Last weeks Iowa Farmer Today as an article in it “Crusted soils, uneven emergence prevail”. Its focus is on using a rotary hoe to alleviate crusted soils. It discusses damage to stand and that there is a cost in fuel and time to hoe a field.

While hoeing maybe your only option at this point in the season, wouldn’t be best to adopt practices that reduce or eliminate crusting. Applying 150 to 300 pounds of SuperCal SO4 will prevent crusting on most soil types.

Think you can’t afford it? For $15 to $30 per acre you can apply SuperCal SO4. What is the cost of hoeing, according to the University of Nebraska’s 2008 Custom farming rates, $12 per acre? What about yield loss due to stand count? What if the field is crusted enough that stand is reduced enough that you have to replant?

200 bushel corn, 10% yield reduction due to stand loss, at $5 corn = $100 per acre lost to crusting.

SuperCal SO4 is not just insurance for crusting and yield loss. SuperCal SO4 provides 17% sulfur. It is the only source of sulfur that does not cause soil acidity, is plant available and will cost you less than other fertilizers. Iowa State reports that 82% of the sites had a statistically significant yield increase to applied S fertilizer, and yield increases averaged 15, 18, and 38 bu/acre.

Use SuperCal SO4, eliminate crusting, increase yields, and sell the rotary hoe.