AgroInsights- How Robust is Your Fertilizer Program?

July 24, 2023

Chad Smith, Sales Agronomist US North


As most of you know, it has been unseasonably dry in the North region bringing back memories of 2012. This year it seems more acres in the corn belt were affected by drought over 2012, making it more significant. The pattern that has developed from this dry weather is nutrient deficiencies throughout the growing season. The most common deficiency is potassium. As the application season wraps up and we prepare for harvest, now would be a good time to reflect on the season and look for opportunities to improve your fertility program to be able to handle whatever mother nature throws at you...



The fields that have struggled the most with nutrient deficiencies this season have an unbalanced fertilizer program. Meaning that they are relying on one source and application to feed the crop for the entire season. That fertility program can be sufficient most years but is inadequate when we don’t have enough soil moisture to keep nutrients in solution for the plant to take in. A balanced fertility program has multiple sources and applications throughout the growing season to feed the crop at key periods of influence. If you are wondering how to balance out your fertility program, think about shifting fertilizer sources from less effective products to more efficient ones positioned where the plant can use the nutrients, known as Reallocation.


NACHURS has a Start2Finish® program designed to position high-performance products during key influence periods to supply the correct nutrient when the crop demands it most. The Start2Finish program is laid out to show you what products work best by application method and growth stage of a given crop to guide you on how to reallocate your fertility program. For example, the traditional way to fertilize a corn crop might have been to apply all the N, P, and K required to grow the crop pre-plant either in the fall or spring. If I were to reallocate the traditional fertility program into a more balanced fertility program, a quarter of the N and half of the P and K would be applied pre-plant and focus on spoon-feeding the crop during the season. We wouldn’t be making extra passes but maximizing the passes already taking place during the season. The planter can apply a high-quality starter like NACHURS Triple Option® in-furrow to enhance crop emergence and accelerate root growth. Besides, the row and side-dress applications are the perfect way to feed the crop right before its greatest demand of N, K, and S using UAN and NACHURS K-flex®. The herbicide pass gives us an opportunity to foliar feed N, P, and K plus micronutrients with NACHURS Finish Line®. To maximum grain fill, I would apply N, K, and Boron using NACHURS NocKout® at tassel to complete my program.


 As you can see, when we reallocate the traditional fertility program, we create a robust nutrient plan that feeds the crop throughout the entire growing season, maximizing nutrient uptake and yield potential no matter what mother nature has in store.


For more information contact your local NACHURS sales manager or sales agronomist.

Unlock Your Wheat's Potential with NACHURS Finish Line®

March 17, 2025
Transform Your Harvest: Discover the Benefits of Finish Line®

Maximizing Wheat Profitability Through Foliar Fertilization

March 13, 2025
The effect of foliar fertilization on wheat yield.

NACHURS® LIQUID FERTILIZER TO SHOWCASE IMPROVED FERTILITY WITH TALKS, FEATURED PRODUCTS AND MORE

February 27, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Post-Harvest Reflections

December 12, 2024
We are at the point in the year where things are slowing down around the farm and it is time to reflect on the season to remind ourselves what we learned. Over the last couple of weeks, the District Sales Managers and I have spent some time reflecting on what worked well in the field and the challenges we faced too. Here are the top 5 things we learned from 2024 growing season: #1 Split applying Nitrogen and Sulfur is a practice that should be embraced on a yearly basis when growing corn. Do you remember how the planting season started and what happened in the first 60 days after the planters started rolling? Our field conditions started out dry with some areas of the corn belt showing up on the drought map. Then mother nature blessed us with rain that never stopped in some areas making it difficult to finish planting. Growers that had split applied their Nitrogen and Sulfur were able to avoid nutrient loss from the rain but also apply the nutrients when the crop needed it most. In the end yield was better on split applied nitrogen fields compared to fields that had all the N applied in the fall or spring before planting. #2 For the past 2 seasons in the North region, we have seen the benefits of adding NACHURS Humi-Flex FA to the in-furrow starter fertilizer. NACHURS Humi-Flex FA is our fulvic acid and it is becoming a valuable component in our starter fertilizer for many reasons. We are using it to chelate the nutrients in the starter fertilizer especially phosphorus. Humi-Flex FA also buffers the soil pH to neutral in that nutrient band keeping nutrients available in fields that have less then optimal pH for crop growth. Finally, we use Humi-Flex FA to create a healthy soil microbiome that leads to more root mass and nutrient uptake. #3 Nutrient uptake charts for corn and soybeans have been a great tool for our team to help our customers visualize the crops nutrient needs based on timing during the growing season.

The "Focus on P"

November 21, 2024
The importance of Phosphorus

To spray or not to spray?

August 27, 2024
Fungicide applications: the determining factors to be considered

Are you Reallocating?

August 20, 2024
Strategic Applied Fertilizer: Reallocation

The right nutrient source can avoid the “Summer Slump”

July 30, 2024
The right nutrient source
More Posts