Farmers
(Continued from Pago Al 9)
exactly how much fertilizer and
animal waste is contributing to
pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
There were lots of questions, but
little data prepared by the study,
according to Fox. The study
looked at very general models and
little input data. So Penn State
decided to do their own field stu
dies and came up with some
startling findings.
A special soil profile test reve
aled that about 200 pounds per acre
of nitrogen was left in the soil pro
file that could eventually be leach
ing, according to the report. What
the researchers found out was that,
the more nitrogen fertilizer
applied, the more leached into the
ground.
Potential source
“Heavily manured fields are a
potential source of nitrate leach-
Dr. Ronald L. Ritter, weed
control specialist at the Uni
versity of Maryland, talks
about new weed control pro
ducts at the Mid-Atlantic Til
lage Conference Wednesday.
POURED SOLID
Far Left: 1-Million Gallon Circular
Manure Storage Tank
Far Right: 2 Silage Pits
In-Barn Manure Receiving Pit
300’ Long Manure Pit For Hog
Confinement
All sizes
available
round
or
rectangular
Mid-Atlantic Conservation Tilla.
Should Consider Environment
ing,” said Fox. Safe drinking
water standards only allow about
10 parts per million (ppm) of
nitrates, and the researchers found
as much as 24 ppm in some
studies.
The nitrogen applied in the fall
was carefully tracked. What the
researchers found was that some of
it denitrified and a great deal of
it could not be accounted for.
Because of the inadequacy of
trying to obtain results of nitate
leaching tests using a simpleiabor
atory, the researchers took their
work outside. In 1988, a special
tract of land on Penn State’s agro
nomy farm was used.
Eighteen 8-foot deep pits were
dug up, and plywood boxes were
placed and soil was backfilled
around them. A four-foot trench
was dug out on the sides, and
2-foot by 21 /t -foot stainless steel
pans, containing polystyrene
beeds, were inserted. The pans
were used to collect leached water
and test for possible nitrate
leaching.
Amount applied
The results were conclusive:
Nitrate leaching occurs and the
amount increases with the amount
of fertilizer applied to the land.
“With manure, you had the nit
rogen that could be mineralized
after the com harvest,” said Fox.
“You can be producing nitrates in
the fall that are not used, so it could
be actually leaching more with
manure than with just straight inor
ganic fertilizers.”
Fox said that the “take-home
message here is that with our best
economic nitrogen rate, the
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e Con
erence
amount of nitrates in the leaching
water is going to be closer to 20
parts per million than to 10 parts
per million.”
Fox said the researchers, .-run
ning the project for a third year,
and are also looking at different
models. “We’re looking at much
more sophisticated models than
they use for the Chesapeake Prog
ram, to see if we can be able to pre
dict the nitrate leaching in any
body’s field,” he said.
New chemistry
Ronald L. Ritter, weed control
specialist with the University of
Maryland, pointed out that new
herbicides emphasize a new che
mistry and less application rates.
“I’m sure that many of you are
recognizing the fact that we’re not
using a whole lot of it,” he said.
“A little of it goes a long way.”
Richard H. Fox, Field Crop
Production Systems, Dept, of
Agronomy at Penn State,
answers questions about the
special nitrate leaching pro
ject at the agronomy farm.
CONCRETE SYSTEMS
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 15, 1990-A3l
-<e prepares a question for the satellite tele
conference panel. On the screen, broadcast live from Ohio
State University, is Luther Tweeten, professor of ag
economics.
Some of the tougher weeds far
mers deal with such as Canada
thistle, Johnsongrass, wild garlic,
pigweed, lambsquarters, etc.
can be battled now with the new
“broad spectrum” pesticides.
(See the related story, 1 The Latest
In Chemical Weed Control,” by
Ritter this issue.)
“The industry and weed scien
tists like myself have responded to
this problem,” said Ritter.
“There’s a lot of good material out
there the Lassos, the Duals, the
Atrazines but there’s a lot of
new ones coming out, the sulfo
nylur
eas, the Accents, the Beacons.
Many of them are nothing more
than packaged mixes.”
Some of the new herbicides
labeled for use in the mid-Atlantic
region include the sulfonylureas
such as Accent, Beacon, Canopy,
Classic, Gemini, Harmony Extra,
and Pinnacle, and the imidazol
inones such as Pursuit and Scepter.
But fanners should carefully
(Turn to Page A 39)
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