April 23, 2019
Hear Channel Seedsman Joe Stanger of Dundee, Michigan discuss what the benefits are of doing a split application of starter fertilizer.
Key Takeaways
- A benefit of doing a split application of starter fertilizer can be a more accelerated growth early in the season.
- The split application tool seems to help growers get off to a faster start.
What are the benefits of doing a split application of starter fertilizer?
Well I have a couple of growers in my area that are pushing for the very top. And so they're willing to try a lot of different things on a small scale and build on it. And one thing that we've seen that seems to be gathering interest is in our area everybody uses starter fertilizer on their planter in some form or another. But the idea of placing starter fertilizer in multiple sites along the row, so my dad's planter, we're actually splitting the fertilizer into three. So we put about eight gallons on one side of the row, three gallons in the furrow with the seed, and eight gallons on the other side of the row on a per acre basis. And we've seen faster, much more accelerated growth early in the season. And part of that is in Michigan, northern climates, we see more response from high volume starter anyway. But the split application seems to be a tool to get off to a faster start yet.