Zinc is an extremely important micronutrient that has many roles in plant health and deficiencies are widespread, even if unknown to the grower. Recommendations for zinc levels in soils are dependent on crop, soil type, pH and other nutrient status and can range depending on which institution is offering the recommendation. Generally speaking, below 1ppm on your soil test indicates that you should apply some type of zinc fertilizer. However, growers should pay attention to their soil tests and site-specific factors, because while 1ppm of zinc in one soil type may be sufficient, 4ppm in another soil with zinc antagonists may be a better target.

Deficiency symptoms are generally seen in new growth, early in the life cycle of the plant and result in stunted growth, shortened, sometimes split internodes and discoloration of new leaves—the color of which can vary depending on plant species. Internally, zinc deficiency can result in reduced water uptake, phytohormone (hormones that regulate plant growth) activity and uptake of other nutrients. In corn, zinc deficiency results in a broad band of bleached tissue on either side of the midrib, beginning at the base of the leaf and generally staying in the lower half of the leaf. Severe zinc deficiency may result in new leaves that are nearly white, a phenomenon called ‘white bud.’

Zinc availability is very sensitive to pH, and is therefore reduced by over-liming or by other agents causing high pH. However, rates and acidifying forms of N commonly used in agriculture generally alter the pH enough in the rhizosphere to enhance zinc uptake. Zinc is also well known to interact with P; where zinc is deficient, P uptake is increased in certain plants and vice versa. Zinc deficiency is also more common on cool and wet soils with low organic matter. 

Specifically, we are interested in the interaction of zinc and calcium, a topic on which there exists little information. Feedback from growers indicates that when zinc levels are not sufficient, they don’t see a good response from our products containing calcium. Why this happens, we are not exactly sure, however, we theorize that perhaps the limiting factor is zinc, rather than the calcium, which results in no visible effects from the application. One thing we do know is that alkaline earth cations, specifically calcium, can inhibit zinc uptake. This may have something to do with the fact that a large amount of basic cations in soil generally result in higher pH values, which is known to inhibit zinc uptake. One way to combat this problem is to apply some slightly acidifying N fertilizer that will cause a temporary shift in pH—favorable to zinc uptake—in the rhizosphere to combat the inhibitory effects from calcium. The take-home message is that if calcium-based products are needed in your system, it is prudent to pay attention to your zinc levels and adjust with a zinc fertilizer, or another method to ensure your plants are getting the requisite amount of zinc. 

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 Sales and Marketing Manager at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com. 

 In autumn of 2012, Craig Dick and I began discussing a Calcium Products research agronomist and manager of research & development (R&D). I was thrilled at the idea and gladly accepted the position a few months ago.
 
I completed my Ph.D. at Iowa State University in May 2012 in horticulture, with a research specialization in turfgrass science. I know that may not equate into corn and soybean agronomy at first glance, but one of the purposes of obtaining a Ph.D. is to show you have learned how to subjectively think about problems and use the scientific method via research to answer them. Although my concentration was in the turf world, I have a well-rounded education that can be applied to any area of plant science. I started part-time with CPI in October while finishing my post-doc work at ISU and started full-time January 1. We have been busy exploring new avenues and expanding existing ones for research and development opportunities.
 
On-farm strip trials are one area we are exploring. CPI has been doing these for quite a few years, and the idea is to increase product awareness by putting it into the hands of the farmer through our Prove-It program. Sometimes the dialogue between scientist and farmer gets lost in translation; when a farmer talks to another farmer about what worked it’s very effective. What better way to spread the message of soil health than through our customers? We put the power in your hands to realize how our products can help your bottom line. We are looking to involve as many farmers and co-ops as possible into our Prove-It program, as well as the Iowa Soybean Association’s On-Farm Network, which has been a great cooperative venture we hope to expand in the future.
 
University research is another area we are starting to increase R&D efforts. CPI has been involved with this in the past, however, cooperating with universities is often a tedious process and can involve considerable cost depending on the intensity of the experiment. We have identified key areas in soil science that involve our products in need of up-to-date research and information. It is our goal to help drive the science to answer these questions and increase the available knowledge base in these areas.
 
We are also increasing our in-house research efforts. This is where the ‘D’ of R&D comes in; we are always aiming to improve the physical characteristics of our products to ultimately benefit the end user. We do not simply manufacture a product in the cheapest and easiest way and sell it. On the contrary, we put considerable time, research and money into producing the best product available so we can help growers improve their soils. Beyond the ‘D,’ we are also looking at small-scale trials with different coatings for our pellets to expand into different agricultural and horticultural markets. Further, we are conducting small-scale experiments on different crops with our existing products to determine what benefits we can offer growers beyond the corn/soybean and turf markets.
 
