Fertilizer 101

Managing Variables In A Crop Production System

If you’ve planted flowers, tended a garden or even grown plants inside your house, you have come up against some of the variables associated with “growing a crop.” Caring for a plant is a kind of partnership with nature filled with choices and consequences. Is my plant getting enough sunshine? Did I over-water? Is it getting the nutrients it needs?

Farmers deal with these issues on a grand scale and their livelihood, depends upon understanding the different factors that have an impact on the crops they grow.

• An Introduction to the 4Rs of Nutrient Stewardship

To understand how to best nourish their crops in an economical manner, farmers study soil types, soil pH, soil tilth (physical structure), nutrient levels, rainfall patterns, drainage and a host of other specific variables associated with a specific crop, whether fruit, vegetables, cotton, corn, wheat, or soybeans.

The overarching intent with any nutrient management effort is to get the right source of fertilizer at the right rate at the right time in the right place to optimize the genetic expression of the crop in the field. Scientists estimate that the genetic yield potential of corn, for instance, is about 500 bushels per acre. Real-world yields are never that high, of course, and the reason is that the crop faces various stresses during the growing season that rob it of genetic yield potential. Fertilizer application is intended to eliminate stress due to nutrient deficiency, and help the crop better withstand other stresses.