MORSE, Sask. – Two fertilizer additives, one for nitrogen and one for phosphorus, are playing an important role in fertilizer recommendations at Olynick Agro Supply in Morse, Sask.
ESN is a polymer coated urea produced by Agrium, while Avail is a water-soluble phosphorus additive produced by Simplot.
“ESN is a coated nitrogen, 46-0-0 coated with a polymer that releases over time,” said Bob Olynick, owner of Olynick Agro Supply.
“The idea of it was for the winter wheat market. You would seed your winter wheat with ESN and the ESN wouldn’t go to work until next spring. That would save you time in the spring, top dressing with a liquid or whatever to get your nitrogen.
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“Avail is a liquid that coats the phos fertilizer prill; 11-52-0 is the only one we’ll use it on. All the phos out here is the same. There’s no company that’s got anything different.”
Olynick said local farmers started playing with ESN, throwing it into different blends in single shoot situations. They found it didn’t seem to burn the seedlings.
“The 46-0-0 will go to work early, but you only put enough in to keep yourself safe. Then from the end of May to the first week of July, your ESN goes to work, when your regular nitrogen is already done,” said Olynick.
“The plants have all their nitrogen requirements using a single shoot. The equipment costs are cheaper, fuel costs are cheaper and they’re getting all the nitrogen they need with no seed damage.”
He said typically about half the nitrogen component will be standard urea and the other half treated with ESN.
“A common blend guys in the area are using for a cereal is 34-17-0. In that blend, 36 percent will be ESN, 30 percent will be regular urea, then 34 percent will be phos, whether with Avail or regular phos.”
Olynick said one concern with phosphorus fertilizer is that it quickly becomes unavailable to the plant.
“Phos is like a magnet that takes on (mineral) impurities in the soil. They cling to it, it gets tied up in the soil and (becomes unavailable). The easiest way I explain it to farmers is Avail is like a magnet, only in reverse. It pushes everything away and lets the phos go to work,” he said.
“This will be our third year with Avail. Even with the drought this year, we’ve seen good things.”
Olynick said while Avail makes the phosphorus more available, that doesn’t mean rates should be cut.
“If you start cutting rates, you’re defeating the purpose. Why put the Avail on then? We use recommended rates, adding the Avail to it, and they’ve got more phos that’s available,” he said.
“I’m not saying farmers won’t start playing with rates by themselves. We’ve got some guys who like to try different things every year. But right now, with everything we’ve seen, don’t (cut rates).”
He said a farmer near Morse increased the yield of Grandora lentils from 2,000 pounds per acre to 2,251 lb. using Avail on 11-52-0 at 35 lb. per acre, compared to the same fertilizer rate but with no treatment.
In a Washington state trial that compared a 20 lb. per acre rate of untreated P2O5 to the same rate treated with Avail, the Avail boosted winter wheat yields from 50 to 56 bushels an acre.
The same trial also assessed plant dry matter at heading, with the untreated plots producing 5,300 lb. per acre and the treated plots producing 6,100 lb.
Phosphorus is an immobile nutrient in the soil, so top dressing usually isn’t an option. But Olynick said Avail might change that.
“We’re trying to get some top dressing phos on alfalfa. We did it this year, but it was too late. It got hot and the crop didn’t do anything. But we’re going to try it again next year,” he said.
“We hope to try it on potatoes. There’s a lot of potatoes half an hour north of here (at Riverhurst) and we hope to get into that, too.”
Olynick said with this year’s prices, it would cost a farmer $22.74 an acre to put a blend of 34-17-0 on at 100 lb. per acre with nothing added.
“With just the ESN, the cost would be $24.49 an acre for 100 lb. Avail will cost $24.69 an acre. If you go to Avail and ESN, that’s $26.43 an acre,” he said.
He said the results have been yield increases and higher protein. Customers said that when the heat hit at the end of June and into July, their crops stayed greener longer.
“Both of those products are good for the cost and what the return is. This year we’ve had guys who had the drought and heat hit, and they’re coming right back and doing it again.”
For the first two years Olynick used Avail, he had to buy treated phosphorus fertilizer directly from the company.
“This year they let us put it on ourselves. We set up our own treater. They gave us the Avail. We can buy anybody’s phos and treat it ourselves,” he said.
“We were going to walk away from Avail. In season, we couldn’t get the product up here fast enough. Seeding only takes three or four weeks, and by the time you order a truck, you’re lucky to get it in two weeks.”
Olynick researched what was required to treat the fertilizer and developed a system that would get the product on the fertilizer properly. He said the application rate is about two litres per tonne of fertilizer.
“In Morse, we have an upright blender that works, while in Hodgeville, (Sask.) we have a cement mixer type blender. We haven’t figured out a way we could do it there yet, but we will,” he said.
“We’re the first ones in Western Canada to set up a treater, so we can do it on site.”
For more information, contact Bob Olynick at 306-629-3204 or visit www.simplot.com or www.agrium.com.
