Show I Soil Fertility-Cornerstone of agriculture profits I 1 Soil fertility is the cornerstone on which profitable is It depends i largely on the wise use of Fertilizers are used to supplement the plant nutrients in the soil and to restore the nutrients removed by They are a sub- for other sound farming There is no reliable evidence to indicate that proper use of chemical fertilizers present a hazard to man or factors in addition to plant nutrients affect the growth of These Include of crops weed and insect crop and timeliness of Proper timing often makes the differ ence between success and Farmers derive maximum benefits from fertilizers when they follow good soil management Plants need 16 nutrients for normal hydrogen and oxygen arc supplied by the air and make up 95 per cent of the dry weight of The remaining 13 elements come from the copper and molybdenum occur in sufficient amounts in most Utah soils and in many irrigation waters to satisfy crop manganese and zinc arc deficient in many soils or when present existing forms not available to NITROGEN Most crops require nitrogen fertilizer for high When they lack crops grow slowly and have a light green Low yield and poor quality such as alfalfa and clover do not usually need fertilizer because nitrogen is obtained from the air through the bacteria In the nodules on the Soil recently plowed out of alfalfa or frequently probably has an adequate amount of nitrogen and may not require nitrogen Repeated applications of phosphorous fertilizer on sugar and vegetable crops have increased the phosphorous of many soils in There are still numerous fields that need rather frequent or heavy applications of Most soils producing high yielding crops need applications of high phosphate fertilizer at least once in each The symptoms of phosphate deficiency are a dark green color with purpling on the under side of the leaves in some Plants are stunted and yields materially Phosphate deficiency In alfalfa is often mistaken for drought or damage from high Crop yields are often reduced materially before deficiency symptoms Phosphorous does not improve with the soil It tends to remain where it is Many soils contain large a-mounts of phosphorous which are not in a form available to Crop requirements for phosphate some grains and corn require less phosphate that other The requirements of sugar alfalfa and other legumes arc POTASSIUM The potassium content of Utah soils is generally adequate for the requirements of most In most of the irrigation waters contain large Few instances of a definite deficiency have been found in the 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 When this the deficiency may detected by soil or plant TRACE ELEMENTS Iron caused by a shortage of supply of available iron in the soil is In fruit trees and ornamentals throughout the Usually iron appears only in other crops may be when grown under Control methods for iron are meager and give only limited or they arc expensive and time-consuming to Manganese deficiencies are not but they have been found in orchards scattered throughout the In most instances the trees have responded to applications of 2 to 4 pounds of manganese sulphate dug into the soil under the spread of No deficiencies have been noted in field Zinc deficiencies have been found in about ten percent of the orchards in Field crops have shown no benefits from zinc even in areas close to the orchards with severe deficiency It usually occurs in sandy soils low in lime and high in soluble The deficiency can be corrected with the application of a dormant spray consisting of 2 pounds of zinc sulphate per one hundred gallons of A large number of high-quality fertilizers are available to the He can purchase them as single carriers or as mixed The law requires that any fertilizers offered for sale in the state must be labeled to show the percentages of total available and water-soluble potassium in the product in that The grower should consider the analysis printed on the label and should buy fertilizer containing the plant nutrients needed by his Before purchasing make sure of what is in the bag and the cost per pound of proper Products vary considerably in High analysis materials are usually the best The cost per pound of available nutrients can be calculated if the price per pounds of fertilizer is divided by the percent of the nutrients in the For if Treble Super Phosphate is per divide by The answer is nine cents per pound of available The decision on what fertilizer to use can be on past personal the experience of or recommendations from fertilizer agricultural college personnel or farm Every farm is a special and the farmer must modify the gen- cral recommendations to meet his To decide what fertilizer to consider the crop grown during the past five amount of manure and the kind and the amount of commercial fertilizer applied during the past five crop to be grown in the coming A laboratory soil test will give further information on the or potash status of the It can also help identify special problems related to Information on procedures for collecting soil samples is available from the county agent or local soil conservation service The most effective use of fertilizer can be made if the entire cropping system is taken into consideration and the fertilizer is applied to the crops with the highest Apply phosphate fertilizer only once or twice during a The effects will carry over for several Phosphate can be applied when the land is being prepared for alfalfa or pasture and again when sugar beets are Fertilizer is most frequently applied in one of three broadcasting uniformly over the soil side- dressed or drilled in and applied In irrigation Broadcasting Broadcasting is probably the most widely used procedure for several Large amounts of fertilizer can be applied without injuring the The fertilizer can be applied in the fall or early during slack labor Costs of broadcasting equipment are comparatively low broadcast on the surface can often be plowed Banding There are certain advantages to banding This method can give best results from small amounts of The fertilizer can be placed in the root where it will give maximum benefits from minimum The banding is a convenient and effective way to apply fertilizer to row crops during Do not band fertilizer in contact with Fertilizer Applied in Water Where irrigation water is distributed over the land without fertilizer can be applied in the water conveniently and with little Liquid fertilizers are the most readily applied in This method has little or no advantage in terms of crop it makes little difference how you apply the fertilizer if you maintain a high level of fertility and if you fertilize the rotation rather than the individual Soil and farm practices vary so much from farm to farm that no general fertilizer recommendation will be right for all The suggestion given for the use of nitrogen and phosphate are for average farm Special conditions may be prevalent where the suggested rates are too high or too For if infertile subsoil is exposed while leveling nitrogen and phosphate may need to applied at heavy rates to obtain reasonable The amount of application will also depend on personal Some growers prefer to use the minimum amount which will give maximum returns per unit Others prefer the maximum amount of fertilizer to assure top yields when the I weather and other factors are I |