silage nutrient takeoff/requirements

JohnBoy

Well-Known Member
Hi,

For ground that's getting no slurry, what fertiliser should I be putting out? and how much of it for good first cut silage.

P&K are both at index 2, and 2t of lime has been spread per acre.
 
Way too much value put on slurry anyway.
Cut Sward 3 to 3.5 bags per acre should meet minimum requirement for P&K.
 
Way too much value put on slurry anyway.
Cut Sward 3 to 3.5 bags per acre should meet minimum requirement for P&K.

Composition of cut sward please.....

A lot depends on your clover content too.

We have one field here that apart from some dung has not received any fertiliser for the past 2 years.

It is getting 1.5 bags /acre of 18-6-12 when it dries up. :rolleyes:
 
Composition of cut sward please.....



It is getting 1.5 bags /acre of 18-6-12 when it dries up. :rolleyes:

I think cut sward is 24-2.5-5.

Generally put out 3 bags of above for silage.A light cover of dung after cutting and a bag of 18-6-12.
 
Composition of cut sward please.....

A lot depends on your clover content too.

We have one field here that apart from some dung has not received any fertiliser for the past 2 years.

It is getting 1.5 bags /acre of 18-6-12 when it dries up. :rolleyes:

Cut sward is 24-2.5-10, we have no clover.



The UK uses different soil indices and fertiliser units so it doesnt directly translate.

This goes into a lot more detail than the grassland page:

http://www.gouldings.ie/advice/silage/1st-cut-no-slurry/


But it reccomends spending €136 an acre versus the €91 we'd be spending on cut sward.

spent a while looking at it this morning and I think it's hard to get much better than the cut sward for less than a hundred euro spend :(
 
Hi,

For ground that's getting no slurry, what fertiliser should I be putting out? and how much of it for good first cut silage.

P&K are both at index 2, and 2t of lime has been spread per acre.

If it were mine I'd be putting out 4 x 50 kg / acre of 18 -6-12, wouldn't be the cheapest but at index 2 you need the K to get a crop
 
how would the reduction in nitrogen versus the cut sward effect it I wonder.
Would have little if any effect 18-6-12 will grow huge bulk in a crop expensive fertilizer though.
Easy to top it up with a bag of CAN if you think it needs it.
 
Tis no more expensive than the 4 bags of cut sward we have been using.
Haven't priced or used 18-6-12 in years since the nitrates came into force all my soils above index 3 apparently.
I'd be happier if the indices were nearer 13 than 3 we might be able to actually grow grass and have some proper bulk in silage.
 
Would it not be cheaper to run 100kgs of 10-10-20/acre and top up with urea? That said, its risky at this stage in the year to try and sort a P deficiency in one swoop on silage ground.

Sent from my LT22i using Tapatalk 2
 
I've only just put out lime so urea is a non runner this year.

but yeah, two bags of 10-10-20 plus 2 bags of urea would be a great combo in future years.
 
Digging this up again a year later......


So for the last 4 years we've taken two cuts of silage each year with a single grazing of the aftergrass.

The ground has gotten one spread of slurry in that time and 7 bags of cut sward each year.

I've been curious about our fertiliser strategy for a few years now, some lads would say the cut sward isnt enough, some would say that so much of it is too much.


So we took soil samples in autumn 2010 and again a few weeks ago, sampled four plots using the same map each time.

Average pH has increase from 5.6 to 6.2
Average phosphorous has increased from 4.9 to 9.7 mg/l (from 2 to 4)
Average potassium has decreased from 97.6 to 92.5 mg/l (from 2 to 2)


So we're flying on P but loosing out on K
 
Digging this up again a year later......


So for the last 4 years we've taken two cuts of silage each year with a single grazing of the aftergrass.

The ground has gotten one spread of slurry in that time and 7 bags of cut sward each year.

I've been curious about our fertiliser strategy for a few years now, some lads would say the cut sward isnt enough, some would say that so much of it is too much.


So we took soil samples in autumn 2010 and again a few weeks ago, sampled four plots using the same map each time.

Average pH has increase from 5.6 to 6.2
Average phosphorous has increased from 4.9 to 9.7 mg/l (from 2 to 4)
Average potassium has decreased from 97.6 to 92.5 mg/l (from 2 to 2)


So we're flying on P but loosing out on K

so basically you need a maintenance level of P and a bit more K

sampling tells you what you need:thumbup:

how much N is in your fert?
 
You could go with a bag to the acre of muriate of potash early every year and continue with the cut sward as usual, or else a shot of 0 7 30 every harvest
 
Digging this up again a year later......


So for the last 4 years we've taken two cuts of silage each year with a single grazing of the aftergrass.

The ground has gotten one spread of slurry in that time and 7 bags of cut sward each year.

I've been curious about our fertiliser strategy for a few years now, some lads would say the cut sward isnt enough, some would say that so much of it is too much.


So we took soil samples in autumn 2010 and again a few weeks ago, sampled four plots using the same map each time.

Average pH has increase from 5.6 to 6.2
Average phosphorous has increased from 4.9 to 9.7 mg/l (from 2 to 4)
Average potassium has decreased from 97.6 to 92.5 mg/l (from 2 to 2)


So we're flying on P but loosing out on K


I would think the correction of Ph has made the P more available in the soils. Might be worth checking back in 2 years time to see what has happened. Maybe the lime increased available P by a large degree and over the last two years the underapplication of P had dragged it back to 9.7 if you get what I mean. over the last 4 years P applied (28 * 2.5units per bag = 70 units, add in a application of slurry, say 20units of P and thats a total of 90ish units of P, or around 11units of P per cut), maintenance I would think is somewhere around 25 per cut. To grow decent crops you need K and its often a forgotten about element. I know my own soils will never test high in K as it just can't retain K so I just apply crop requirement and a bit with it every year.
 
Looking at various permutations to get a bit more K out for the second cut fertiliser and if I was to spread some nitrogen seperately to P&K I'm wondering about urea versus CAN. I have some notion in my head that urea can only be used in spring? or did I dream it?

No slurry or lime at play.
 
Looking at various permutations to get a bit more K out for the second cut fertiliser and if I was to spread some nitrogen seperately to P&K I'm wondering about urea versus CAN. I have some notion in my head that urea can only be used in spring? or did I dream it?

No slurry or lime at play.

Always heard that Urea isn't the best after spring and I've always operated on that principal although in recent years I've gone away from it altogether.
2nd cut isn't something I'd do much of but I would probably go with something like 2 bags 10:10:20 and a bag or bag and a half CAN depending on how much extra silage I needed. 0:7:30 would be another option but I prefer something with N in it at this time of year.
 
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