Nitrogen Loss in Saturated Soils

We sometime hear that lots of rain will leach our nitrogen fertilizer.  My experience is that unless the soils are very sandy, most of the nitrogen loss will be from denitrification.  In other words, the nitrate nitrogen is converted to unavailable forms. Losses will be much less on recently applied anhydrous ammonia than on fields where nitrate forms have been applied, or where early applied nitrogen has already nitrified. This article out of Mississippi puts some numbers to it.  In warm weather we can lose up to 5% a day.  Some testing might be in order when soil have dried out.  When oxygen gets back into the system, There will be some renitification.  Cultivation can encourage that, but it will not take the place of fertilizer entirely.  You models such as Climate or Yield 360 can be useful too, but I do not trust them entirely.

New Field Equipment

We bought Ipad Mini 2's to use for guidance in the field.  We are running the IGIS App.  Everything seems to be working well.  Visibility is decent in map mode or blank. Screens are dark with Aerial photography turned on.  Sape Files need to be in a zipped directory to transfer them to the Ipad.    We make the fill transparent and thicken the lines.  Line color does not seem to make a difference.  It is a good tool for sampling and appears to have potential for field mapping as well.  The newer version of IGIS is much nicer than the old version I had tried previously.  I am running the free version.  A $25 subscription is needed for on screen labeling.  I need to touch the screen to see the labels.  The subscription is also needed to export your mapping.

Dell Computer Update

I got a call a few days ago asking how my computer was working. I told the person fine and hung up. Today I checked the number and it turned out that it was a legitimate call from Dell. I bought a Dell Tablet two years ago that was nothing but trouble the first 6 months I owned it. I have previously written here about it.  Dell repaired it 4 times and replaced everything but the case and screen eventually. Turned out to be a bad battery. It has been working well ever since. It gets lots of vibration etc. because I mostly use it mounted on my 4 wheeler for work. Since they finally got it fixed, I am very pleased with it, but it was a painful process. I am really surprised they called to check on it after all this time. Way to go Dell.

Corn at Famersville

We sampled near Farmersville today.  Lots of corn was completely emerged.  Some is just spiking. There was still a lot of planters in the field. I think most were planting corn.  The Virden soil was still pretty wet, but over all planting conditions were excellent.    

Corn Planting Progress

I have been working in The River Bottoms in St. Charles County Mo. the past week.  Corn planting has gone fast, even with showers over the weekend.  One client is finishing today and several have one or two days left to plant.  Rain in the forecast may slow things down again, but planting progress is excellent.  

Good Soybean Harvest in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim:

The soybean harvest was great in Brazil, most of the states have already closed the harvest, the states further north, Bahia, Maranhão, Piaui and Tocantis are beginning to harvest, and the crop will be good, too. We have good corn crops second crop. Corn and soybean yields are great here in Brazil. Argentina has yet to show its crop yields, many rains have flooded the crops at planting and now at the harvest new floods have occurred, it is still uncertain!

Iowa Road Trip

We spent the weekend with our Iowa Family this weekend.  Corn planting seemed to be well underway on the Illinois portion of the trip.  The Missouri leg is mostly a view of Mississippi River Bottomlands.  There was a lot planted in Missouri too. Traveled from the Missouri Border to Pella.  Once we got into Iowa, there was not a lot planted. There we showers over night.  Topsoil looked amp in some place.  Other places only got sprinkles.  

Topsoil Moisture

We sampled North of Springfield today.  Topsoil moisture is good.  Some of the low ground was wet, even though it has been 3 days since rain.