Episode 9: Pop Up Fertilizer
Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of an Earful podcast about farming and country life. Zach, what do we got going on today?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Oh, not a whole lot going on today. We finished up corn harvest yesterday, so congratulations to us. Um, it’s about time. Uh, it’s cold and I hate the cold weather.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah. Uh, it has gotten extremely cold in the past week, and I’m not a huge fan of what we’ve got going on out there, so I guess we just get to bundle up and clean up all the messes that we’ve made over the past two months.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yep. Yep. It’s just, uh, been a long time coming, but we’re happy to, happy to see all the crops get in and, uh, now it’s kind of time for us to be able to sit down and evaluate, uh, what did or didn’t work this year and, um, you know, our winning hybrids and varieties and things of that nature. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ran the test plot yesterday, so kind of have a little bit better understanding of what we got, what we got going on there. So, um, it’s gonna be gonna be an interesting season for us. Now we get out and you and I get to kind of put on our salesman hat and go talk to some of our customers and switch over from farming, show the guys the results, and hopefully make some plans for next year.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yep. Yep. That’s how it goes. You, uh, barely get one crop finished. And here we’re gonna be thinking about next year’s crop already.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yep. Yeah, I know, uh, what our topic is for today and kind of what we’re gonna be talking to farmers a lot about is, uh, pop-up results with pop-up fertilizers. Um, I think, I think a lot of guys that we work with have seen success and I know we have here on our own farm, so we are, uh, wanting to talk a little bit about pop-up fertilizer today and kind of tell you guys what we’re using and, you know, why we think things work and how we think things can be improved.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah. And, uh, really, I mean, the popup is, uh, let us, let us clear that up. Popup fertilizer, we’re referencing fertilizer going directly onto the seed with the pipe.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Right. Uh, preferably with a splitter. Yeah. Uh, I like to do that even with low salt stuff that’s supposed to be, you know, kind to the seed and the soil. I just, I don’t like to put things directly on the seed because the seed is so expensive and let’s not screw it up. We get hot and dry, we’ve got salt right there. Not a good idea.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah. And you can get, you can get into the weeds pretty quick. Yeah. You really gotta know what you’re putting on, how you’re putting it on, you know, how it’s diluted. Just it is a, uh, it’s an important thing and I always encourage guys to run, pop up, but you just need to be aware of what you’re doing and the risks involved with it too.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Right, right. Um, I mean, it’s not like we’re putting O 60 in furrow, but, uh, try to use mostly soft chemistry stuff. So I guess that kind of leads us to the first thing is, uh, the base of all of our starters. Um, I know this has kind of been some controversial stuff with Randy Dowdy and Dave Hula, what they, what they think needs to be in a pop-up fertilizer. Uh, but we always start with an MP cab blend, um, little bit of nitrogen, especially on corn to get it, get it up and going. And then our fertilizer or our soil test are always just a little bit low in potassium, um, still building those up. So one that’s got a, a decent load of potassium in it, um, like a 3 18 18 has, has kind of been our, our go-to as far as on our farm.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah. And I think, you know, at least here in our area, central Ohio, I mean, if the guys running a popup, most of the time what you’re seeing is gonna be a, a, uh, like a 3 18, 18, a 6 24, 6 9, 18, 9. Um, not as much. I mean, I know some guys will run 10 34. Oh, I feel like that’s not as much of a thing in this area. Talk
Speaker 1 (04:14):
About salt
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Load. Oh my gosh. Yeah. The guys that’ll throw that in the <inaudible> crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Not a good idea. No. Um, but I guess, I guess everybody has heard of NPK starters, you know, or popups they’ve, you know, they’ve had that beating their head since the freaking eighties. Oh yeah. I guess what we wanted to talk about today is that there’s a lot more you can put in there and even pull back some of your, your NPK starter or your popup and go a different route and maybe get that NPK in another place, either in a two by two, you know, broadcast spread, uh, other places where you can get those nutrients in almost a, a cheaper form. Um, you don’t have to be as clean once you get two by two.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Oh yeah. Buddy. Two by two, there’s like no rule.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Right. So in furrow we we’re playing a very delicate game and we want to, we wanna make sure that we’re getting, uh, the most efficiency out of what we’re putting in there. And we want to make sure that we’re using extremely clean products when we do it. So I guess, I guess the first one, um, I want to talk about as we, as we go down this rabbit hole is zinc. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, seems to be one that’s brought up quite a bit. I don’t know if you wanna talk about the kind of zinc we use here at our place.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Right. Yeah. Um, I see. I think too, and that’s you just talking about zinc has just re just flooded my memory of this past year of all these guys putting on these foliar zincs late, I guys kind of opened their eyes to, to some mi more, more so to throwing micross on.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
