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OSU Agronomists Offer
Updated Fertility Recommendation Calculator
Agronomists
from Ohio State
University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental
Sciences have updated a fertility recommendation calculator designed
to provide major field crop growers with guidance on fertilizer
application rates and costs.
The
updated tool offers
users calculations based on tri-state fertilizer recommendations for
corn, soybeans, wheat only, wheat for grain and straw, corn silage,
and alfalfa, said Greg LaBarge, an Ohio State University Extension
field specialist and one of the leaders of Ohio State’s Agronomic
Crops Team. The team also includes scientists from the Ohio
Agricultural Research and Development Center.
OSU
Extension and OARDC are
the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the college.
Developed
by agronomists,
the calculator is in the form of a spreadsheet that is easy to use
and designed to help growers get the most accurate results, LaBarge
said.
“It’s one
way to get at
what that fertility number needs to be, making sure it’s not too
high or too low,” he said. “The spreadsheet has been updated to
prove more functionality using feedback from growers who’ve used
previous versions of the calculator.”
Some of
the new functions
the tool offers include:
• Phosphorus
soil test
results using Bray P1 or Mehlich III that can be entered directly
without conversion.
• Phosphorus
and
potassium soil tests that can be reported in units of pounds per acre
or part per million.
• A lime
recommendation sheet that provides lime need based on Effective
Neutralizing Power of the liming source and calculates the cost of
the product and application.
• A
fertilizer
recommendation sheet that calculates dry fertilizer need and cost on
a per-acre and total-field basis.
The
spreadsheet allows
users to select the phosphorus test and unit and enter their crops,
yield goals and soil test results to calculate the soil fertilizer
application rates and costs recommendations. The calculator can be
downloaded at
http://agcrops.osu.edu/specialists/fertility/fertility-fact-sheets-and-bulletins/TriStateFertCalcV2013-4.xlsm.
For more
information, visit
the Darke County OSU Extension web site at www.darke.osu.edu, the OSU
Extension Darke County Facebook page or contact Sam Custer, at
937.548.5215.
Remember,
OSU is offering a
year-end tax tips workshop. Check it out (and register) here
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