A University of Missouri nutrient management specialist says Missouri growers should avoid applying nitrogen in the fall and consider side dressing nitrogen in their corn fields to minimize loss risk.
John Lory tells Brownfield applying nitrogen in the fall leaves two open windows for nitrogen loss, one in the fall before soil temperatures are cold enough and another that starts in the spring.
“Let’s say I do everything right, I put my nitrogen down when the soil is cold, I might even put a nitrogen inhibitor on there, I go out there at the end of winter [and] all my nitrogen is still in that ammonium form, it’s right where I put it,” he said.