You’re right that I didn’t think about that, but foliar time, everybody’s like, you got a zinc.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah. Whatcha about, I don’t know, this year was crazy with that. Yeah, it was crazy
Speaker 1 (06:09):
With that. I don’t think of zinc as a, as a foliar product very often. I mean, it’s in, it’s in Quatro and Trio. Uh, so it’s more of like a, I don’t know, it’s kind of an afterthought on the whole deal. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But I think in popups, uh, it’s kind of got a forefront to it. I mean, we’re helping root development, we’re helping that plan established, and that’s kind of what’s zinc’s job is. Yeah. So not so much, um, I don’t think about it as much when we get into greenfield time.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right. Yeah. I mean, for what zinc does a good timing for it to be on is right there with the C.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Right. Right. So we use N Up zinc, uh, from brand. I know a lot of people have used 9% Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, uh, we use 9% zinc for the longest time. Yeah. And still put it in with our sidedress. Yep. Uh, ’cause I’m still, you know, we’re still developing that ear. Uh, I still, I still like zinc at sidedress time. Um, not as, not as, not a real heavy load, but just a little bit of a supplementation. Right. Um, but zinc in, in furrow has really had some good results for us. So, ends up zinc is a 4% zinc, I believe. I don’t have that number in front of me, but I believe it’s a 4% zinc. Uh, so you’re like, why would I pay more for a 4% zinc than I would a 9% zinc? Well, that’s exactly what I asked, uh, the first year when we got like five gallon of it and we saw like a six or eight bushel difference between the 9% zinc and the ends up.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And that was just ridiculous. So I said, well, that doesn’t work. We’ll try it again next year and saw the same exact thing. So I think the thing with NS up the enzymes in there are somehow making that zinc more available and actually getting it into the plant rather than laying it out there in an EDTA form and hoping that the plant grabs it. I mean, granted, we all know that EDTA is the best chelation you’re gonna get, um, but sometimes it almost seems like it chelates it too Well, and the plant has trouble metabolizing it, uh, to actually get to use it.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Right. And I’m, uh, I just pulled up a label from Brand for ZA saying, and gonna get into some big words. Fun. The Manese enzyme releases sugar from the polysaccharide Yep. Chains, lipase space, the pace enzymes break down lipids in the soil. Yeah. So brand’s been on, been on the enzyme thing for the last couple years,
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And I think they, I think they hit something. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I think they are onto something.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
It actually, it actually works. Yeah. I mean, honestly, it’s kind of like their, their smart system. You know, we look at sequester, it’s EDTA micronutrients with a cool name. Uh, there’s a lot of good quality EDTA micronutrients out there. Uh, actually at Farm Science Review this year, we got to talk to, uh, Randy Blackburn kind of explained a little bit more about why, uh, branch micronutrients work so well, specifically their boron, uh, the actual process that they use is cool. Yeah. It’s a colder process, so it does not Oh, yeah. Destroy, uh, some of the components of the boron and actually makes it more available and more efficient. So, you know, we’re buying 10% borons. We’re thinking, okay, 10% borons, 10% boron. Well kind, uh, from a nutrient perspective, yes. But from an efficiency and effectiveness standpoint, uh, it’s different. And just a side note, we’re talking about boron on a pop-up, uh, episode. Do not ever put boron in your pop-up fertilizer. I repeat, do not put boron in your pop-up fertilizer. Thank you. This has been a public service announcement. <laugh>, uh, you will see the house burn down.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Oh yeah. Definitely one you want to avoid.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Uh, anyways, back to the enzymes. It’s, it’s over my head.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh yeah. It’s definitely over my
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Head, but it works. They’ve got it in zinc, uh, manganese now they’ve got dry P and k, it’s got the ends up in it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah. Really, really hot on this ends up. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
