Muriate of Potash

L

lough

Well-Known Member
I have some fields that are low in K and I was thinking of getting Muriate of Potash for them, is there anything to watch out for, best time of the year to put in on, minimum/maximum amount to put on, is there any alternative products that would be better
 
Autumn is generally regarded as the best time of year to apply. If it's not very low I'd also look at applying during the summer as 19-0-15 or similar if your P levels are ok.

Biggest concern with applying K is it increases risk of grass tetany so make sure lactating animals are well covered if applying potash
 
lough said:
Some of it would be for grazing and some for silage
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Early spring is best for applying K, but too much K can worsen Grass Tetany.
For the silage apply in early spring when closing up or with first N.
For the grazing ground I would apply some in a compound early and top up with Muriate of Potash when weather warms up and grass tetany threat has lessened.

There is also Sulphate of Potash, but it a good bit dearer and I can never see any advantage for the extra cost.
There also is a new product coming in from England and it looks very interesting, but I don't know enough about it to recommend.
 
Ozzy Scott said:
Avoid MOP, go the extra few bob and buy SOP. apply the same amount of SOP in money terms as MOP. much safer bet for soil, plant and animal
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Would it be better to use the SOP in spring and get some of the sulpher needed for land when it can be used? It looks a waste putting it out in winter when there is little growth.
 
Rusty Spade said:
Would it be better to use the SOP in spring and get some of the sulpher needed for land when it can be used? It looks a waste putting it out in winter when there is little growth.
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pointless going with S this late, be careful going with any form of K on grazing this late in the season. i got the tshirt:no:
 
Ozzy Scott said:
pointless going with S this late, be careful going with any form of K on grazing this late in the season. i got the tshirt:no:
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I was thinking of using some on silage ground next spring when closing for silage. I would be a bit wary about putting it on grazing ground alright but we have mag going in through the water and in ration as well so we would be fairly well covered even with that.
 
Rusty Spade said:
I was thinking of using some on silage ground next spring when closing for silage. I would be a bit wary about putting it on grazing ground alright but we have mag going in through the water and in ration as well so we would be fairly well covered even with that.
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put it on before Silage so you will see the full benefits of SOP but also you can cut your N rates by 20units if say you applied 1.5 bags of SOP.

Regarding Mg, why apply through the meal and water when you could just apply it straight onto the soil and correct your forage for Mag eliminating the need for expensive Mg in the mill where someone else is getting a cut out of sorting your problems. work from the ground up
 
Muriate of potash consistently gives higher yields than SOP in cereal trials where K is low or needed.
@Ugo Schtiglitz might remember the the new form of K that is showing good results.
 
Sulphate of potash used the preferred option for tatties "supposed" to increase dry matter if memory serves me right :scratchhead:
 
Ozzy Scott said:
put it on before Silage so you will see the full benefits of SOP but also you can cut your N rates by 20units if say you applied 1.5 bags of SOP.

Regarding Mg, why apply through the meal and water when you could just apply it straight onto the soil and correct your forage for Mag eliminating the need for expensive Mg in the mill where someone else is getting a cut out of sorting your problems. work from the ground up
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The nearest magnesium lime is over 60 miles away so the transport alone would make it too deer. Is there some other form of magnesium I could use?
 
Rusty Spade said:
The nearest magnesium lime is over 60 miles away so the transport alone would make it too deer. Is there some other form of magnesium I could use?
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There would be no point spreading magnesium lime unless you needed to correct soil ph, Kieserite would solve the mg and could be spread as granular.
 
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Looks like I'm going to need some myself done my first soil test any advice greatly appreciated
 

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Get an Albrecht test done, this will give you tec(total exchange capacity) or total nutrients in the soil. It will then give you how much calcium lime /mg lime /kieserite you need to balance out the ca mg to 68% 12%, (depending on how heavy light your land is) we have been doing this for the last few years and have spread 4 bags to the acre of kieserite. We've seen a near complete disappearance of tetany and grass staggers. Will need to start the second round of soil testing this year this year, ill report back when that happens.
 
marco said:
Get an Albrecht test done, this will give you tec(total exchange capacity) or total nutrients in the soil. It will then give you how much calcium lime /mg lime /kieserite you need to balance out the ca mg to 68% 12%, (depending on how heavy light your land is) we have been doing this for the last few years and have spread 4 bags to the acre of kieserite. We've seen a near complete disappearance of tetany and grass staggers. Will need to start the second round of soil testing this year this year, ill report back when that happens.
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Who is doing the Albrecht tests for you?
 
Bog Man said:
Your Lime is very low and depending what you are using the land for that is where I would spend the money . Your biggest response and availability of P And K is got by rectifying the lime . Unless you want to grow Rhododendrons .
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Wise words.
 
Bog Man said:
Your Lime is very low and depending what you are using the land for that is where I would spend the money . Your biggest response and availability of P And K is got by rectifying the lime . Unless you want to grow Rhododendrons .
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I'd agree with Bog Man. On parcel one and three I'd go with 2t/ac to 2.5t/ac now. On these id also put any excess if you have it for making up the load.

I'd lime parcel 2 again with the same again.and same with four.

Repeat all bar 2 with the same rate next year and then retest

On the P and K don't apply any CAN use 18/6/12 or 14/7/14 as your regular fertilizer plus target it with dung /slurry if possible.

Your key investment is lime, if you don't do anything else you will see a huge jump in grass growth and I can see that here in our own case big time even on older pastures.
 
nashmach said:
I'd be focusing on the fertility first and then reseed if you get me. Others may very well disagree with me on that.
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If it can be reseeded with a disk or a direct drill, your dead right, and you could very well see some very good results. But if its going to be ploughed down then maybe now
 
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