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Pioneer Talks Crops
Time to Consider Side-Dress Nitrogen and Corn Fungicide Applications
GREG PFEFFER
DEXTER, MO.
Welcome to Pioneer Talks Crops. This information is provided by the Pioneer agronomist serving your community.
This year may be a good year to consider a late side-dress or pre-tassel application of nitrogen (N) in the north Delta. However, these late season N treatments should only be applied to high-yield fields, those with a yield potential greater than 170 bu/A. A pre-tassel application of N should be applied at about 2 weeks prior to tassel.
When the corn is 4 to 5 feet tall, tassel emergence is approximately 10 to 14 days away. Prior to a rainfall event or irrigation, 100 to 125 pounds of urea treated with AGROTAIN® can be applied to a firm and crusted soil, resulting in good N use efficiency. AGROTAIN is an excellent N stabilizer that reduces the amount of N loss through ammonia volatilization.
Rainfall or irrigation water moves the intact urea molecule into the soil, where soil microorganisms convert the molecule into ammonium and nitrate ions, the stable plant available forms. Urea applied after the dew has dried will usually result in less leaf margin burn.
We are also rapidly approaching optimum timing for corn fungicide applications. Fungicide use in corn has become a standard practice for growers wanting to achieve optimum yields. Some growers do not treat every acre of corn they have, but rather focus their attention on fields that might benefit most from fungicide applications.
I suggest that growers target their fungicide applications for fields with high residue, especially corn following corn. Growers may also want to target fields planted with hybrids that are weak in disease tolerance. Diseases such as grey leaf spot and northern leaf blight seem to be the most common in recent years.
Late-planted cornfields may also see a benefit from fungicide applications. In my experience, the fields that have a later planting date seem to have a higher incidence of disease pressure earlier in the grain filling period. Also, it would be wise to consider fungicide applications in areas that have a history of higher disease pressure such as low-lying areas or fields close to rivers where frequent leaf wetting would occur.
Agrotain® is a registered trademark of DuPont or its affiliates. ∆
GREG PFEFFER: Agronomist for Pioneer, Dexter, Missouri
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