So we’ll see where they go. Uh, I think they’ve got a, since they bought talc QSA, now we’re looking at a, a talc blend with enzymes in it.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah. And I think they’re gonna be bringing something, you know, pretty unique to the market there.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Right. Um, you know, we’re talking dry planter box treatment that’s open to everybody. Whether you have a pop-up system, a two by two system, nothing, uh, it gives you, gives you an option to put that stuff on there. Uh, one thing I’m excited about is putting it on wheat.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It makes an easy, easy way to put it on there when we don’t have anything else to put on
Speaker 2 (11:22):
There. Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, if kind of incorporating these things into talc and, you know, making a real loaded up talc blend that you’re, you’re gonna put talc on your seat anyway. At least you should be. And, um, this is at least a good opportunity for guys to get some nutrients in there, you know? Wow. Not, maybe not being equipped with equipment to put on a popup plug,
Speaker 1 (11:47):
But, uh, I always think about what my friend Dr. Eric at Farm Talk said, uh, talc is meant to make the seed flow. Yeah. Do not make your talc decision based on what’s in it. Make sure that the seed will flow. Oh. So, uh, that’s something I wanna make sure we try first, you know, check singulation, make sure we’re not screwing up our seed flow. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, actually I think that’s what it’s called. Seed flows ink. Oh
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, you’re right. It’s,
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Oh, anyways, um, it’s always great for SEO. Yeah. Uh, no, our, we wanna make sure that, uh, your seed will flow through the planter. You’re not sacrificing your singulation and spacing. Uh, just to put something else in there, because singulation and spacing pay dividends every day, no matter what popup you’re using, no matter what seed you’re planting popular or, uh, ululation and spacing pay. So before we get too deep into talcs, which I know that we’re with brand buying talc USA, I know we’ve got a whole wormhole we can go down on the whole talc thing. Yeah. And I think we’re gonna have to bring somebody in to talk about that, because that gets deep in a hurry, but Yeah, sure does. Um, for now, back on, uh, back to our pop-up discussion. Uh, so zinc, zinc is very important for early, early plant development. Uh, especially in corn. We use ends up zinc. We’ve used 9% for years. Uh, I think you’re doing good with either one. You’re at least making a step in the right direction. But from the testing we’ve done over the past few years ends up seems to be the, the better choice of the two.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah. Yeah. It definitely seems to be the winner coming to
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Zinc. Yeah. Um, one thing that dad has liked to put on for years, especially on soybeans, is 3% calcium. Uh, I have never tested the calcium. We’re putting on a pint of 3% calcium, so it does not cost a whole lot. Uh, we usually raise good soybeans with good nodulation. I don’t argue with dad. That’s what we do. Uh, we also put a pint in with the corn. Uh, we have good results with our pop-ups. So I haven’t argued with him about it. I don’t actually know what he’s trying to accomplish with the, with the calcium that he’s putting in there. But I know, uh, it can create kind of a false, uh, what do I wanna say? More of a alkaline, you know, system right there close to the seed. You’re kind of, you’re kind of tricking the pH just in that small area, but you’re putting on such a low dose, you know, 3% of a pint.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah. I mean, it’s not, not
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Much. It’s not crazy. And
Speaker 2 (14:37):
That’s everything that we’re, you know, that we’re incorporating in starter. It’s small amounts.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Right. Um, but I know a lot of the starter blends that you can just buy right off the shelf, you know, already pre-blended will have calcium in them. So that was just something I wanted, wanted to mention. Um, we kind of just blend our own, kind of making our own specialty blend. We put a little bit of manganese and a little bit of copper in there. I like to have a little bit of copper, um, in a few places just trying to create that cell wall strength. Uh, right. Nobody likes down corn. Nobody likes beans that fall over. Uh, just putting that little bit of copper in there. Uh, especially on wheat. We did some foliar copper. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, our standability has been superior. Oh
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah. That it, I think, I think the copper piece has been an integral roll around here since we’ve really started incorporating
Speaker 1 (15:30):
It has helped standability quite a bit. Uh, and
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It’s pretty,
Speaker 1 (15:35):
