crop needs. Nitrogen, Nitro-gen, phosphorous, iron, manganese and zinc are deficient in many soils or when present existing forms not available to plants. NITROGEN Most crops require nitrogen fertilizer ' for high yields. When they lack nitrogen, crops Volume 52 ft ! .5-'. L 7 m'J ' . 'y. i i i V''' Cf I I v . i " M dJMM grow slowly and have a light green color. Low yield and poor quality result. Legumes such as alfalfa and clover do not usually need nitrogen fert lizer because nitrogen is obtained ob-tained from the air through the bacteria in the nodules on the roots. Soil recently plowed out of alfalfa or frequently manured probably has an adequate amount of nitrogen and may not require nitrogen fertilizer. PHOSPHOROUS Repeated applications appli-cations of phosphorous fertilizer on ! alfalfa, pasture, sugar beets, and vegetable crops have increased the I phosphorous content of many soils tin Utah. There are still numerous fields that need rather frequent or heavy applications of phosphate. Most soils producing high yielding "SERVING THE PEOPLE Number 39 Thursday, months; and 5 rm . crops need applications high phosphate phos-phate fertilizer at least once in each rotation. The symptoms of phosphate deficiency are a dark j green color with purpling on the under side of the leaves in some tipa. i lama xi c aiuiuru nuu jriiriua are materially reduced. Phosphate deficiency in alfalfa is often mistaken for drought or damage from h'gh salinity. Crop ; yields are often reduced materially, before deficiency symptoms appear.' Phosphorous does not improve with! : the sou moisture. It tends to re-; I main where it is placed. Many soils ' conta'n large amounts of phos-; ' phorous which are in a form not 1 available to plants. j Crop requirements for phosphate differ. Grasses, some grains and OF DELTA AND THE GREAT PAHVANT VALLEY" March 29, 1962 Delta, Utah PROPER FERTILIZATION ...Vital to Good Farm Management S cBil The farmer ho is going to be successful must be efficient In this era of higher farming costs and fluctuating farm pricet Efficiency results from many things: modern methods and equipment, equip-ment, good seed, crop rotation, correct Irrigation, and more mi more Important proper fertilization. . . The farmer who uses fertilizer In the proper amounts realizes the highest Income from his farm. His per-unit costs art lower. Us yields higher, his profits larger. : ' ' ..:t T '. , , ... --' Surveys show many western farmers are not using enough fertilizer. Yet, fertilizer brings Its benefits rapidly within a few these benefits ait easily measured, The successful farmer Is an asset to his community because It Is a prosperous neighbor and a good customer for many items. , Proper fertilization Is the key to farm profits and important to the growth, of cur lUtttT tvT -si , corn require less phosphate than other crops. The requirements of sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables, alfalfa and other legumes are high. POTASSIUM The potassium content of Utah soils is generally adequate for the requirements of most ciops. In addition, most of the irrigation waters contain large a-mour.ts. a-mour.ts. Few instances of a definite defin-ite deficiency have been found in the state. It is possible that some of the sandy soils or soils irrigated with water low in potassium may become deficient as the potassium is used by the crops. When this occurs, the deficiency may be detected de-tected by soil or plant analysis. TRACE ELEMENTS Iron chlorosis, chloro-sis, caused by a shortage of supply of available iron in the soil is pre Copy 10c $4.00 a ,; . .C PIC ' - , Farm valent in berries, fruit trees and ornamentals throughout the state. Usually iron chlorosis appears only in perennials; however, other crops may be chlorotic when grown under und-er cold, wet conditions. Control methods for iron chlorosis are mea-j mea-j ger And give only limited control, 'or they are expensive and time-j time-j consuming to apply. Manganese deficiencies are not common, "but they have been found 'in orchards scattered throughout i the state. In most instances the i trees have responded to aDDlica- tions of 2 to 4 pounds of manganese manga-nese sulphate dug into the soil under un-der the spread of branches. No de-fie'encies de-fie'encies have been noted in field crops. Zinc deficiencies have been year in advance :Jf' J. -' .... V r ' ST H .Profits found in about ten percent of the orchards in Utah. Field crops have shown no benefits from zinc applications, appli-cations, even in areas close to the orchards with severe deficiency symptoms. It usually occurs in sandy soils in lime and high in soluble phosphorous. The deficiency can be corrected w;th the application applica-tion of a dormant spray consisting of 2 pounds of zinc