iAGCOI Alrvllle. PA FARMERS EQUIPMENT 3524 Delta Road 717-862-3967 Annvllle. PA BHM FARM EQUIPMENT Rt 934, 2 miles N. of Annville 717-867-2211 Bechtelsvllle. PA MILLER EQUIPMENT CO. RD #1 610-845-2911 Bethel. PA ZIMMERMAN FARM SERVICE 1/2 mile West of Rt. 501 on School Rd. 717-933-4114 COLUMBIA CROSS ROAD RD 2, Box 62 570-297-3873 Elizabethtown. PA HERNLEY’S FARM EQUIPMENT 2095 South Market St. 717-367-8867 Fontana. PA UMBERGER’S OF FONTANA, INC. 8 Miles East of Hershey on Rt 322 1067 Horseshoe Pike, Lebanon, PA 717-867-5161 /800-261 -2106 Georgetown. DE BAXTER FARM, INC RD 3. Box 360 302-856-9526 WERTZ FARM EQUIPMENT 6877 Lineboro Road (PA Route 516) 717-235-0111 Inaleslde. MD GIBSON FARM EQUIPMENT 3120 Goldsboro Road 410-758-0262 Martlnsburo. PA BURCHFIELD’S, INC 112 S. Railroad St. 814-793-2384 Mlfflinburq. PA ALLEN HOOVER REPAIR, INC RD #l, Box 227 570-966-3821 HETmCKFARM SUPPLY RD #3 814-275-3507 Punxsutawnev. PA LONDON FARM SUPPLY 814-938-7444 Quarrwllle. PA GRUMELLI FARM SERVICE 929 Robert Fulton Hwy. (Rt. 222) 717-786-7318 Roxburv. PA HOLTRY’S EQUIPMENT 10948 Roxbury Road 717-532-7261 Washington. PA SCHOTT EQUIPMENT SALES Route 18 North 2075 Henderson Ave 724-222-3780 Waynesboro. PA B. EQUIP., INC. 8422 Wayne Highway 717-762-3193 GENUINE • AGCO 9 BATTERIES^^^^ Choose reman or new: AGCO® WEATHERHEAo*'' HOSES Fuel, hydraulic, air, grease, brake, you name it - we’ll assemble what you need on the spot. Low to very high pressure hoses available with all styles of fittings. Choose Weatherhead for all of your hose applications. Cyclinder Bars • Tested and proven to f Concaves •The heart of your combine, these concaves will prove themselves efficient and profitable Rotors • A faster harvest and maximum yield • Maintenance-free for heavy duty ag use • Plenty of cold cranking amps to start any equipment • Computer designed radial grids maintain energy • High performance, maximum reliability, competitive price AGCO® WATER PUMPS • One-year warranty • Engineered to meet the specific demands of your equipment • Competitive pricing THE SOLAR* ES 5000 BOOSTER PAG • Portable, cordless and rechargeable with superior cranking power • Powered by the new GENESIS* battery • Jump-starts without assistance • Powers 12-volt devices anywhere • Maintains usable charge for over two years Capitol Region Agronomy Team CORN AND LIQUID NITRO GEN APPLICATION ISSUES Mark Goodson Agronomy Extension Agent York County Each year farmers have to make decisions about nitrogen fertilization of their corn. It’s that time again. This article will focus on pros and cons of various popular methods of liquid N application. •Field nitrogen losses. Soils tend to lose nitrogen easily - this is a simple fact of nature. Soil testing labs, including Penn State’s, do not even test for nitrogen because, by the time the sample gets to the lab, the nitrogen is lost to the air. Soils lose nitrogen through volatiliza tion (evaporation) of ammonia to the air and through leaching (percolation with water down away from root zone) of nitrate. Losing nitrogen either way costs the farmer money and could hurt the environment, including his own drinking water well. The earlier that nitrogen is applied to the field before the crop actu ally takes it up, the more vul nerable it is to field losses. •Liquid nitrogen. 30 percent nitrogen solution (“liquid N”, UAN, or “Niton”) is urea and ammonium nitrate dissolved in water. This popular, inexpensive and versatile fertilizer is usually applied at planting or as side dressing. It is easy to handle with pumps and hoses and often the lowest cost material per unit N. Some of the nitrogen in liquid N is from urea and prone to volatilization. Volatilization of N from urea occurs when urea is not incorporated either by rain or light tillage. Once in the soil, most of the N Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 1, 2000-A2l converts into nitrate within a week or two The nitrate form of nitrogen is easily leached and can be lost through percolation if crops do not use it before rain fall pushes it out of the reach of roots. •Preplant versus preemerge seedbed application. Placing all the nitrogen in the seedbed, either worked in at seedbed preparation or applied with pre emergence chemicals before the corn emerges, is popular because it gets the chore of N application done early in the season. Incorporating liquid N lightly into the seedbed just before planting is preferable to apply ing with chemicals after plant ing because it eliminates the chance for N to volatilize if time ly rains do not come. Each day that passes without rain to incorporate the N increase the amount that is lost through volatilization to the atmosphere. However, applying nitrogen dur ing seedbed preparation requires an additional trip over the field compared to N applica tion with preemergence pesti cides. •Seedbed versus sidedress application. Sidedressing is often promoted because nitrogen is applied close to the time of plant uptake. This is good, sound agronomy. However, it requires a trip through the field when the corn is up. Application equip ment availability is also an issue in some parts of the region. In some cases, your local commer cial custom applicator may have all of their row equipment on herbicide work at sidedressing time. If sidedressing equipment is available, consider applying most of your N this way. (Turn to Page A 38)