It’s what? It’s pretty, oh, it’s beautiful. If you put one drop in a thousand gallon, it’ll turn it royal blue. Yeah. That’s crazy. Um, but no, it, and mind you, it does not take much copper.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
No, it does not.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
But really the thought behind our copper that we’re putting in there is a, is is for cell wall Street. We’re trying to keep standability as high as possible. And I just kind of skated over manganese. Um, manganese is something that we’ve used for years. Uh, we always used it in a foliar application when we were spraying Roundup and a few years ago we put, was it eight ounces in furrow? Yep. Eight ounces of 6% in furrow. Uh, and then cut our foliar rate in half, I believe. Yeah. We went from a quart to a pint. Yep, yep. And great results as far as, uh, keeping yellow flash out of the beans. Right. Um, holding the yield where it was. And you’re getting, I would rather give my plant small doses of nutrients constantly than one big slug once a year.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Right. Yep. And that’s, that’s, uh, and that’s just all in how you manage things.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Right. And we’re using clean products either way. So, you know, eight ounces of manganese is not gonna hurt your, not gonna hurt your in furrow program. So we kind of moved some things around from going all foliar to, you know, maybe we split ’em up and go some in sidedress, some in furrow. Um, but that way you’re using so much less, you’re not, you’re not trying to make that plant swallow so much nutrient at one time.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Right. Yeah. And that’s, that’s also why we favor kind of the way we do things. Going, you know, running in for running a popup fertilizer and then coming back on a, a, uh, side dress pass. Again, we have multiple opportunities to get in there and really feed the crop.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Right. So, uh, this is not one that I run in furrow much, but it’s one that I believe in wholeheartedly. It’s the cheapest fix you’ll ever make. And that is molybdenum. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I mean, we’re running four ounces of molybdenum every time we put nitrogen on and our nitrogen use sufficiency is awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah. And that’s, that’s a newer piece for us within the last few years, but it’s, it’s definitely made the difference. Say that, and it’s a simple low use, straight product toss in on nitrogen application. It, I least, I, I’d at least recommend try.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah. I mean, you’re talking a couple bucks an acre for four, uh, four ounces. It, it’s really a no-brainer for all the guys that have used it from, I mean, guys that are spraying alfalfa, putting it on corn, we’re putting it on soybeans to help utilize the nitrogen that the soybeans are great in themselves. Yep. Um, so yeah, just anytime we’re putting nitrogen on, we try to tie nitrogen bore on and molybdenum together every single time. Uh, and sulfur, uh, there’s always a sulfur piece to it also. I just almost don’t even think about that. ’cause nitrogen, sulfur comes frequently.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It’s, uh, yeah, that’s just a big piece of the pie as well.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
But we try to tie those, try to tie those together to, uh, ’cause they all work together in the plant. Right. Just, just the way that they’re making, uh, proteins and stuff. They need all those components. And the molybdenum acts as a, it just makes your nitrogen so much more efficient. So, uh, molybdenum is one that we run in our two by two, uh, ran it in our strip-till pass in the past. Uh, and we always run it in our side dress. Uh, not one that I’m a huge fan of in furrow, but I wanted to bring it up while we were talking about nutrition. Uh, ’cause the next, the next three things we get into here are, are kind of different. They’re not exactly on the nutrition side where everybody thinks when they go pop-up fertilizer.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Oh, yeah. So within the last few years, you know, really, uh, we’ve been incorporating the biological piece into our popup program. We’ve been running 4 0 1 from BW Fusion, getting that carbon load in there and, uh, really just want to feed the soil.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Right. Right. So we’re running, like you said, we’re running environ knock 4 0 1 from BW Fusion. And it’s great. We’ve, we’ve got videos on it. We’ve explained it on the podcast, I believe before just all the, uh, different strains of biology that are in there that are helping to solubilize, uh, potassium phosphorus. We’re bringing nitrogen out of the air. Uh, we’re breaking nitrogen out of the, you know, the corn stalks or the beans stubble that was there from last year. We’re trying to use the nutrients that are there. Um, and I think, I think that’s an important piece that a lot of us forget about is that we’re just trying to dump more on trying to get, you know, higher yields. Well, maybe we should utilize some of what we’ve dumped on in the past.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah. I mean, the whole, you have to look at it as you’re gonna feed your soil. The soil feeds the plant versus your, versus the mindset of I’m going out here feeding a plant.