sulphate per one hundred gallons of water. A large number of high-quality fertilizers are available to the gro-Wer. gro-Wer. He can purchase them as sin gle tai nt i ur nuxeu ienuizers. The law requires that any fertilizer offered for sale in the state must be labeled to show the percentages of total nitrogen, available phosphorous phos-phorous and water-soluble potas sium in the product in that order. The grower should consider the analysis printed on the label and should buy fertilizer contain ing the plant nutrients needed by his crops. Before purchasing fertilizer, make sure of what is in the bag and the cost per pound of plant nutrients. Products vary considerably consider-ably in cost. High analysis materials mater-ials are usually the best buy. The cost per pound of available nutrients can be calculated if the prce per 100 pounds of fertilizer is divided by the percent of the nutrients in the bag. For example, if Treble Super Phosphate (0-45-0) is H05 per 100 lbs., divide $4.05 by 45. The answer is nine cents per pound of available phosphate. ine decision on what fertilizer to use can be based on past per sonal experience, the experience of neighbors, or recommendations from fertilizer dealers, agricultural college personnel or farm planners. tvery larm is a special case, and the farmer must modify the general gen-eral recommendations to meet his conditions. To decide what fertilizer to use, consider (1) the crop grown during the past five years, (2) amount of manure and the kind and. the a-mount a-mount of commercial fertilizer applied ap-plied during the past five years, 1 3) crop to be grown in the coming com-ing season. A laboratory test will give further fur-ther information on the phosphorous phosphor-ous of potash status of the soil. It can also help identify special problems related to salinity. Information Infor-mation on procedures for collecting soil samples is available from the county agent or local soil conservation conserva-tion service personnel. The most effective use of fertilizer fertili-zer can be made if the entire cropping crop-ping system is taken into consideration consider-ation and the fertilizer is applied to the crops with the highest needs. Apply phosphate fertilizer only once or twice during a rotation. The effects will carry over for several sev-eral years. Phosphate can be applied ap-plied when the land is being prepared pre-pared for alfalfa or pasture and again when sugar beets are grown. Fertilizer is most frequently applied ap-plied in one of three ways: (1) broadcasting uniformly over the soil surface, 2 sidedressed or drilled in bands, and (3) applied in irrigation water. BROADCASTING Broadcasting is probably the most widely used procedure for several reasons. Large amounts of fertilizer can be applied without injuring the crop. The fertilizer can be applied in the tail or early spring, during slack , labor periods. Costs of broadcasting equipment are comparatively low. Fertilizer broadcast on the surface can often be ployed under. BANDING There are certain advantages ad-vantages to banding fertilizer. This method can give best results from small amounts of fertilizer. The fertilizer can be placed in the root zone where it will give maximum benefits from minimum material. The banding is a convenient and effective way to apply fertilizer to row crops during cultivation. Do not band fertilizer in contact with seed. . FERTILIZES APPLIED IN WATER WAT-ER Where irrigation water Is distributed dis-tributed uniformly over the land without waste, fertilizer can be applied ap-plied in the water conveniently and with little labor . Liquid fertilizers are the most readily applied in water. This method has little or no advantage in terms of crop yields. It makes little difference how you apply the fertilizer (1) if you maintain main-tain a high level of fertility and (2) if you fertilize the rotation rather ra-ther than the individual crops. Soil and farm practices vary so much from farm to farm that no general fertilizer recommendation will be right for all farms. The suggestion given for the use of nitrogen ni-trogen and phosphates are for average av-erage farm conditions. Special conditions con-ditions may be prevalent where the suggested rates are too high or too low. For example, if infertile subsoil is exposed while leveling land, manure, nitrogen and phosphate phos-phate may need to be appl.ed at heavy rates U obtain reasonable y.e Ids. The amount of application vill al; j depend on personal pre-feu'iu-e. Some growers prefer to Ue the minimum amount which will give maximum reiurns per unit appl ed. Others prefer the maxi-ini.a maxi-ini.a a.iiuant of fertilizer to assure lo.i y.elds whon weather and other avoirs are fuvorable. I. Third Year Farm and Fertilizer Section |