| Ag InSites Fertilizer Prices Available on CHS Portal Many are considering purchasing and booking fertilizer for fall application. CHS now has a new tool available for those wishing to order, put offers in for fertilizer or wish to make fertilizer purchases with grain sales on-line. We are now posting our fall fertilizer prices on our portal. For those of you who don’t know what the CHS portal is, I’ll explain. A producer applies for a username and password by first going to www.chsmarshall.com. You will have to let one of our Field Marketers know if you would like the fertilizer pricing option activated. Once you are activated you will then be able to view CN (crop nutrients). We have all our prices available and you will be able to make buying offers. For those of you already using the portal let one of the Field Marketers know and he will get you signed up for the CN portion of the portal. Fertilizer pricing can change at anytime or it may no move for several days or weeks. Once an offer is accepted a contract will need to be signed. Our Field Marketers will be taking the contracts to you for signing. They will also help with calculating blends and total fertilizer needs. Site Specific Tools to be Added CHS is adding a twin bin variable rate fertilizer spreader to our fleet of custom applicators. The airflow reads a map generated from a soil sample, a yield monitor map, a soils type map or a combination of data. It uses a satellite GPS to know where it’s at and what rate it should be spreading. It can apply fertilizer at multiple rates depending on the needs of your ground. CHS has also added a NH3 variable rate tool bar. This use’s similar technology but varies the amount of NH3. This rate changes with soil types, organic matter, yield potential, amount of nitrogen found in phosphate applied for the crop. If you are interested in this technology talk with one of our Field Marketers. Some planning is required for mapping and soil sampling. Mes 12-40-0-10S-1Zn Mes SZ is a new phosphate product being manufactured by Mosaic. CHS is the only fertilizer suppliers in the area to have this available. What makes this different from other products? First, it has 2 forms of sulfur in each granular. Sulfate is available right away to the plant and elemental sulfur which is available later in the season. Zinc is also included on each granular. Second, is the distribution of the micronutrients? Being applied on 100 or more pounds per acre will spread the sulfur and zinc much more evenly than spreading 10 or 20 pounds of a micronutrient. Third, because of the unique blend of zinc and sulfur test have indicated a 10 – 20% gain in phosphate plant availability. That’s especially important if you have low testing soils, high pHs, may be banding or strip applying fertilizer. Why are concerned about sulfur and zinc? For years we got our sulfur from pollution. It came down with the rain. We now use cleaner burning fuel and don’t get it for free. Your crop yields have increased and are demanding more zinc and sulfur from the environment ZINC - Helps regulate plant growth, fruit size, root mass, and sugar production and is essential for chlorophyll synthesis and carbohydrates formation. SULFER – Contributes too many of the amino acids and proteins that regulate plant development and plant functions. A 180 bushel corn crop will use 14 pounds of sulfur and .18 pounds of zinc. A 50 bushel bean crop removes 9 pounds of sulfur and .05 pounds of zinc. Aphid update Soybean aphids are in the area. We have not seen any at levels that require treatment. The past few years we have started treating the end of July. Lamberton experiment station indicated a loss of 1 bushel/day and SDSU indicated 1.6 bushel/day loss for every day after threshold is met. Our Field Marketers can help you make a decision. We are recommending either Tundra (long lasting) or Lorsban (quick knock down) for treatment. Flat fans, high pressure, more water, Interlock (for canopy penetration & drift), Preference (helps slow evaporation of insecticide) will help give you better control of pests. |
