TSM® March 2004 Newsletter

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MicroStart 60 Test Plots By Randy Simonson, Technical Services Manager

Other Articles in This Issue: We Like To Win "New" TSM® Micro-Boost Traylor Fertilizer Plots TSM® Celebrates 20 Years

For the last couple of years we have used MicroStart 60 (analysis 3-3-3) which is pelletized chicken manure on some plots at our main TSM® Research Farm.  Below are two charts with a lot of information and they show some interesting things. One chart is for Area A where corn was this past year, and the other is for Area D where the soybeans were planted.  We have soil tests for 2002 and 2003 for both areas, but only the soil tests for 2004 have been taken on Area D so far.  The amount of MicroStart 60 applied is noted for each plot and the yields of each plot. I probably need to say something about the treatments before we start analyzing the plots. TSM® E, the treatment that usually does the best in our plots and it is what most farmers use.  Thus, TSM® E is what we normally use to compare everything else to.  TSM® MM is a combination of TSM® E and MicroStart 60. The amount of MicroStart 60 can vary according to the soil test.  However, so far in these plots 185 lbs MicroStart 60/acre was applied when going to corn and 125 lbs MicroStart 60/acre when going to soybeans.  TSM® 250 and TSM® 500 are simply the addition of 250 lbs. MicroStart 60/acre and 500 lbs MicroStart 60/acre, respectively. TSM® +100, TSM® +200 and TSM® +300 refer to the pounds to balance index for phosphorus we use in our recommendations.  Then we use this index to make a MicroStart 60 recommendation.  As you can see from the tables, the higher the index we use, the more manure is applied, but it also depends on the P1 soil test.  TSM® Max recommends enough MicroStart 60 to supply all the nitrogen needed for the crop as long as the P1 test is below 300 lbs/acre. In general, as manure is added, the soil tests go up.  However, there are some exceptions.  The soil tests from 2003 to 2004 actually go down for treatments TSM® +100 and TSM® +200 in Area D.  This could be attributed to the cycling of nutrients in a soil. Secondly, the yields tended to go up as more manure was added but not always.  If we look at the corn yields in Area A, we see the yields increasing up to the TSM® +100 then they go down as more manure is added.  On Area D where the soybeans were grown this year, the yields vary quite a bit. The best plot was the TSM® Max with the most MicroStart 60 applied.  It yielded 58.3 bu/acre.  TSM® E with no manure applied yielded 56 bu/acre which was better than most of the treatments that received manure.

Area A     2002     Soybeans
Treatment	Soil Test lbs/A P1         K		MicroStart 60 Application lbs/A	Yield  (bu/A) Kruger K-3777
TSM® E	33	368	0	69
TSM® MM	38	311	125	68
TSM® 250	31	368	250	70
TSM® 500	32	387	500	69
TSM® +100	32	366	6,925	73
TSM® +200	27	346	10,525	72
TSM® +300	36	332	13,213	71
TSM® Max	34	372	16,400	72

Area A     2003     Corn
Treatment	Soil Test lbs/A P1         K		MicroStart 60 Application lbs/A	Yield  (bu/A) Mycogen 2A791    2A812     Mean
TSM® E	34	329	0	195	195	195
TSM® MM/b>	46	336	185	190	201	196
TSM® 250/b>	29	288	250	197	195	196
TSM® 500	24	271	500	196	207	202
TSM® +100	57	367	6,688	204	224	214
TSM® +200	63	377	9,563	206	219	213
TSM® +300	73	368	11,413	204	210	207
TSM® Max	87	392	13,000	202	208	205

Area D     2002
Treatment	Soil Test lbs/A P1         K		MicroStart 60 Application lbs/A	No Crop
TSM® E	77	468	0
TSM® MM	77	455	185
TSM® 250	83	463	250
TSM® 500	105	488	500
TSM® +100	73	439	5,475
TSM® +200	91	462	7,388
TSM® +300	70	455	11,813
TSM® Max	69	462	13,000

Area D     2003     Soybeans
Treatment	Soil Test lbs/A P1         K		MicroStart 60 Application lbs/A	Yield  (bu/A) Kruger K-377RR
TSM® E	89	440	0	56.0
TSM® MM	89	460	125	52.8
TSM® 250	98	473	250	52.9
TSM® 500	117	448	500	56.7
TSM® +100	129	493	500	52.7
TSM® +200	128	551	3,225	53.8
TSM® +300	140	511	5,863	56.1
TSM® Max	172	532	17,600	58.3

©  TSM Services, Inc.

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