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Right. Uh, so, so the biology piece has been interesting for us. Um, I think we’ll probably do a whole episode on just biology and kind of how it’s used on our farm, how we see it being used in the future. Um, we’re playing with some compost, trying to see what kind of biology we can create there. Um, ’cause instead of putting on a pint, you’re talking putting on 2000 pounds. I mean Right. You’re talking a volume difference there. But for going in furrow 4 0 1 has been a, been a pretty sweet deal for us. Um, and Zach talked about carbon there just a second ago. Um, so our carbon comes in the form of sugar, uh, which we’re just using melted sugar, uh, four pound the gallon. So we’re putting a quar that’s a quart per pound, uh, pretty easy to use. It’s dirt
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Cheap. Oh yeah. I, I think you’re crazy enough to throw some sugar in there if you got a growing, growing crop out there. Get some sugar out there.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah. Yeah. We also did a video on that this week about, uh, how, you know, photosynthesis works and literally the whole world runs on the sugar made by plants.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Exactly. I mean, they, they call plant, you know, call plants sugar factories and give it to
Speaker 1 (22:12):
’em. Right. And the sugar also helps stimulate the biology. Yeah. It gives, it a, gives it a carbon source to hold onto and heat. Um, so we talked about, we talked about sugar as a carbon source. We also talk about humic and fulvic acids. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, uh, we’ve been, we’ve been playing with the humic convic acid thing. There is so many humic and fulvic acids out there and absolutely like no regulation. Yeah. You look at a, you look at a 4%, you look at a 32% and 11%, you’re like, whoa, what is going on here? And all of ’em say that they’re stronger than the other. You know, I, uh, that connector o that we tried this year, I’m thinking it’s a three or 4%. And he is like, oh yeah, we’re twice the strength of this other one that’s an 11%. And I’m like, how do you know? And he says, you don’t, you literally, unless you break them down in a lab, there’s no regulation of what you put on that label. Um, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And that’s kind of shady.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
It is. It is. I mean, you’ve got uptake starter from brand. Uh, it’s like a really dark chocolate milk. Yeah. Uh, you got HF 12 from VW Fusion. It’s dark, but not as dark as that. Uh, we’ve ran Spectra for a while. It’s almost a honey color.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah. There is just the broadest range.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah. And then you get connector O, which is the one, uh, that, that we tried this year worked pretty decent. Um, it’s like almost water. It’s a pure fulvic though. It has no humid component.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Right, right. And you can tell right away when you crack a jug, what’s the dominant in there if it’s got those? And
Speaker 1 (24:00):
You, I, I still haven’t decided if I want the combination. I’m a diversity guy. I like, I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket like we talked about with the, you know, putting foliar nutrients. We go in furrow, we go side dressing. You know, I like to spread things out rather than giving, you know, everything one thing. But the fulvic acid makes a lot of sense to me. Uh, this is another thing we need to get on, uh, a whole podcast is trying to break down humic and fulvic acids. Understanding how CECs work, uh, expanding the CEC capacity of your soil, or at least just in that small area, to make sure that the nutrients that you’re putting on do not leak. So I mean, if you’re putting on an NPK starter, you put some humic and volvic acid in there, you’re actually going to have those ions, uh, attach to that humic and volvic acid and be held there in a usable form where they could attach to your soil and get tied up, uh, by biology or just by chemistry, depending on, uh, what the pH of your soil is.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So that’s where, that’s where the humic and volvic acids, I think, really play a part. Uh, they also feed the biology. Biology is making humic and volvic acids. It’s a big, it’s a big overwhelming cycle. And the deeper you get into it, the deeper you get into it. And it just is,
Speaker 2 (25:27):
It’s a rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
It’s why I don’t have any hair now.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah. It’s not genetic
Speaker 1 (25:32):
<laugh>. Oh, lord. What’s the last thing we got on our list here? Oh, plant gross regulators. Oh my
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Gosh. You talk about, who just talked about a rabbit hole? That’s a whole nother rabbit hole in and of itself is PGR.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Oh, yeah. Because what’s a PGR? I don’t know. Right. Nobody does. Nobody
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Knows
Speaker 1 (25:51):
