EASY Experiences

William Mann, EASY N cereals, Hamilton

Good returns from EASY N

Hamilton farmer, William Mann, achieved excellent returns after topdressing his wheat crops with Incitec Pivot Fertilisers’ EASY N® liquid fertiliser.

“Topdressing with EASY N in 2007 certainly saved our Brennan wheat crop that really needed a boost,” William said.

“Applying EASY N was an effective solution when the crop became quite waterlogged and there was no way of using a ground rig while it was
sitting stagnant,” he said.

Hamilton Farm Supplies owner, Peter Osmond, advised William to apply EASY N at a rate of 30 L/ha to remedy the problem.

Peter said the crop, which was sown early in the season, had grown to the five-leaf stage when it was inundated with rain for about 10 days.

“Once the wheat had turned yellow and was showing signs of recovery as the
soil dried out, I recommended William apply EASY N by air because it wasn’t
possible to get access to the crop with a boomspray,” he said.

“After spraying a topdress application of EASY N, the crop was visibly greener
within seven days.”

He said EASY N had a marked effect on the crop’s quick recovery.

“Without the topdress application, the wheat would have been damaged and
the yield would have suffered,” he said.

Peter said a follow-up application of granular urea later in the season also
helped to capture the yield potential.

The 140 hectare crop of Brennan wheat, a dual purpose variety, yielded about
6 t/ha.

William said topdressing EASY N also significantly bolstered his Sentinel wheat
crop.

“It was a pretty ordinary crop, mainly owing to the variety and the time of sowing,” he said.

“After it stagnated in August, a good kick-along with EASY N was really needed.

“Once again, topdressing actually saved the crop and the strong grain price in 2007 and 2008 turned it into a reasonable gross profit for us,” he said.

Worthwhile investment

William said it was worthwhile taking the risk of topdressing EASY N and granular urea.

“With the way the season was going, we were going out on a limb topdressing
because we weren’t sure of a crop until we received 87 mm of rain in late October,” he said.

“It was lucky that we had invested as much in inputs as possible. The 135 hectare Sentinel wheat crop yielded about 3.3 t/ha.

William said topdressing can also help improve crop canopies.

“There was some evidence last season that topdressing can better control our crop canopy, while allowing us to better manage crops at the appropriate time.”

He added that topdressing was an important practice due to the heavy soil types on his farm.

Good responses to topdressing

Peter Osmond from Hamilton Farm Supplies said soils in the Hamilton area respond particularly well to topdressing applications.

“Frequent cropping with high yielding crops can lower the fertility status of soils, particularly in terms of nitrogen levels, so topdressing crops more often can improve yields,” Peter said.

“Over the years, I have found that it’s worthwhile investing in topdressing because the returns are so good when grain prices are high.”

He said topdressing with nitrogen had allowed William to effectively address uneven distribution of plant nutrients resulting from blocked fertiliser tines in a 13 hectare section of his Brennan wheat crop.

“The drill rows which had missed out on receiving fertiliser were conspicuously
yellow and well behind the rest of the crop.

“This indicated there was not a lot of naturally available nutrient in the paddock and also showed me that the crop was growing on the fertiliser applied,” he said.

Topdressing for fodder

Peter said he also advised William to topdress his silage paddocks about 10
to 12 weeks prior to cutting with Incitec Pivot Fertilisers’ HayBOOSTA® fertiliser.

“Topdressing with HayBOOSTA at rates between 150-200 kg/ha achieved great
results in the silage paddocks,” he said.

Topdressing tips

Peter Osmond from Hamilton Farm Supplies said he encouraged farmers to topdress winter cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, at the fully tillered stage.

“As a general practice, I recommend farmers topdress most cereal crops using EASY N at rates between 60 and 100 L/ha, which can be applied with a fungicide spray for the convenience of a one-pass operation,” Peter said.

“Alternatively, farmers can apply granular urea at rates between 60 and 100 kg/ha.

“Well managed crops with good potential certainly warrant the investment of topdressing,” he said.

He advised farmers to address any deficiencies during their topdress programs by conducting plant tissue testing to ascertain the fertility status of their crops.

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