Higher Yields in 2023

We are almost to the end of the NH3 season here at SFG. After another week or so we will be shifting gears to final fall projects and looking into planning the 2023 growing season. Always our goal is to increase yields every year and we accomplish this by capitalizing on variables we can control. We know we were dry this year but there’s no doubt in my mind that higher management paid. Whether it be fungicide keeping plants greener longer or sulfur making nitrogen more efficient in the plant, where we had this extra management, we found more bushels.

Items to consider for next year that we saw positive results are Sulfur, Foliar feeding on soybeans and fungicide on highly producing fields. I tend to lean towards pushing the high yielding fields instead of trying to “fix” the bad fields. Once Phosphorus, Potassium and lime are at optimum levels the next step for higher yields is Sulfur. We know Sulfur helps nitrogen metabolism and there is a 10:1 ratio needed for optimum nitrogen uptake in corn. On the fields that are producing well we often see 10-15 bushels better once adding Sulfur and is a very good ROI. Sulfur mixes easily with many application options we have at SFG. The best option is applying in season along with Urea when corn is about knee high.

We found that using foliar feed on soybeans and fungicide kept those soybeans alive longer to catch the late rains. Riser is a product we tried with foliar feed, and I was impressed. Riser is a starter fertilizer so it has some N,P, and K but also has a micronutrient package. The rate is higher with this product, so you get more pounds of fertilizer compared to other foliar products. For fungicide in corn, I always pick the hybrids that have a good response or fields that are high yielding. This year we had little disease pressure, but the plant health benefits still shined. Plant stay-green improved and standability was better in fields that were sprayed. It’s sometimes hard to spray that fungicide when there aren’t the visual issues but if we pick and choose the fields and hybrids the risk of not getting a return is much lower.

As always give any of us a call at SFG to talk about products that worked well this year. Our goal is to provide the top products and service so our customers continue to grow throughout 2023.