<laugh> there. I mean, you got hormones. Yeah. You got vitamins. You got what? Anything that regulates growth. I mean, why isn’t nitrogen a PGR? Literally, you can change the height of your wheat by how much nitrogen you put on. You can change how your corn grows depending on what type of nitrogen you put on. Okay. So, I mean, when we talk about plant growth regulators, we’re usually talking about like cytokinins uh, jib acid, uh, I-B-A-I-A-A. Uh, those things we’re thinking more hormones, that style of stuff. But what about vitamin B12? Yeah. Old Randy Blackburn and farm science man, <laugh>, he just sent us down the strangest rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
This happens a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Oh, it does. It does. Um, and the deeper our understanding gets, you know, we’re thinking about, um, like you add nitrogen to the plant, it does this that we see, okay, that’s fine. What’s it actually doing? Yeah. You know, oh, we’re actually adding nitrogen. We is signaling this bacteria that does this to this receptor, you know, does this to chlorophyll, and then the plant actually does this, you know? Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
It’s not a cut and dry process.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right. It’s not like ab there’s like 15 steps that get you to what you actually see.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Right. I mean, what you, what most people are actually seeing is in, in what they’re thick and is, well, I put nitrogen on my corn picked nitrogen up, now it’s green.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Right. So what hormones were created, what vitamins were created, what was created in that plant to make it green? I mean, obviously chlorophyll Yeah. You need some sun. Yeah. You know, that’s all of that’s happening. But, you know, when you look at it from a, uh, almost like a metabolism standpoint. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, that’s where it gets interesting. Uh, just this is just more of a thought provoking conversation than it is anything else. We’re not Right. We’re not telling you to go out and dump that stuff on your, on your crop, but, but fertilizer salesmen are meant to sell fertilizer. Yep. They wanna sell you in p and k. They don’t care how it works in the plant. They just want it to, you know, go on your field. You raise a good crop. Yep. And that’s what you want. You wanna raise a good crop. I mean, that’s
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Everybody’s goal.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
But in times when you’ve got, you know, high price fertilizer paying $500 a ton for, uh, 28, maybe we should figure out why things are working, how they work, and can we use something that’s a little bit cheaper?
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Exactly. Like, how can we, how can we hone in on specific things to increase yield?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Right, right. Or maintain yield. Yeah. Everybody talks about increasing yield. Well, can we maintain yield and cut our costs?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Exactly. Yeah. Because we’re still
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Win. No, we don’t have the answer to that. But, uh, stay tuned for episode 387 and we will give you the keys to that. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That’s right.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
<laugh>. Uh, no, that’s something we’re working on in our own farm. I mean, input costs are ridiculous as a, I mean, as salespeople as farmers, that if you deny that, you’re, you’re insane. Oh, yeah. Um, when you’re to the point where you have to raise the bushels, you know, you’re, you’re raising 180, 190 bushel corn to break even. That’s not fun. No. I mean, it’s not in a year where you raise 250 bushel corn, that’s fine. This year was fine. But when you get into, you know, a year where, oh, hey, I’m at 180 bushel corn, which, you know, 15 years ago was a thumbs up. Now it’s a thumbs down and a difficult conversation with the banker
Speaker 2 (29:43):
<laugh>. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. That, that, that break in break even number tends to keep going up.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah. I know there’s a lot of good agronomist, uh, advisors out there, and you have to believe them. I mean, those guys, those guys are in it for you. Uh, when you win, they win. And, and that’s how we try to operate. But then I know there’s some other wild cards out there that wanna sell you a bag of seeds, some dry fertilizer, and every jug they can as your crop grows. Oh, yeah. Uh, it’s, it’s just something that I think we all need to, I’ll need to hone in more on, I know we’ve been guilty of it, um, trying things in season, which is fine. You’ve gotta try things, but Oh yeah. You gotta, we need to understand how they work.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes. Um, you gotta understand how things are affecting your crop before you crack that jug open. I’ve never seen this product before. Let’s know what, let’s know what it is. What’s in there, what’s it gonna do?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
It’s the miracle products that guys show up on or show up with and you’re like, yeah, I’ll try 10 gallon. Then you have negative yield results. Yeah. And it’s like, oh, I had already put that on and I just overloaded my crop.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
