Too much fertilizer is message at Crops Day
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LANCASTER Many farmers
are using too much fertilizer,
particularly in areas of high
livestock concentrations like
lancaster County
This message came out loud and
clear from Penn State Extension
agronomists at the l-ancaster
County Crops and Soils Day
program at the Farm and Home
Center on Tuesday
Perhaps Joe McGahen, Ex
tension agronomist who spoke on
corn production, said it in its most
\
Pa. Alfalfa Growers Program participants from Lancaster
County are Don Hershey, left, and Nelson Wenger, both of the
Manheim area.
• Easy to apply
• Reduces nutritional loss
• Helps control heating
• Improves palatability
• Improves digestability
• Helps eliminate spoilage
• Non-corrosive, nontoxic
• Non-chemical, safe to use
EDWIN MARTIN
Rt. 2, Box 307
Quarryville, PA 17566
(717) 786-2815
HARRY M. EARNER
Box 265
Lamar, PA 16848
(717) 726-3275
simple and straight-foi wai d
terms.
More corn yields these days are
being hurt by high fertility than
low fertility,” McGahen said
"Use soil tests and don’t blindly
follow the standard recom
mendations for certain desired
yields
‘Soil tests can just as well tell us
when not to fertilize as when we
should fertilize."
McGahen explained that far
mers’ number one challenge in the
next five years will be to learn how
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A Probiotic culture providing the bacteria required
to cut hay and silage losses and improve quality
PAUL ZIMMERMAN
Rt. 4, Box 173
Lititz, PA 17543
(717) 733-7674
to manage manure properly as a
natural resource to grow crops
We're going to have to learn
how to keep this manure on the
land and not having it flowing
down some stream "
The proper management of
manure and the addition of
commercial fertilizer only when
soil tests call for it was cited by
McGahen as the chief way in which
farmers can make their corn
growing more efficient since
fertilizer accounts for the biggest
single input
- V
Another area of high input is
machinery The Pennsylvania
F ive-Acre Corn Club program has
found that most participating
farmers are over-invested in
machinery
McGahen showed examples
TRI-SIL FORAGE INOCULANT
LOUIS S. PEACHEY, SR. TRI OUR GANIC FERTRELL
Rt. 1, Box 58C Rt. 2, Box 113
ReedsviMe, PA 17084 McAMistervMle, PA 17049
(717)667-3291 (717)463-2551
OR CONTACT THE FERTRELL COMPANY
Five-Acre Corn Club participants in Lancaster County include, from the left, Harold L.
Brubaker, Strasburg, Luke Brubaker, ML Joy; Karl M. Hess, R 6 Lancaster; Dennis Eby,
R 1 Gap; and H. Grant Troop, R 3 Quarryville.
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NOW THRU MARCH
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SpS?' \)ff Each Bag
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CHRIST B. MILLER
Box 164
Bird-In-Hand, PA 17505
from farms where NPK values in
the soils were already much higher
than needed for maximum corn
yields He cited one farm where a
soil test showed 1150 lbs of
phosphorus
Such high rates can tie up
various micro-nutrients and work
against achieving high yields, he
explained.
McGahen also explained some
visual means of checking corn to
determine when it is at its peak of
maturity for harvesting
He suggested following the milk
line on the kernel -- the dividing
line between the white and the
yellow coloring The milk line
starts in the dent stage and moves
from the crown of the kernel to the
tip When it reaches the tip, the
white disappears completely and a
ROBERT ACKERMAN THOMAS J. BAIR
Rt. 9, Box 566 Rt. 2, Box 196
Meadville, PA 16335 Wrightsville, PA 17368
(814)724-7419 (717)252-3342
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black layei forms and it is the time
of maximum yields
When the milk line is about at the
halfway point on the kernel,the
moisture is at about 40 percent and
it will take about three more weeks
to reach full maturity and about 25
percent moisture But at the half
milk-lme stage, some 90 percent of
dry matter weight is already in the
gram
Elwood Hatley also covered
proper fertilization rates in his
discussion of small grains and
ways to improve -particularly
wheal and barley yields through
better management
Studies with wheal in
County have shown that nitrogen
fertilization rates are often too
high On farms where chicken
(Turn to PageAl9)
EDWIN R. OTT
2039 Dark Shade Dr
Windbar, PA 15963
(814) 467-5909