Agricultural News
Topdressing Your Wheat is Vital in 2011- So Says Brian Arnall of OSU
Tue, 25 Jan 2011 6:25:32 CST
Dr. Brian Arnall, Assistant Professor for Precision Nutrient Management at OSU, says that right now is the time to be pulling the trigger top dressing your 2011 hard red winter wheat crop across the southern plains. We talked with him at the 2011 Oklahoma Soybean Expo on campus in Stillwater- and he told us that it is essential that farmers apply that top dress- both from a yield perspective as well as from a protein level outlook. Arnall says that environmental factors, beyond the farmer's control. have a lot to do with the level of protein found in our southern plains hard red winter wheat crop- but there is one factor that farmers can control and that is adequate soil fertility.
He adds that this one factor that farmers can control is important enough to help deliver the minimum level of protein in hard red winter wheat that the Kansas City Board of Trade has declared as the minimum standard- 11%. Arnall says that adequate nitrogen fertility can not only help deliver more bushels of wheat- but can deliver on at least that 11% level of protein even in the years that environmental conditions are working against the wheat plant to produce a lot of protein.
For spring crops, Arnall says the key right now is to get a soil test that can help you determine fertilization needs for the various crops you may be considering for the 2011 growing season. Which crops you are considering will determine how you approach fertilization.
Arnall says that if you maintain proper nutrient levels- whichever crop you are growing- that soil test and then acting on it will pay dividends in 2011.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear our full conversation with OSU Plant Nutrition expert Brian Arnall.
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