Article taken from Arable Farming magazine
A new year, but not much change with regards to the weather in early January. I can't but help remember a radio feature back in August suggesting we would be in for one of the coldest winters on record. I guess there is still time for this and there is nothing so unpredictable as the weather, but having spent Christmas pretty much sunbathing rather than skiing in the Alps, it was thoroughly de-pressing coming back home to the unseasonably warm and incredibly wet weather. While most parts of the North East have not suffered quite as badly from flooding as other parts of the UK, it's still frustrating to look at crops which established so well in the region last autumn now swimming just to stay alive. If and when conditions allow, first thoughts must be to try and encourage rooting and provide readily available nutrition.
The big yields from last season have mined fields of nutrients, and this combined with the unprecedented amount of rainfall encouraging leaching and run-off means crops are going to need all the help we can give them if we are to salvage decent yields again. Crops require all 17 essential nutrients, and if anyone is lacking a yield penalty will result, so it will be particularly important this year to carry out soil and regular tissue tests to allow any deficiencies to be corrected before visible symptoms appear. This season I will be focusing on ensuring crops have a readily available form of phosphate as we come out of winter. It has an important role in stimulating early growth and development, root development and stress management. Phosphate is immobile in the soil, so is difficult for poorly rooted crops to access. Availability is further reduced in cold, waterlogged soils, and this is exacerbated if the pH is not close to optimal level of 6.5. Growers should follow soil sample results and the Fertiliser Manual (RB209) for full recommendations, but where required, if phosphate has not yet been applied to the crop, a water soluble form should be applied at first chance.
Useful range Slurries and digestates can also provide available phosphate and a useful range of other nutrients, but due to their high readily available nitrogen content, they should be used together with a nitrification inhibitor product such as N-Lock. The main problem is the N can be easily lost through leaching to surface and groundwater, and de-nitrification to nitrogen gasses. This leads to poor N efficiency, reduction in optimal yields and harmful emissions to the environment. Nitrification inhibitors slow down these losses, ensuring more efficient use of nitrogen. N-Lock contains the active ingredient nitropyrin, which keeps nitrosomonas bacteria inactive and so more of the nitrogen source in the stable ammonium form, which is less susceptible to losses via leaching and de-nitrification. This stable form of nitrogen binds with the soil, but is still available for plant growth, ensuring most efficient use of fertilisers, slurries and digestates while minimising losses to water and the atmosphere. Wishing all readers a very happy New Year; here's hoping 2016 brings better weather, better prices and a successful harvest.