Great Spring Seeding Advice From Fertilizer To Weevil Management
Cover Photo- No One Wants To Find Weevils In Their Crop
Spring has finally sprung and producers are in the field working the ground. Shay Richter, salesman for Wilbur Ellis gave us an update on spring fertilizer prices.
Seeding
Shay: We finally got seeding up north across the Highline and in that Highwood area late last week. Got a few acres in the ground. More so around that Chester area, as you get farther east towards Havre, it has been a little bit slower, a little bit more moisture, but some of that South of Chester has been going steady. Highwood, with that snow last week they kind of got shut down. Just starting to get spraying some of that winter wheat or some of those broad leaves and early grasses that are coming.
Pricing
Chemical prices are for the most part, steady to maybe even slightly down as we get farther into June. I'd kind of be patient with some of the inputs you're buying and then fertilizer prices finally bottomed out. I think just the seasonal demands finally hit those plants in Canada and Idaho and so they've gently started to creep back up, but nothing too alarming.
Fungicide
A couple things to watch for early on here with as wet as it has been in your winter wheat. If you have a chance, look at a fungicide. I know it's a little earlier for like the rust, but we could be seeing a little powdery mildew out there. Early tan spot might start showing up as soon as the sun comes out. Probably won't see anything for a while, but if you can get some type of residual fungicide out there that might save you in crop pass later on in the year.
Fertilizer
A lot of guys switch into liquid fertilizer this year after the last two pretty dry years. Instead of having to put it all down in front with the drills, maybe doing half with the drills and then coming back with maybe five to 10 gallons in season. It's a great way for guys to save little money up front and protect some of the risk of getting a bunch of dollars out there early on and then having it kind of go to waste if it gets hot.
Now Is The Time To Buy
The only thing I would say maybe a guy might want to look at stocking up on is some of the grasshopper sprays have been sort of tight, but again, that'll be later on this spring and summer when we might see that higher demand. But if you can get your hands on, some of that might not be a bad idea, especially with all the mustard going in. We will see a lot of pea weevil, alfalfa weevil, so that might not hurt to stock up on. I don't think the price of that's going to plummet. So you'd be safe to stock a little bit of that if you thought you might see some of that.
Mustard
A lot of mustard in this year. Surprising big mustard contract. So it's been interesting to see all the mustard acres come in taking away from maybe pulse crops. Pulse crops are probably down 30% across the golden triangle. I think most of that's gone to mustard this year.
Shay can be reached at 406-399-1201
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