Thursday, March 21, 2024

Yesterday afternoon, Brandon found a field dry enough to apply NH3.   He worked diligently through the afternoon and evening.   It was a pretty good day for a first day.

Brandon is applying NH3 in the first field of the 2024 season. NH3 is our source of nitrogen for the corn crop.

The temperature is cooler than we’d like, which lowers the pressure in the NH3 tank, making it flow more slowly and we have to drive more slowly to get the appropriate rate applied to the soil.  We have a metering system that accurately controls the NH3 application, making sure we hit the target rate.

I’m hoping the day warms a bit better today, so that I can begin with the sprayer applying herbicide and growth regulator to the wheat crop.  I’ll need a couple days to do so.  The wind is lower today and in a more favorable direction to allow me to spray the wheat fields that border the town of Wheatland.  As I walked through several wheat fields yesterday afternoon, I determined that soil is just about dry enough to support the sprayer.  There may be some small soft spots, but I think it’s good enough to get going.  Warmer days and nights would be preferred, but it’s a balancing act to get all the factors to align exactly.   The winter annual weeds are just so thick it feels urgent to get the herbicide applied!

Once the wheat has this application, we can turn our attention to applying burndown herbicide to the 2024 soybean fields.

I think John is headed to the corn fields today to apply some NH3 with his bigger rig.  The fields need to be a bit drier for him to run, because his machine setup is much heavier.

Have a good Thursday.