when to spread fertilizer

red bull

With night frosts nearly every night and absolutely no growth. What do ye think of spreading urea in present conditions.

Ford4000

Id hold out another week or 2 lad, the frosts are getting a little less severe as time passes

wiggy123

maybe leave it for another week or 2..am a waiting to spread..need grass--silage low
think temps might rise..need them over the 10 degree mark, i think for growth..
Also ground is very hard, need a days good rain..i think!
soften the ground...
looks like its go to be a tough year..grass wise!

whelan1

Ford4000 wrote: »

Id hold out another week or 2 lad, the frosts are getting a little less severe as time passes

not true after last night:D

wiggy123

to true...
-7 this morning--out our way!
weather think to change Thursday-no??
temp increases+maybe a few showers of rain

whelan1

if you do spread it it wont be going anywhere so i was op the opinion to get it out and when growth comes it will grow

reilig

wiggy123 wrote: »

to true...
-7 this morning--out our way!
weather think to change Thursday-no??
temp increases+maybe a few showers of rain

Ah lads, don't wish rain on us. Maybe the south wants it, but in the North West, we could live without it for another couple of months. Its been one of the better Months of February & March that we have had in a long time. People around us have got slurry out that they wouldn't normally get out until the end of April or beginning of may. The ground is still soft enough to take the fertilizer. But noone around here even contemplates putting it out until after Paddy's day. Won't have cows out till the end of April anyway. No grass at this time of year is normal around here. Stop mentioning the R word!!! We've had very little for the last 12 weeks and long may it last

wiggy123

depends what ur putting out...
and if a gd shower of rain comes..could get washed away very fast..its a catch 22

whelan1

just about to let milkers out today to silage ground:D

wiggy123

good luck...aleast sun's shining today

snowman707

-5 here at 6am this morning.

cows out by day for the last 10 days and we are spreading well watered slurry behind them, no fert. spread yet

milking quite well on "toasted grass", 5kgs of meal and silage ad lib during the night. not eating much silage though

John_F

I definatly wouldnt wish rain, rain wont bring up soil temperature after the cold weather, ideally air temperatures would want to warm up and this should warm the plant - grass and this would warm the soil to 6 degrees and then after a week of this maybe rain.... idealy now :rolleyes:

we have no fertiliser put out yet, and these lads on the back of the journal with covers of 1300 i dont know where they are living, said they have 500kg dm per ha and we have about 200kg dm per ha

as for the nitrogen not going anywhere i think it would due to volatilization (loss of N to air), granted it happens alot more in warm weather in my opinion it wont be used to its full potential = money wasted

met eireann soil temperature in cork airport last week is 3.8 deg, from my time in college you need6 or above for growth, if you add water / rain to the soil now it most probably will go back in temperature as soil is already cold and water conducts easier than air

ken ring is giving march a generally wetter month of march, with cork getting most around paddys day and the following week, as does most of the country

Indubitable

I have had the greatest of days the last few days. The sky is a nice deep blue with not a cloud in sight and the sun beaming down on my neck.


I don't think this year will be worse than last year at all. We deserve a good year after that bad winter anyway

whelan1

ye , i was reading the teagasc magazine about the new farm in kilkeeny with great covers , does anyone know how is it going down there

John_F

twud be interesting to hear form a staff member alright id say they must be getting used of thawing out the parlour by now :pac:

irishh_bob

John_F wrote: »

I definatly wouldnt wish rain, rain wont bring up soil temperature after the cold weather, ideally air temperatures would want to warm up and this should warm the plant - grass and this would warm the soil to 6 degrees and then after a week of this maybe rain.... idealy now :rolleyes:

we have no fertiliser put out yet, and these lads on the back of the journal with covers of 1300 i dont know where they are living, said they have 500kg dm per ha and we have about 200kg dm per ha

as for the nitrogen not going anywhere i think it would due to volatilization (loss of N to air), granted it happens alot more in warm weather in my opinion it wont be used to its full potential = money wasted

met eireann soil temperature in cork airport last week is 3.8 deg, from my time in college you need6 or above for growth, if you add water / rain to the soil now it most probably will go back in temperature as soil is already cold and water conducts easier than air

ken ring is giving march a generally wetter month of march, with cork getting most around paddys day and the following week, as does most of the country

ken ring hasnt had an accuratte prediction since september

John_F

irishh_bob wrote: »

ken ring hasnt had an accuratte prediction since september

i wouldn't go that far, he said Jan would be drier, it was, he said Feb would be drier, it was, he said Feb would be less sunshine than average . . OK maybe not so much
but his book so far seems to be correct in a fair way, like in fairness I don't think its possible to get it down to the last millimetre but give a fair idea,

dar31

id be getting it out now, as the weather gets milder the land will soften a bit.
at least it will be there for the plant as soon as growth improves.
urea would be more suited as it will sit there till growth comes. can will be lost to the air this time of year. we put 30u urea out 1st week feb, will be going with 46u urea in the next 10 days, there will be a nice flush when it dose start, fingers crossed, alot of fert with nothing to show for it as yet.

irishh_bob

John_F wrote: »

i wouldn't go that far, he said Jan would be drier, it was, he said Feb would be drier, it was, he said Feb would be less sunshine than average . . OK maybe not so much
but his book so far seems to be correct in a fair way, like in fairness I don't think its possible to get it down to the last millimetre but give a fair idea,

he completley failed to predict the coldest winter in 50 years

John_F

irishh_bob wrote: »

he completley failed to predict the coldest winter in 50 years

trueeeee but his predictions involve rainfall, sunshine, airflow but not temperature