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Ohio State Updating
Recommendations for Soybeans, Corn and Wheat
By Sam Custer
OSU Extension, Darke County
The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and
Environmental Sciences is looking to recruit growers interested in
helping researchers update the soybean, corn and wheat fertility
recommendations for Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
Steve Culman, an Ohio State University Extension soil fertility
specialist, is seeking growers to participate in a project to look at
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in soybeans, corn and wheat as part
of an overall effort to update the tri-state fertility recommendations.
OSU Extension is the outreach arm of the college.
“The project involves casting a broad net to collect data from a large
number of farms to determine the most economical and most effective
fertilization rates for soybean, corn and wheat,” he said. “The current
tri-state recommendations are over 20 years old and need to be updated
to reflect the growing conditions now.
“Farming has changed substantially in the past 20 years, so we are
trying to get the most accurate information we can to either revise or
update the recommendations.”
Culman said he is hoping to work with 30 growers per crop for the
duration of the research project, which will involve applying
fertilizer to some replicated strip plots and leaving others without
fertilizer. Farmers would get to choose which nutrient they’d like to
work with and be allowed a large degree of flexibility in the plot
layout and application rates, he said.
“We are ideally looking for farms that help capture a diversity of soil
types and particularly those fields that test low in phosphorus and
potassium,” Culman said.
The data that will be collected during the project includes:
· Soil samples before planting.
· Leaf tissue samples for nutrient
analysis at early reproductive stage.
· Grain yields and nutrient analysis of
grain at harvest.
Participants will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire about
soil management, he said.
“Now is a good time to think about your fields and their nutrient needs
now that harvest season is ongoing and growers will then start fall
fertilizer applications on their fields,” Culman said. “Another benefit
to farmers is that they will have all the lab analyses done at no
charge and be supplied with a report on what the results are and what
that means for their specific farms.”
The tri-state fertilizer research project is funded through check-off
dollars through the Ohio Soybean Council and the Ohio corn and small
grains marketing programs, he said.
Darke County growers interested in participating in the research
project can contact Sam Custer 937.548.5215 or custer.2@osu.edu. More
information can be found at go.osu.edu/fert-trials
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