In this week's Agronomy Focus Video, we got down into a root pit with Mike Petersen Lead Scientist at Orthman Manufacturing, Inc. CVA's Innovation Agronomist, Mick Goedeken also joined in. The root pit featured was dug in our ACS Innovation Research Plot near Polk, Nebraska. We had used Orthman's 1tRIPr strip-till implement to place dry fertilizer approximately 6 inches below the soil surface in the future crop row. In the pit, we could see how that concentrated placement of fertilizer, especially phosphorus, led to a proliferation of corn roots in that high fertility area. We discussed our ability to fine-tune the 4Rs of nutrient management - right place, right rate, right time, right product - using strip-till.
We also looked at the concentration of roots between two corn rows compared to just below the plant in the row. That discussion highlighted the potential advantage of row placed fertilizer as opposed to fertilizer placed halfway between the rows. We especially pointed out the difference in nitrogen placement between a coulter cart applying UAN vs. the Y-Drop system. READ: www.cvacoop.com/blog/august-2...
Orthmans 1tRIPr: www.orthman.com/our-products.a...