Finally, we are always interested in knowing what problems and/or questions growers have for us. Often, these interactions with growers are what spawn new product ideas and research. So, please do not hesitate to contact anyone in the company if you have an idea for a research project or need a question answered about how any of our products work!

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 at blog.calciumproducts.com. 

I have had some recent questions about calcium nitrate. Calcium nitrate, chemically known as ammonium calcium nitrate decahydrate (5Ca(NO₃)₂*NH₄NO₃*10H₂O), is a white, hygroscopic, dry water-soluble material. It is 15.5% nitrogen and 19% calcium (15.5-0-0-19Ca). It is produced by reacting nitric acid with crushed phosphate ore and then neutralized with ammonia.

It is considered a 'double growth' fertilizer, since both the calcium and the nitrate contribute to plant growth. It is highly hygroscopic, and needs to be stored in a cool, dry location. Some formulations are coated to help retard moisture absorption during storage.

Compared to other nitrogen fertilizers such as urea or ammonium nitrate, it receives little attention. Many of the discussions I have heard about it originated from biological farmers, and they gave excellent reviews of its attributes. Several commented that using calcium nitrate, and calcium sulfate (SuperCal SO4) together produced some great results.

Because of its hygroscopic properties, I do not recommend mixing calcium nitrate with either SuperCal 98G, or SuperCal SO4, until it is time for application. Storing them as blended material would likely lead to particle degradation in storage.

Article sources:

• Western Fertilizer Handbook, 9^th Edition
• www.yara.com
• Wikipedia

Check out this article, "Understanding limestone, pH & calcium" from the ACRES USA magazine. It was penned by our own Craig Dick.

If you still have questions - about lime, pH, calcium or our SuperCal 98G - please let us know. We'd love to help!

All you need to know about pH correction can be summed up in two words: SOURCE and SURFACE area.

The SOURCE of calcium carbonate material will tell you the potential amount of carbonate for chemical reactions that release the H ion from the cation site on a soil particle. Each limestone deposit has it own recipe of elements—calcium carbonate, magnesium, lead, mercury, etc,. That is why ag limestone from different limestone pits requires different amounts for pH correction per acre.

SuperCal 98G is a superior SOURCE, having +95% calcium carbonate, less than .5% magnesium and no detectable heavy metals. It comes from one of the highest quality deposits in North America.

The second component that makes types of lime different is the SURFACE area of each ton. Imagine a one ton block of limestone, one ton of ag limestone and one ton of SuperCal 98G, all quarried at Gilmore City. There SOURCE would be the same and they all have a very similar amount of carbonate for the chemical reaction to occur. The one ton square block would have one flat side in contact with the soil. That SURFACE area in contact with the soil is the only area where the pH correction reaction could occur. And it would occur for millions of years. That’s a long time to wait to get your money back by having more nutrients available to your growing crop, but you would be able to say it lasts longer than 98G.

Now imagine taking that one ton of ag limestone and spreading it one particle thick over as large an area as it would cover. It would vary in depth as particle size varies from 8 mesh particles to those smaller than 60 mesh. (Remember, too, you bought at least 200lb of water that has no effect on correction.) That ton would cover a substantially larger area than the block of limestone, therefore, a higher percentage would react quicker, though the larger particles will take centuries to dissolve. According to University of Nebraska data, it would take 3+ years to recover the cost of its application with better crops.

Finally, imagine SuperCal 98G after a ¼” rain. If you spread out one layer of particles it would likely cover more than five times the ag limestone covered since over 70% passes through a 200 mesh screen. That is a lot more surface area and a lot more chemical reactions that would occur. In short, you have the same amount of chemical reactions with each product but SuperCal 98G has more of them, quicker.

One more comment about surface area. Since calcium is immobile in the soil, even distribution is critical. Ag limestone is a combination of leftover limestone. It varies in size from 8 mesh down to 60+ mesh. Because the size varies, the fan spreader is a poor application devise since it operates on centrifugal force—larger, heavier particles are thrown farther from the center, lighter smaller ones don’t travel as far. That leads to uneven distribution of uneven particles with unequal capacity to effect pH.

SuperCal 98G has consistent pellet sizes and spreads evenly as this video shows.

Precision farming and ag lime—two things that have no business in the same sentence.

