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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-07-15, Page 19BALL-MACAULAY care BUILDING CENTRE FARMERS: We supply and erec farm buildings. TRY US! ,4•41:11 BALL-MACAUUIYUIMITEi CLINTON NENSALL 'SEAFORTH 40 Wellington 151 Richmond St. S. 112 High St. 482-3405 262-2418, 5274910 wf , ' • BY ROBERT MINCE Agronomist When many of the corn- panieS involved in the agri- culture industry as well as Statistics Canada start com- ing out with foreboding pre- dictions such as one half the farmers presently operating will be out of business by the end of the decade, it is time for growers .to realize the importance of staying in step with technology to maximize every single dollar spent. One of the most important and controversial develop- meets in fertilizer technology to come along in the last few years involves the increasing use of sulphur in„combina- tion with the usual' nitrogen. phosphorous and potash blends. The question is simple: Do we need sulphur and if so. why? For many years it has been known that plants need ap- proximately 16 nutrients to grow. The yield and quality of any crop can be only as good as the most limiting nutrient. If a plant has enough of all but one netri- em to produce six tons of good ha> .. and only, enotigh„ef, that one nutrient to produce four tons of poor ha>. it will be four tons of poor ha> you cut. As Ontarians, we are for- tunate in that our soils are still quite young and able to supply most of the nutrients a top quality crop needs. In the past we hays only needed to rbplace, nitrogen.' phos- phorous and potash through . crops have been mining our reserves of calcium. magries- iom. sulphur, zinc, boron. etcetera. For several' reasons however. the situation is changing with respect to sulphur. In many eases. crop yields and quality are now being held back by a lack of sufficient sulphur. So why do we need sulphur now, and why didn't Dad need it? There are several reasons. First. Dad was ap- plying quite a bit of sulphur to his crops though he didn't know it. Fertilizers them- selves used to contain a lot of what were always considered impurities. one of which was sulphur. For example. single super phosphate was used, -almost exclusively in blends as a phosphorous source, and it brought along with it 12 per cent sulphur. Now the "purer" triple super phos- phates, mono and diammon- ium phosphates with virtual- ly no sulphur are'used almost eiclusivelEv. Fiirthermore. acreages used to be smaller and better use was made of sulphur rich _manure. Now it is often economically unfeasible to spread manure over vast acreages. (In the -case of legume forage land, it is not a good practice to spread ' trtifitTiF as the nitrogen will encourage grass growth.) Pesticides in the past were for the most part. sulphur based. Again• sulphur was unintentionally supplied. In spite of all that is said about the sulphur in acid rain.' ten or more years ago prior to environmental legis- lation. and back when a great deal of coal was burned. rain was richer in sulphur (and more acid). Rain remains a source. though much less of one than in the past (supply- ing perhaps 15 lb. over a year). Along with less being sup- plied. with increasing yields and striving for higher pro- teins. the demand for sul- phur by a crop has increased. And so, sulphur is being stretched from both ends. so to speak. Needs have in- creased while at the same time. inputs have been great- ly reduced. VARIED AMOUNTS Different crops tend to vary in the amounts of sul- phur they need. Because sulphur's principal role in the plant is in the building of protein, the' high protein crops have greater sulphur needs. Thus the legume for- ages (alfalfa. cloLer., birds- foot. trefoil) and beans need 30 to 50 lb. , of sulphur per acre for optitnuni yield and protein levels. This is where the greatest responses to sulphur can- be expected and are seen. As a rule of thumb, in plant proteins for every, 12 nitrogen units present. there must be one sutpnur. How- ever. because of the ineffi- ciency of roots in picking up ' sulphur. to get this level into. plants. for every five pounds of nitrogen the plant-gets, it must receive one pound of sulphur. So. in the ease of alfalfa which produces its own nitrogen, a 300 pound per acre