Friday, October 4, 2013

Time for Fall fertilization


    With an 85% chance of rain tonight, today was a good day to spread some fertilizer in our pecan orchards (photo above).  An early October application of nitrogen  along with the regular springtime fertilizer application has been our standard practice for over 15 years now and has led  to increased yields and a reduction in alternate bearing. Today we spread 100 lbs. of urea fertilizer/acre. That works out to 46 lbs of actual nitrogen per acre.  The costs associated with this fertilizer application were $411/ton for the urea and $8/ton for the rent of the spreader. Doing the math, we invested $20.95/acre today in building the productive capacity of our pecan trees.
     Next March, we'll be back with the fertilizer buggy to make a springtime application of both nitrogen and potassium.