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 Pete, Craig and guest writers at blog.calciumproducts.com.

Our own Craig Dick is headed north to the Agri-Trend 2012: Farm Forum Event in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It's a conference and trade show and we're thrilled to be there with our distributor, ENR Distribution.

Craig will actually be speaking on Wednesday afternoon. He is going to cover the agronomic role soil pH, calcium and sulfur play in soil fertility and high yielding crops. If you're at the event, come learn why you can't afford to ignore these critical yield increasing items.

If Craig gets a chance to attend other sessions, he'll be tweeting about them with the hashtag #FFE12. Follow us on Twitter to read the insight he shares.

To understand how limestone is formed one has to look at the the global carbon cycle.  You may already be familiar with the nitrogen cycle, sulfur cycle, and the water cycle 

Hi, my name is Courtney and I'm a city girl that's infiltrating the world of agriculture. Last week I worked the Calcium Products booth at the Iowa Power Farming Show and had a few observations to share.

But first, lest you think I'm kidding about the 'city girl' label, you should know that I've never NOT lived in an urban or suburban area. Even though I went to college here in Iowa and graduated with a few majors they were all in the journalism and design fields. The things I currently grow, or have grown, all fit in a backyard garden plot or a lovely counter or porch pot. Much to the consternation of my farm-raised husband, I call everything from a riding mower to a combine a "tractor." I was hired by Calcium Products to help with marketing and to promote our homeowner line of products. But because we're a small company and we all fill in where needed I've been learning more about ag.

So, without delay, here's a few things I learned at my first farm show:

1.  While most crops flourish the 6.5-6.8 pH range, as home lawns do, alfalfa tends to like a tad higher alkalinity.

2.  Farmers are loyal to the brands they love. I didn't even know there were so many options for logo-branded merchandise! I don't think I saw a single person sans logo or name of an ag-related company. I even saw one strapping lad in John Deere hat, shirt and belt buckle — I get it, you bleed green & gold!

3.  Even if your soil is naturally neutral or alkaline, the regular application of P&K will acidify it. Often a regular low-dose application of our SuperCal 98G lime will help keep things balanced.

4.  Men really are just little boys with toys, they're just bigger. Walking through the large equipment room of the show made me feel about ant-sized. Holy canoli, those are giant tractors! (teasing, teasing!)

5.  Many fields are sulfur-deficient. With cleaner air, our soil isn't pulling sulfur from the environment like it used to so we need to add it (via our SuperCal SO4 is a good way!).

6.  While everyone is loving this extremely warm/dry winter, we're all worrying about the drought. Did you know regular application of gypsum helps your soil be most efficient with the water it has?

7.  Farmers can't get enough pocket-sized notebooks. 

8.  The ag community is extremely welcoming and friendly. So many folks attend shows just to chat and make new friends.

9.  The number one most shocking thing I learned - so many farmers aren't soil testing. They have no idea what nutrients their soil (and therefore their crops) are lacking. They have no idea what their pH range is. This truly blew my mind. I heard so many reasons/excuses/theories I was aghast. One person was applying amendments based on their neighbor's soil tests (from now on I'm going to borrow my neighbor's grocery shopping list. I'm sure it'll be the same thing I need, right?). One guy said he applies ag lime every year even though he hasn't tested in years and had no idea what his pH is. I asked why waste the money since he might not even need it and he said he likes the tax deduction. (Weird, I'd prefer to save money and improve yield!) Several people said they only apply what they apply every year; no changes ever. (If you ate the exact same meal every day, every year, would you get all the nutrients your body needed?) And the story I heard repeatedly that still amazes me - farmers applying based on a soil test from YEARS ago. (If my husband and I applied that same practice to our rental property business, we could just buy 20 faucets this year because that's what we needed in 2006?)

What other things will shock me as I learn more about agriculture?

This week we hosted a soil amendment conference for our dealers and about 75 of them were able to attend. We had a wonderful cast of speakers and we'd love to share the presentations with those of you who weren't able to make it!

Check out this page to download their presentations. We'll have video of each talk coming soon!

IPNI has released an artilce with the title, "Is there a need for more Calcium?" 

From the Artilce:

"There are soil conditions where Ca applications are very helpful. Sandy soils and crops irrigated with low Ca water may be particularly vulnerable to low Ca availability. Soils with low pH generally have low Ca availability. Unusually high exchangeable Mg may pose a problem for Ca uptake by roots. "

We have seen the benefits of calcium fertilization for years. We are glad more of the world is taking notice.