That was a bad choice.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah. It’s just all about doing your research guys and understanding, you know, and really it all starts at, at a soil test level too.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
It does. It does. You need to know what you’re starting with. Um, and then plant tissue testing something we do not take enough time doing. Right.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And it very integral part of things like it, you really should be out there doing it.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Right. Um, at the Agri Gold, uh, training we went to, I cannot remember what that guy was selling. What the, the,
Speaker 2 (31:28):
The the leaf
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Guy? Yeah, the leaf gun, whatever it was. Leaf Tech. Yeah. That what it was called. Yeah. Okay. Pretty sure. Look up Leaf Tech. It’s awesome. And I think everybody should own one. I don’t get paid by that guy, but I think if he’s remotely close on your values or can at least give you an accurate number every time, whether it’s a one or a 1000, uh, you know, he’s scanning leaves. It takes three seconds to scan a leaf and in five minutes you’ve got your results. Guys, we could be out skiing leaves at nine o’clock in the morning and by noon we could be sitting in the sprayer fixing the problems.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah. I think what that guy brought to the table, you know, is gonna change to the industry to be honest with you. Um, that is leaf tech ag, leaf tech ag.com. Take a look at that thing. And it’s interesting, I think being able to get a quick result, walk through your field, just, I forget what the cycle time was on how quick you could flip a sample,
Speaker 1 (32:30):
But it was like, I think it was like three seconds on the leaf and then five minutes to get a sample.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah. But you could pull a sample every
Speaker 1 (32:37):
15 seconds.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah. So crazy. I think fast. Yeah. And, uh, no, I think that is awesome. I mean, I, ’cause you can versus us going out there pulling leaves, stuffing ’em in a bag. I mean, we’re, we’re fortunate because we have a lab close to us. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
What, 15 minutes away.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Exactly. But a lot of guys aren’t in that boat. So then what are you doing? You’re mailing it off to a lab somewhere. And so by the time you pull that leaf, put it in the mail, send it off, get your results back, things have changed drastically. Even if that only took four days.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Right. And you know, Dowdy has talked for years that why aren’t labs the same? You know, you send ’em into two different labs, you get two different readings. Uh, what, what is actually correct? Uh, I’m kind of under the impression that who cares? I mean, if you have your set of data, he’s come up with his data points to where Yep. You know, I need this number. Well, as long as you’re using the same lab all the time.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah. You have a baseline. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
If you create your own data set, which is Leaf Tech, I mean, you could create such a massive database.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Oh yeah. There’s no, there’s no limits with that though. I
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Would be in an Excel sheet head.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Oh my gosh. Lemme get started.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah. So I think, I think the tissue sample portion of it is important.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Uhhuh,
Speaker 1 (34:02):
<affirmative>. Uh, and that’s, that’s gonna be revolutionary if it works. I have no idea how we got tissue sampling from
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Oh. Uh, talking about soil testing being, uh, where you should start as making nutrition calls.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Okay. Anyways, <laugh>, uh, I guess back to popups, uh,
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Put ’em on. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
They, uh, in most cases they work. Yeah. You get later in the season, your NP ks are not as important, but your plant growth regulators can still be just as important. So that’s where building a, a plan to start with is important. Understanding what each component does and that, okay, I’m planting corn end of May. Maybe I don’t need this 3 18 18. Right. You know, I’ve already got a good fertility program, but I wanna leave in that humic fulvic acid in my biology because that’s gonna help me throughout the entire season. Exactly. So you, you gotta have a little bit of a
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah. You gotta establish a game plan for sure. Right. ’cause I mean, if you’re, if, if you’re a guy that wants to go out there and plant early April, we’re still dealing with pool wetter soils, then you’re dealing with a whole different set of circumstances than the guy that isn’t gonna plant till mothers.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Right. Right. And that’s a whole, yeah. That’s a whole different deal. Uh, for one, your biology is not awake at all when it’s that cold. Right. Uh, your phosphorus is not available whatsoever. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um, we didn’t even get into the ortho versus poly. Oh, yeah. Um, I recommend using a hundred percent ortho. It just
