Banding Phosphorus Benefits

By: Russ Quinn

(Progressive Farmer image by David L. Hansen)

OMAHA (DTN) — Plenty of phosphorus (P) fertilizer application is still broadcast, but more farmers are moving toward banding or knifing in their fertilizer needs directly into the soil. The appeal of this process would be improved fertilizer efficiency, but it does also create a need for specialized application equipment.

Ted Hamer, Traer, Iowa, bands in P as well as potash (K) on his strip-till corn acres. “We put it in the strip pre-plant and then plant on the strip,” Hamer told DTN. “I like it for the added nitrogen to get corn started.”

RESEARCHING P

Charles Shapiro, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension soil scientist, has done several long-term studies looking at knifing in P. His unpublished data has yielded mixed results, but some general trends can be gleaned from his studies conducted at the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory located near Concord in northeastern Nebraska.

One study, done since 2000, examines the effect of P rate and placement — one as a starter, another broadcast and a third knifed into the row. All three treatments used rates of 34 pounds of P per acre, 68 lbs. of P/acre and 10-34-0.

Shapiro knifed in P fertilizer between the 30-inch rows after planting once the dryland corn is a few inches tall. He found higher yields in the knife treatment compared to the starter fertilizer and the broadcast application, though just slightly higher.