Growers make nutrient management decisions all season long. This includes the period just before and after harvest, when they need to decide whether a fall dry fertilizer application makes sense.

Growers who do decide to make a fall application face a significant challenge when it comes to dry fertilizer efficiency. This is because applied phosphorus and potassium fertilizers can be easily tied up by the soil chemistry. Even with the best program, only an estimated 10-30% of applied phosphorus and 20-60% of applied potassium will be available to their crop in the spring. This level of inefficiency is not good for the grower or the crop.  

One way growers can better ensure that they are getting more out of the nutrition they apply is by treating their dry fertilizer with Titan XC, a biocatalyst technology that is specifically formulated to increase nutrient availability from dry fertilizers. This can have a positive impact on a grower’s yield, as seen in the summary of corn, soybean and wheat trials from 2010-2019 below.

Our latest webinar, "Enhancing Dry Fertilizer Efficiency with Titan XC," is now available to watch online. 

During this on-demand webinar, you will:

• Learn how to maximize the efficiency of your fall dry fertilizer application

• Understand how incorporating Titan XC into your dry fertilizer application can lead to a greater return on investment and greater yield opportunities

• See how Titan XC has performed in corn, soybean and wheat trials

Our latest webinar, "Opportunities to Influence Early Season Crop Health," is now available to watch online. 

During the on-demand crop health webinar, you will learn:

• What steps you can take to optimize early season crop health

• How Accomplish LM, Extract PBA and Titan XC can fit into your growing program this spring to maximize yield outcomes this season 

You'll see how each technology works to increase nutrient availability and uptake for improved plant health early in the growing season, which can translate into better crop health and higher yields at the end of the season.

Broken O Ranch in Augusta, Montana, is a farming operation that grows wheat, barley, alfalfa, flax, canola and chickpeas on about 12,000 irrigated acres.

A big concern at the ranch is how to handle crop residue without burning it. Most states around Montana have banned all burning of residue. Dale Clark, the farm manager at Broken O Ranch, feels that it's only a matter of time before the practice is banned in Montana as well. But he also has bigger issues with the practice.

“Burning residue not only takes time and labor, but it also adversely affects the availability of soil moisture because the ground becomes harder after burning," says Dale. "More than that, it negatively impacts nutrient availability. Nutrients are lost when ash is blown by the wind and redeposited or carried off.”

"At Broken O, we’ve been looking for a sustainable solution that we can implement right now,” he says.

Using Titan XC to improve nutrient release from dry fertilizer can make a big difference when it comes to wheat germination.

In this demonstration, seventeen MESZ fertilizer prills were mixed into field soil in each tray. Prior to mixing in the fertilizer, Titan XC was sprayed on prills in the treated tray. As you can see, wheat germination is significantly advanced in the tray on the right that received the Titan XC treatment. 

Trial results from North Carolina show how Accomplish LM can offer growers wheat yield gains when broadcast in the spring. 

In a wheat trial conducted last season, Accomplish LM was applied at 2 quarts/acre in the spring along with a nitrogen urease inhibitor and UAN broadcast at 20 gallons/acre. The treated part of the field showed a wheat yield increase of 8.13 bushels/acre, compared to no treatment (UAN alone).

In this Kansas wheat trial, Titan XC provided a yield and ROI advantage when used with a banded dry fertilizer application.

Titan XC was applied at 1 and 2 pints per ton on MicroEssentials SZ (MESZ), which was placed in-furrow. Compared to the untreated MESZ, both rates of Titan XC raised wheat yields, with a 7 bu/a yield increase at the 1 pint rate and an 8.8 bu/a increase at the 2 pint rate. With wheat prices estimated at $3.75/bu, the return on investment with Titan XC in this trial ranges from $24.55 per acre (1 pint rate) to $29.60 per acre (2 pint rate).

After a fertilizer application, hungry crops must wait for nutrient mineralization to occur before the applied nutrients are available to use. To speed up and enhance this process, growers can utilize Extract PBA as a nutrient release tool to improve nutrient availability and uptake. As seen in this winter wheat trial, the result is noticeably better plant performance when compared to plants grown on untreated acres.

The trial, which was conducted in heavily manured fields in Ohio, looked at the effect of adding 1 gallon per acre of Extract PBA to a grower's existing fertilizer program of 28% UAN. Wheat plants in the untreated plot were planted on October 24, 2016, while plants in the Extract-treated plot were planted a month later, on November 25, 2016. Photos were taken in April 2017.

In this trial from Attica, Indiana, Extract PBA brought in big returns on two crops in the same year.

Extract PBA was applied in the fall of 2015 on soybean stubble, and winter wheat was planted. At harvest, the crop planted where Extract was applied had an 8 bushel per acre yield advantage.

In 2016, the grower planted double crop soybeans in the same field, again gaining a yield advantage (5 bushels per acre) where Extract PBA had been applied the previous year. The combined ROI to the grower was $69/acre. 

Burndown season is here, and that offers growers a great opportunity to benefit from an application of Extract PBA on each acre. 

Below is a photo taken in early March from an ongoing wheat trial in Hardin, Kentucky. As you can see, the plant on the right–where Extract PBA was applied with a pre-emerge herbicide–is better positioned to realize top-end yield potential.