nitrogen need must be met with about 60 pounds of sulphur. If at The most 30 are supplied. from rain and soil reserves, ,the rest nu, .,t a be applied in fertilizer. In the soil sulphur behaves much the same way as nitrogen. It can by very. got it cleaned up in Harri- ston." explains Vent, "and the fellow there said I'm the only person in-Ontario foolish `enough to try to grow alfalfa seed. And we had such poor luck, we decided to throw in the, sponge." If one is intent on growing forage for seed, an alterna- tive to alfalfa which is often put down is' red clover. The Alderices had considered. it, and are considering it now, Kit they had reasons • for trying alfalfa first. For one thing, says Vern. you can bet a higher price for alfalfa, but beyond that alfalfa is much better for the soil because it has a • better root system. Another reason is alfalfa stays down for five years while red clover needs to be seeded every year. Still, the Alderices now realize red clover is a safer, . though less profitable, for- age seed crop. Laurence Taylor. 'a cash crop farmer at R.R. I Lon- deshoro has incorporated red clover seed production into his crop rotatitin- systern. For him, it has proved a profit- able venture, both in terms of real dollars and lin ways difficult to figure financially, He estimates his - seed production, now in its third experimental year, provides a gross return of. about $120 an acre. The conclusion I've come to about a forage crop." remarks Mr. Taylor, "is if it returns between 5100 and SISO, it justifies the produc- tion costs." Without considering the indirect benefits, red clever. according to the standards Mr. Taylor sets, already meets his requirements. But there's more. In the two years after he replaces the red clover with corn, he estimates his per acre yield jumps by at least 35 bushels or roughly $120. Another residual benefit to the corn crop from the red clover is a deposit pf about 140 lbs of nitrogen. In addition.'the red clover affords him erosion and weed control, cuts down on the amount.of corn rootworm chemicals he needs and the structure of the soil benefits also. And the red claer a pacifist of a plant compared to alfalfa. is, more suited to the area. "The flov.er is completely different (from that. cif alfalfa). so the insects can collect pollen from the red clover." explains Mr. Lynch. • , In the cases 'of Mr., Ta,,lor and the Alderices. the vii tues of growing red clover tor forage is significant.. Mr , - Taylor is already benefiting. and for the Alderices. there is a readily available awl-na- tive worth of considerai ton. '21 Farmers must maximize every dollar spent 4 ALFALFA GROWERS • --- Vern Aiderice and son Garry thiespring gave up their five-year attempt to grow alfalfa for seed, Vern- says bees in the area are 'reluctant to' work -on the plants, which makes it ImpOssible. for . pollinationlo take place. '(Photo by Shoveller), BT HERB SHOYF4ER Five years ago, Vern- Al- derice and his son Garry decided they would try to make their crop rotation program pay for itself and, at the same time, perhaps deliver a bit of a profit. It didn't. The Alderices' plan was to grow alfalfa for seed, and for Ship your °Livestock with Art Heffron Blyth SHIPPER. FOR United Co-operatives of Ontario Livestock Marketing Division Ontario Stockyards, Toronto Stockers & Feeders alp° available 528-4221 By 8 a.m. Monday Call Blyth if you are 'thinking about, draiclOge, think of us. We offer modern equipment, years of • experiente, and an old fashioned concern for -our reptitetiaq. Koltlif‘,DRAINAGE WALTON, ONTARIO 087-64211 DOUG HutHRT. RON IVIcCALLUM BILL McCLUR1E WALTON DUBLIN SEAFORTH 887-6428 34S-2933 ' 521-0989 K.M.M. Drainage is owned and operated by t14. people you will see In ybur fields. We offer neat and professional work' at very competitive, prices. Please call in at Walton, or telephone and we will be glad to visit yoit.. ESTIMATES - MAPS SUPPLIED FARM -DRAINAGE A real asset in increasing yotir return from higher costs- of fertilizer, land investment and tillage. age for feed. "The cattle- men," says Vern, "they want to buy it for nothing, so we looked for something we could do ourselves for Profit.' "We got a next to zero yield," adds Garry. "We'd have been better off not starting the swather or the combine." According