Bruce Sundeen 0:00
This is the sugarbeet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU. Throughout the sugarbeet growing season, how should sugarbeet producers respond to rising fertilizer prices? Today we're talking with Dave friends and yes, you extension soil science specialist. Dave, the price of nitrogen is pretty high, what nutrient changes do producers need to consider,
Dave Franzen 0:21
and a lot of our crops in North Dakota and even corn in Minnesota, as the nitrogen price goes up, their rate of nitrogen recommended is reduced. But that's not the case with sugarbeet, you're pretty much doomed to a recommendation no matter what the nitrogen cost is. So hopefully, the price of sugar will stay up. And so everybody's in good shape. So generally, what the recommendation is, is if your personal soil sampling is sampling to two feet, then we look at 100 pounds total. And we subtract the soil test from that any previous crop credits, let's say from soybeans, for example, and then shoot for a total of 100 pounds, if you're going to four feet and the recommendation is 130 pounds less all the credits, we assume with those recommendations, there's usually somewhere around 30 pounds of nitrogen on the two to four foot level. And that's what the differences between those two recommendations. So don't vary the recommendations based on the nitrogen cost. I know it's insane. But for one thing, the residual nitrates from last fall is higher than normal. So I think that the rate of nitrogen that you're going to use for your sugar beets is going to be modest. And so the cost isn't going to be there terrible.
Bruce Sundeen 1:30
What are your recommendations for applying phosphate,
Dave Franzen 1:33
the phosphate is a little bit different story, the phosphate price is also very high, it's about $1 a pound for p 205, which is more than double what it was last year and triple what it was a few years ago. So what I would do is I would seriously consider that three gallons of 1034 or something like your recommendation that we have. And then if you have a broadcast recommendation that's recommended on top of that, and I would probably reduce it by a substantial amount, maybe by half. Because the return that you're gonna get from the phosphate is a lot more models considered what we have with the nitrogen in certainly this is not a build up maintenance here. This is a year to kind of get through it and see if the phosphate price settles down a little bit. So what do you recommend for potash? On the potash end of things, we have recommendations in the circular that are based on the clay content. And so if you have a high smectite Light ratio, then we're probably looking at about 150 PPM as a critical value for potassium and a lot of sugarbeet growers are going to be in that but we do have some sugarbeet growers are in more sandy areas. And so some potash may need to be applied. If I was gonna apply potash, I wouldn't apply less than 100 pounds of 00 60. Because the distance between the particles, the fertilizer protocols is far enough. Once you get less than that, that maybe some plants won't be able to take advantage of it and you will in sugarbeet to very responsive, the potash so you have to keep that in mind.
Bruce Sundeen 3:00
And what about the use of sulfur, I recommend
Dave Franzen 3:02
sulfur for small grains and for corn, the sugar beets unless you're in an area that you've identified before, I really wouldn't worry about it too much. They're just so deep rooted, most of our soils are going to get into that sulfate groundwater area. And so we really don't see a whole lot of problem with that. The exception to that would be maybe St. Thomas. We've seen some hints of sulfur deficiency before and with the water we had last fall on the snow we've had this winter. I think maybe in those kinds of areas where you had a fine sandy loam, so I think that's good.
Bruce Sundeen 3:34
Thanks, Dave. Our guest today has been Dave Franzen NDSU extension soil science specialist. This is the sugarbeet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugarbeet growing season
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