Some farmers are looking to get nitrogen in ahead of corn this fall with an anhydrous application, but is it really the best move?
“I don’t like fall anhydrous,” says Purdue Extension’s Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn. “We don’t recommend fall anhydrous.”
Quinn tells us how he really feels in the Purdue Crop Chat Podcast, available now wherever you listen to podcasts.
“Nitrogen is so environmentally driven, and even something like anhydrous that is the most stable form of nitrogen, and you can get away with it in a lot of years where you have the right moisture conditions and the soil temperature is cooling, but it just sits out there, right? And you’re exposing it to a long period of time with environmental conditions. And we see the environment, right? It warms up and it cools off and warms up, and you’re just leaving it out there to get lost.”
He was particularly concerned when he was driving around the state and saw some anhydrous applications last week.
“It was dry as can be. It was 83 degrees out. So, I understand why certain farmers do it from a logistics standpoint, and you’re getting it out there, you’re getting your nitrogen there. You’re having it for next year. But just think about how dry it is, how much we are losing, you know the soil temps are not 50 degrees and decreasing. So, how much are we going to end up losing if we do end up getting a lot of moisture?”
While Quinn doesn’t recommend a fall anhydrous application at all, he certainly doesn’t recommend it for any farm south of Indianapolis.
Hear more from Quinn and Purdue Extension’s ‘Soybean Shaun’ Casteel in the Purdue Crop Chat Podcast, available now below or in the Hoosier Ag Today mobile app. Just search Hoosier Ag Today in your app store.
