A tremendous amount of wheat and cereal rye acreage was cut this past week as fields finally became fit in northwest Ohio. Choppers were in the fields the next day, making wheat silage and rye silage. Most of these fields will be planted to corn.
Commercial manure applicators are increasingly applying dairy manure to newly planted corn. The application can provide both moisture and a limited amount of nitrogen for the corn crop. Although rainfall is expected this coming weekend, these wheat and rye fields are likely low in soil moisture because the growing crop has been using the available water. The addition of a half-inch of dairy manure can boost crop germination and emergence.
As soon as a field is planted, the manure can be applied. This is true for both corn and soybeans. The seed is protected by an inch or more of soil. In university research, the application of 10,000 gallons per acre of dairy manure has not negatively impacted crop germination and emergence on corn or soybeans. If the crops are emerging, manure can still be applied to corn, but not soybeans. Newly emerging soybeans can easily be killed by the application of liquid manure. Corn can tolerate the drag hose through the V3 stage of growth without an issue.
When a drag hose is utilized, the drag hose applicator commonly applies the manure at an angle across the field. The field needs to be firm enough to support the drag hose to avoid scouring the soil surface and burying small corn plants or further burying seeds. Fields that are spring tilled are not good candidates for a drag hose. No-till fields, stale seed beds, fields with dead or alive cover crops, and tilled fields that have been packed with heavy spring rain are usually good fields for a drag hose.
The fact sheet “ANR-0209-SideDress Corn Liquid Manure Soft Drag Hose” is now available on Ohioline at https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-0209
Ohio State University Extension Agronomics Crops Team YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0nhw3GG6Q8&t=1s