We're excited to be at the Ag Media Summit Aug. 4-8 in New Mexico! The sessions sound great and we know we'll meet some amazing folks. Are you going?

If you're there, please stop by and see us at booth #76.

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. Courtney Tompkins mainly works on Calcium Products' brand for homeowners but also contributes a random and varied selection of info to Yield Starts Here.

Due to the overwhelming response for summer fill in Fort Dodge for SuperCal SO4 pelletized gypsum we are extending our summer fill pricing to Aug 3. This means you have the whole week to fill your bins. This should ease truck congestion.

Reminder: Fall prepay must be in by July 31. We are expecting another busy fall, despite the drought. If you think you may need product please contact one of our many distributors or contact us.

If you have any questions please contact your sales representative.

We were excited to hear the University of Minnesota is soon to have an exhibit entirely on one of our favorite topics - soil! It kicks off November 10 and is called "Dig It! The Secrets of Soil." Here's a little blurb about it from an online U of M newsletter:

Did you know there are more living creatures in a shovelful of soil than there are human beings on the planet? Learn all about soil, one of our planet's most important yet often-ignored components, at "Dig It! The Secrets of Soil," the new exhibit coming this fall to the Bell Museum of Natural History. The exhibit’s timing couldn’t be better, arriving in time to mark theDepartment of Soil, Water and Climate’s centennial celebration. "Dig It!" tells the story of the world beneath our feet through interactive displays, video models, photography and special events. The exhibit is sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America. Visit and discover the complex world of soil, and how this hidden ecosystem supports nearly every form of life on earth. 

If you're in Minnesota or near and get to go, let us know how it is! If we get up there to check it out, we'll also report back.

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. Courtney Tompkins mainly works on Calcium Products' brand for homeowners but also contributes a random and varied selection of info to Yield Starts Here.

How many farmers or dealers are applying a coarse ag grade, phosphorite, Kainite, or sylvinite? 

The answer is, almost none.

Why? Because highly efficient plant-available sources are available. While the cost of these products on a per ton basis is many times higher than the ore they are derived from, the per acre cost is lower due to the efficiencies gained through the processing and pelletizing or granulation of these materials. This makes the product less expensive and more effective on a per acre basis than shipping and applying many tons of a low grade ore.

Wouldn't it be great if there was someone who manufacted a highly efficient, very pure lime or gypsum product?

Lucky for the farmer there is. SuperCal 98G is the highest quality, highest efficiency liming material avaialble for agriculture. SuperCal SO4 is the country's most effective gypsum product.

Call us, we can show you how to increase yields while decreasing costs!

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. It is managed by Craig Dick, the blogronomist and VP of sales and marketing at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at blog.calciumproducts.com.

My sister made this fabulous salad over the weekend and many asked for the recipe so I'm going to share it here too! It's so refreshing and simple!

Fresh garden salad

• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• red/green bell peppers
• mozzarella
• basil leaves (chopped up small)

• balsamic vinagarette
• sugar
• olive oil
• shakes of garlic & onion powder
• a jar of basil pesto (or fresh if you have it)

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. It is managed by Craig Dick, the blogronomist and VP of sales and marketing at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at blog.calciumproducts.com.

Calcium Products, Inc. is once again sponsoring trials with the Iowa Soybean Associations On-Farm Network. While it’s too late to conduct a SuperCal SO4 trial, you can still be a part of their groundbreaking Nutrient Benchmarking Project.

This is perfect for the farmer wondering about nutrient levels in his field who wants an opinion on fertility from someone that doesn’t sell fertilizer, or just wants to improve their fertility program. Calcium Products, Inc., highly recommends Iowa farmers take part in this tremendous program.

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. It is managed by Craig Dick, a blogronomist and VP of sales and marketing at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com.

The Calcium Products family wishes you and your family a very happy, sparkly, patriotism-filled fourth of July! It feels a bit weird to celebrate mid-week but Independence Day is such a wonderful thing to celebrate. Hope you have time with family/friends, get to see a parade &/or some fireworks and taste some yummy Americana dishes like ice cream, sweet corn, homemade pie or burgers from the grill!

Calcium Products' hours for Independence day week: 

• July 4: Alden & Aplington closed all day. Fort Dodge, closing at 4 a.m. Gilmore City, closed 4 a.m. - 5 p.m. 
• July 5: normal hours everywhere except no night shift in Gilmore City.
• July 6: normal hours everywhere.