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Makes sense.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Or for what you’re trying to do, you know, well, 80 percent’s ready now and 20% later. Well, I already put on what I want to be there when there’s 20% later. You know, I want it all to be ready now, otherwise I’ll just put on 80% of what I wanted. Yep. And use a hundred percent anyway. Uh, I don’t want a slow release popup. It’s literally called a popup, not a Yeah. You know, season long starter. No, it’s a fricking starter. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
It’s not an ender. It’s there to get your plant out of the ground and give it that early season vigor.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Right. You’re, you’re trying to get that plant out of the ground. You’re not trying to, you know, change the whole world with it. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
But you gotta, you gotta start well, to finish. Well, and that’s, yep. That’s really what we’re trying to do is get those plants off to a good start. So we covered a lot of stuff here today. Uh, did not get very deep on anything, but I think that Zach and I sitting here looking at each other, realize that we can go pretty deep on all of this.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Oh, for sure. Yeah. Um, I think that’s something we’ll do. Like Evan said, we can, uh, we can get into an episode and really dive into like hemic and fss, uh, biology. I mean, we could do, we could do 20 episodes on biology, I think. Yeah. Um, just in all the manners and ways you can use it and how it’s affecting the crop. But no, we could definitely get into a deeper dive on this, but we have to start somewhere. And I think popup was a good place to start, especially because that’s gonna be one of the decisions you guys are gonna be making soon.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’ve talked about seed. Once you get your seed picked out, time to figure out what kind of, what kind of fertilizer you wanna put on with it, uh, to get her to the best start. And, uh, then I think we move on to chemistry.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Fertilizer, uh, herbicides and
Speaker 2 (37:36):
What we, the fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Oh Lord, you’re talking over our head. We just spray for a living.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Yep. We don’t know how it does it. We just know what happens. <laugh>, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
No. Uh, that’s a decision that’s hard to make, especially this time of year. You don’t know when you’re gonna get to plant. If you’re doing your own spraying. You don’t know when, how big a window you’re gonna get to spray, what weeds you’re gonna be fighting. Um, everything in the spraying game in January is, is based on past history. So,
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Oh yeah. It’s, uh, always a fun, always a fun time. We sit down and put this really nice elaborate plan together. We get everything laid out in the barn really nice. And then, uh, yeah. By may you just throw a grenade and all that. ’cause you change so quickly by Right. Environmental factors and plant date and everything else. So it’s, it’s fun this time of year. Fun. You get to lay out this nice, elaborate plan and you try to follow it as closely as you can, but you always have to be willing to make adjustments and changes.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah. Yeah. There’s always a lot of adjustments and changes, but, uh, well, Zach, I think we’ve rambled on for pretty good. Yeah. Job here. So, um, thanks for listening guys. Be sure to like, and follow us on, uh, on your favorite pod catcher. Uh,
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Get us on them socials.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, yeah. You know, Facebook X, Instagram.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Are we on X?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
We’re on X. We don’t post on X, but we’re on X. Give
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Us a follow out. We might start posting on X.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
We should. We should. Yeah. Because X is way cooler than Twitter.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
It is
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Cool. Not that I used either one of ’em, but it just sounds
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, but you gotta be on it, man.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
You gotta be on it. Uh, we’re on the talk, right?
Speaker 2 (39:22):
We are on the TikTok. TikTok at, uh, easy custom.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Alright. And, uh, leave us a Google review. Um, just please be nice, easy custom mag on Google.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah. I mean, give us, give us a, give us a review. Five stars. Great.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
<laugh>. Great. Well thanks for listening guys. We’ll see you next time. Out in the field.