What fertilizer is actually used vs what is applied in any given year can be very different. These are just general guidelines and they don’t take into account other factors that will influence your nutrient use efficiency.
Generally speaking, the use efficiency of all the nutrients is lower than one might expect. But if you visualize one acre of ground, the top 6 inches is roughly 2 million pounds of soil. Even 400 pounds of fertilizer in 2 million pounds of soil is a relatively small amount in any given year.
Source of nutrient can play a big role in your use efficiency. What source of Sulphur are you using? Elemental, 20-0-0-24, AMS. The form can make a big difference AMS is more prone to leaching than ATS, as an example, elemental forms can take years to be available vs AMS and ATS are more readily available to the plant.
So we know we have some issues when it comes to use efficiency of the fertilizer that we apply. When it comes to feeding the crop what it needs when it needs it what other issues are there?
Hint: 4R’s Right product, right rate, right time, right place. We have added a 5th R…the right technology.
