Warmer than normal temperatures this spring brings the importance of nitrogen management. Bayer Crop Science Learning Center Manager Troy Coziahr states corn following corn acres could be faced with a lack of nitrogen availability when the crop is at a four leaf stage:
“That’s really a critical developmental period and it doesn’t need to be stressed. I really think the bottom line is that we need to be thinking about, especially guys that split their applications; we need to be frontloading our nitrogen this year. Particularly in corn on corn acres. I think we need to be going a little bit heavy upfront if we are going to split that application and make sure that crop is going to have what it needs at those critical growth stages, when it’s setting the ear and getting itself established. Then we can put the remainder on a little bit later,” Coziahr reports.
Prolonged cold wet springs has been the pattern over the last couple of years and data at the Learning Center supports frontloading nitrogen for the crop to get what it needs in the early time period.