Over the past week I have driven from Minneapolis, MN to Topeka, KS. I am seeing more delayed and uneven tasseling/flowering this year then I have for a number of years.

To achieve high yields it is vitally important that silking and tasseling (flowering) happens all at once.

Could uneven flowering be a sign that your corn is sulfur deficient?

Determining if sulfur is deficient

If you follow this blog you know sulfur deficiency can result in a general yellowing of the plant in corn, as interveinal chlorosis, similar to magnesium or zinc deficiency. Sulfur is not easily translocated in plants, so symptoms will appear first and be most pronounced on the younger, upper leaves. Deficiencies of mobile nutrients such as nitrogen will appear first on the lower leaves as nutrients are remobilized to growing plant tissues. 

Sulfur deficiency symptoms follow a similar pattern in other crops such as soybean, wheat, canola and alfalfa, with yellowing of the plant in the youngest tissue. In canola, early season deficiency symptoms include yellowing between leaf veins, cupped leaves and stunting. Late season symptoms are slender, cupped leaves that may be purple along the edges, delayed flowering and pale yellow or white flowers.

I have had the opportunity to work with canola growers over the last year. The one thing that really stands out in canola is that sulfur deficiency affects rapidly growing parts, especially reproductive structures. Since sulfur has a low mobility within the plant, symptoms are usually observed early in the season on the youngest leaves which are greenish-yellow compared to the normal bluish-green. If sulfur deficiency occurs around flowering, leaf symptoms may not be obvious, but flower petals may become paler. Yellow and white petals may even exist side by side on a single flower. (See the photo: flower on the left was treated with SuperCal SO4, control on the right)

The lifespan of sulfur deficient petals is shortened to one day instead of two or three, and pollen production is greatly reduced. In addition, sulfur deficient petals are egg-shaped compared to more round petals on plants with sufficient sulfur. By podding, sulfur deficiency becomes more distinctive. Pod number and size and seed number per pod are reduced significantly. Pods may be pale green, often with purpling and can be compressed or flattened. Sulfur deficiency can lead to a big reduction in yield and quality, namely a reduction in oil and protein.

Canola isn’t corn, but is this what we are seeing in this year's corn crop?

I have had trouble finding scientific journal relating flowering in corn and sulfur fertilization. However last year we delayed flowering in our trials. (picture at right: SuperCal SO4 trials on the right; control on the left).

Historically, sulfur deficiencies were thought to be a concern strictly on sandy soils, but in recent years, deficiencies have become more prevalent across a variety of soil types. Sulfur deficiencies may appear on hilltops or slopes where soils are eroded and low in organic matter soils. Sulfur deficiency symptoms are typically not uniform across the field, more often appearing in spots or streaks due to field variability. Symptoms may also appear in places where soils are colder or wetter, such as low spots or high residue areas. This is because the rate of sulfur mineralization and the supply of available sulfate are reduced in those areas.

A key component of sulfur for plant growth is the soil mineralization path. The amount of sulfur released from residues will depend on soil organic matter. Plant residues are decomposed by soil microbes, releasing sulphate. Like nitrogen, the sulfur mineralization rate is quite slow, and can not match the uptake rate of growing plants. Sulfur oxidizing bacteria are most active under warm, moist, well-aerated conditions.

So are we seeing uneven flowering due to the drought or from lack of available sulfur?

The answer is likely both. Sulfur may not be available to the plant due to the dry conditions. It is also in lower supply due to clean air laws. While this is a topic that definetly needs more research, be sure to make sure that your start your crop off right by supplying, at the least, grain removal rates of a good sulfate sulfur fertilizer like SuperCal SO4.

Related links:

http://blog.calciumproducts.com/posts/isa-on-farm-trial-update.cfm

http://blog.calciumproducts.com/posts/sulfur-in-soybeans.cfm

http://blog.calciumproducts.com/posts/isa-nutirent-management-benchmarking-project.cfm

http://blog.calciumproducts.com/posts/iowa-soybean-association-spotlights-limestone.cfm

http://blog.calciumproducts.com/posts/is-your-nitrogen-still-there.cfm

Sources:

http://www.canolacouncil.org/chapter9.aspx

https://www.pioneer.com/home/site/us/agronomy/library/template.CONTENT/guid.7786411D-9BC0-C084-8A66-CC7BE3A9C8E9

Yield Starts Here is a blog for farmers, focusing on increasing yield and profitability by focusing on the soil. It is managed by Craig Dick, a blogronomist and VP of sales and marketing at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com.