More on Calcium

Last week I spent 2 days in Alberta doing meetings in support of our new exclusive distributor for western Canada ENR . You likely won’t believe it but it was actually warmer in Canada than it was in Iowa!

 

 

 If you've been following this blog then you know we are working with the Iowa Soybean Association's On-Farm Network to place trials of SuperCal SO4 around Iowa to compare using sulfur.

In a follow up to the report from June 15th, Corn Showing Signs of Sulfur Deficincy, this plot along with two others near Waverly, IA are still showing a visual response to SuperCal SO4. The first field is 3-4 leaves ahead of the check, with plants aready tasseling and silking. The check rows are 3-4' shorter, and ears have not started shooting off the stalk yet.

Please enoy these pictures and we'll update you further once ISA has released the final data.

Corn Trial #1 dark green strips SuperCal SO4 

SO4 Treatment on the Left, Check on the right

SO4 treatment on the right, check on the left.

SuperCal SO4 was not applied to the endrows

SuperCal SO4 on the right, check on the left

Check strip corn height 4'-5'

Height of SuperCal SO4 Strips, 8'-9'

 Corn Trial #2 dark green strips SuperCal SO4

 Bean Trial, Middle Field

From the Ventura County Star, GRANGEVILLE, Idaho (AP)

"Crop soils in north-central Idaho are becoming more acidic, possibly because of the repeated use of ammonium-based fertilizers, scientists say."

"Basically you're adding calcium carbonate to the soil," Sandlund said. The process is effective, but it's expensive, time-consuming and difficult, "usually involving tons per acre."

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/22/n-idaho-farmers-concerned-about-acidic-soil/#ixzz1NBXiA0BAwww.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/22/n-idaho-farmers-concerned-about-acidic-soil/#ixzz1NBXiA0BA  - vcstar.com.

At CPI we are not against Ammonium sulfate (AMS), in many cases it can be a great fertilizer. However if you have soils that are already acid, and/or have a low buffering capacity. It may be best to choose another form of Nitrogen and sulfur that is less acidic. 

For every pound of Ammonium sulfate applied, you need 5 lbs of pure calcium carbonate to offset the acidity it causes. 
 

Urea only needs 1.8 lbs of pure calcium carbonate to offset the acidity it causes. Combine that with a product like SuperCal SO4 to get your sulfur and you have nitrogen and sulfur blend that is priced less initially and causes less soil acidity.

If you insists on using the higher priced ammonium sulfate of low pH soils or low buffered soils make sure you apply 5 lbs of SuperCal 98G when you apply your AMS. This will keep you pH where you need it, and it more effective than waiting for a problem, is not expensive, nor time consuming and is really easy.

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 Sales and Marketing Manager at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com/ .

Ever since the first boron article I get many questions on its necessity, more than any other micronutrient. It may be a micro but it is essential for higher plants (and humans). Unfortunately it is one of the least important nutrients with regard to its functions and one of the least understood of all the trace elements. 

I got a new book this week, Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease, Edited by Lawrence E. Datnoff, Wade H. Elmer, and Don Huber.

It is really heavy reading, it isn't the kind of book you sit down by a fire with and read at one setting. Its 278 pages of scientific journal papers showing which mineral deficiency (or excess) are the under lying cause of plant disease. Over the course of the next few month I hope to use this a a reference for this blog. I will try and break out some points that farmers and agronomist will find helpful. My pain is your gain, but for the references you'll need to buy the book.

• Cephalosporium Stripe in wheat was significantly reduced when liming soils from a 5.1 to 6 pH.
• Pythium in wheat was inhibited with two applications of 440 lbs / a of gypsum
• two applications of 440 lbs / a of gypsum significantly reduced the incidence of sheath rot caused by Sarocladium Oryzae , increased yields comparable with those obtained by the fungicide carbendazim .

In researching how calcium affects nutrient uptake of other fertilizers I found an article Calcium's Role in Plant Nutrition from the Fluid Fertilizer Foundation.

Summary:  Calcium availability is essential in the biochemistry of plants and, as we are learning, in the nitrogen fertilizer efficiency of surface-applied urea.  We should not confuse the role of important soil amendments such as lime or gypsum with the need of soluble calcium by high-value crops. Both are extremely important in soil fertility and plant nutrition and complement each other.

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 Sales and Marketing Manager at Calcium Products. Find other articles by Craig and guest writers at http://blog.calciumproducts.com/ .