to Vern the failed project was not for lack of trying . but instead is attributable to the fickle honey bee. "We couldn't get it polli- nated," says Vern. "The honey bees don't like to work on it. The- stamen (the, pollen producing part of the plant) in the flower, it trips them. It flips up and hits them, so they don't like to- work on it. The Alderices gave the bees every opportunity to perform. "I don't know how many hives we put in the field," calctilates Vern, but it didn't matter. The bees, evidently, took exception to being pushed around by the plants. "That's a story in itself," says 7afTYUCI-1, a soil and crops specialist with• the Ministry of Agriculture and. Food in Stratford, who a- grees the agressive plants, are no attraction to honey bees. "There just aren't enough natural pollinators." BETTER POLLINATORS ' That, mainly, is the reason the majority of alfalfa seed is produced in• Western Can- ada. They have more hospit- able pollinators known as the leaf cutter bees, and Mr.. Lynch, along with the Alder- ices, speculates that differ- ent weather conditions are another factor. "In Western Canada," explains Vern, "they use the leaf cutter bee. But you've got to raise them, and feed them because they donl produce -honey. That'S a . year-round job. You have to be a large commercial. seed company to make that pay. I don't know of anyone here (Ontario) who's doing that." The only success, the marginal success, the Alder- iees had was in . a - natmw band adjacent to a bush area, in a strip of about ten feet, • but that was hardly enough to make the venture worth while. SEED CLEANER A visit to the seed cleaner provided the final proof. "I 4 0 • leachable (and so. can wash out of a soil and is best not fall applied). As with nitro- gen. a soil test can give only a rough indication of sulphur. levels as they can be up and down deRetirling on the wea- ther. The best ways available to recognize a need are by taking a leaf sample and having it ahalysed: by using it and thoroughly checking yields and protein levels for a response. a sulphur need can be seen. Unfortunately the similar- ity between sulphur and nitrogen goes. beyond their behaviour in the soil. Visual deficiencies are also very similar (general yellowing or paleness) and so what you may know as a need for nitrogen !nay in fact be sulphur starvation. Again a leaf test is the only Way to be sure. Finally. the need for sul- phur has long been reeog-- nized in many Tarts of Eu- rope and the USA. Deficien- cies ate showing up in many regions of Ontario, and a thought to keep in mind is, "how serious does a lack of sulphur need to he for it to be visually obvious?" Are many of our fields, subject to hid- den or unrecognized hunger. We have • Seed Grain . • Pioneer Seed Corn • 'Funks Seed 'Corn • White Bean Seed • BULK FERTILIZER BLENDS you need • SPREADER EQUIPMENT to rent • ANHYDROUS AMMONIA EQUIPMENT to rent or we will apply WE CAN DELIVER BULK TO YOUR FARM — - SPREADING AVArLABLE TOO. High flotation Terra-Gator equipment can get into fields ahead of tilling or planting equipment:High-flotation tires gist, bouancy in , wet ground. won't rut fields. 3-wheel design eliminates rear wheel tracking in path of front wheel — for reduced soil eompaetion. those five years tney tried to make the rotated crop a profit-Making venture, This summer, they gave up the attempt after, at best, only marginal success. "We wanted to give it a fair chance," explains Vent, a cash clop farmer at R.R. 2 aPPeit,labout his five-year tilth.1 "Just to make sure something wasn't affecting it in one of the years. "We were looking for something we could grow for crop motions, and make some money at it. But We just couldn't get enough for production." They felt taking the seed route would likely be ,more profitable than growing for- . & Sons td. N.N. 2 Alonktou 3474636 For all your planting needs and would we not be better cularly our forages do not run off ensuring our crops, parti- short?. IR? n 527 0180 ir- 1 um, iii/iii „N\ , 14 ,t. )., , .* "it "'t kr , 111''• .,-. '▪ 144. • • _ After roiling in the hay, roil in for a Pizza EAT INOR TAKE OUT Air Conditioned HOURS Sun., - Thurs. 11 a.m. -12 midnight Fri. & Sat. 1'1 a.m. - 2 a.m. EXETER, SEAFORTH, CLINTON, GODERICH, WINGHAM, a Q.4 • 44 "'I 61114444 F*E4i i it 1'4