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Mike Howell (00:08):
… The Dirt, with me, Mike Howell, an eKonomics podcast where I present the down and dirty agronomic science to help grow crops and bottom lines. Inspired by eKonomics.com, farming’s go-to informational resource, I’m here to break down the latest crop nutrition research, use, and issues, helping farmers make better business decisions through actionable insights. Let’s dig in.
(00:38):
Listeners, welcome back to The Dirt. Glad you’re tuning in this week. We’ve got another exciting episode for you. We’re going to continue our series on the essential nutrients for plant development. We’re still in our micronutrients, so we’ve got several of those covered already. If you’ve missed those episodes, I highly encourage you to go back and have another listen to those. Today, we’re going to continue talk about molybdenum. And to help us do that, we’ve got Dr. Vaughn Reed with Mississippi State University. Vaughn, thanks for joining us today.
Dr. Vaughn Reed (01:05):
Well, thank you for having me.
Mike Howell (01:06):
Before we get started, Vaughn, if you will, tell us a little bit about yourself or your background.
Dr. Vaughn Reed (01:11):
I am new faculty at Mississippi State University. I grew up in western Kentucky. Did a little bit of beef cattle, didn’t really do a whole lot of row crops, but I attended Murray State University, looking at agronomy, and that really just sparked my interest in soils and rock science and row crops. I finished my degree there and really got interested more, maybe I want to look more into this, maybe I want to do some more research. So, just through some internships and stuff, I ended getting a connection at Oklahoma State University.
(01:38):
So I spent five years at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, studying soil fertility and nutrient management, precision ag and really got to get a good feel of Midwestern crops and Oklahoma, and those types of crops. And finished up my PhD and really wanted to focus more on nutrient management. I had some other job opportunities, but I thought soil fertility, like chemistry and soils and trying to help producers is where my heart really led.
(02:04):
I did a short postdoc at University of Kentucky for a year, before finally ending up here in Starkville, at Mississippi State, and been here for about four months. But I’ve really been enjoying it so far and really excited to see some of the projects that I’m going to get to work on for the next few years, really get my research program started.
Mike Howell (02:20):
Okay. Well, I understand you’re just trying to get everything kicked off and rolling. If you would, tell us a little bit about some of the issues that you’re seeing, things that you think you need to be addressing in your research program, to start off.
Dr. Vaughn Reed (02:30):
Today’s industry, we really talk a lot about precision ag and how are we using some of that technology to really benefit our nutrient management? One of the things that I’ve kind of been focusing on, and it’s come from some work at Oklahoma State, it’s come from some of the work I did as postdoc at UK is looking at how we are precision applying our fertilizers and how our current fertilizer recommendations are working. For the longest time we’ve been doing correlation calibration studies and that’s developing a fertilizer recommendation based upon a soil test value.
(03:02):
But what we’re seeing is a lot of that works on average. And it has, because we’ve been updating those recommendations for 50 years and it’s just the way it boils down is those are working very well on average. My program primarily, right now, is looking at how can we get this from working on average to working more precise, working on a by-location basis? You’ve got two different farms maybe right next to each other, my research and work is going to be focused on trying to make sure that both of those are managed with what you’re seeing in that.
(03:34):
So we’re going to take a little bit of grid sampling, going to do some work on some fertilizer recommendations in grid sampling, as well as seeing how we can monitor spatial variability of nutrient response within field, and then how do we go back in and change that in the next few years with our recommendations.
Mike Howell (03:51):
Hey, that sounds like some pretty exciting stuff. There’s always more stuff that we need to be working on in soil fertility and sounds like you’ve got a great plan to get started with that. Vaughn, if you’re ready, let’s go ahead and get into the dirt and start talking about today’s subject. Let’s talk about molybdenum and the role of molybdenum in plants. A lot of people can’t really say that word, and I’ve probably said it wrong every time I’ve said it so far today, so we’re just going to shorten it and call it Moly. That’s what most people do anyways. Tell us what the role of Moly is in plant production.
Dr. Vaughn Reed (04:20):
All of the essential nutrients are extremely important, but Moly’s one of those that we don’t think about it very often, because very rarely do we ever see any deficiencies, but it really is part of a key role in making sure that the plants are operating in the way they are. It’s needed in the second lease behind copper quantity within a plant. You don’t need a whole lot of it. Its key role is generally in enzymes and reactions and making sure that those are working correctly.
(04:47):
In the plant, we’re talking less than ranges from 0.3 to 1.5 parts per million within the plant itself. Within the soil, I mean, you’re talking same levels. We’re talking 0.1 up to three parts per million. So extremely low levels needed for the plant. Conveniently for us, that means we don’t have to worry about it too often, but then when you do have those issues, that’s something we have to work out pretty quickly, because it can cause a lot of issues in the plants.
Mike Howell (05:14):
It’s been a long time since I took soil fertility, and I guess you’re replacing Dr. Varco and he’s the one that taught me soil fertility years ago. But the best I remember in his class, he told us that there had been one documented case of molybdenum deficiency in cotton, in the state of Mississippi at that time, but every cotton farmer in the state was applying it at planting. Is that still pretty much the case?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (05:36):
Yeah, it’s very rare that you’re going to find deficiencies with Moly. One of the things that soybeans and peanuts and legumes are the crops that really are most vulnerable to these deficiencies due to the fact that molybdenum is extremely important for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. I don’t want to start into a whole chemistry lecture, because that could get extremely deep. But the enzymes that are breaking down and moving the molecules around and changing those compounds, their major importance is taking nitrate. So nitrate’s the form that plants are taking up nitrogen most of the time.
(06:09):
They’re taking that nitrate and then they’re reducing it, so they’re taking it from nitrate, converting it into nitrite, and then from a few more steps later, converting it into ammonia, and that ammonium is actually what the plant’s going to be able to use. When legumes, where they are relying almost solely on that nitrogen-fixing bacteria to create the nitrogen for that plant, you’ve got to have that molybdenum there. A lot of the inoculates that you’re going to use on your soybeans anyway, a lot of those are going to contain some sort of molybdenum fertilizer that just coats the seed, and that’s going to make sure that you supply all the molybdenum you’re going to need for that plant.
Mike Howell (06:46):
Vaughn, you’ve talked a little bit about deficiencies in the plants. Tell us a little bit about what growers can look for if they think they’ve got a deficiency. What symptoms are going to be showing up in the plants?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (06:56):
A molybdenum deficiency is going to look very similar to nitrogen. The margins are going to start showing some chlorosis, going to show some yellowing. You might see a little bit of rolling of the leaves. Molybdenum is mobile in the plant, so that’s why it works. It’s going to look similar to nitrogen. It’s going to start pulling it from the lower leaves first, moving it up to that new growth area. If you start seeing some deficiencies up top that start to look like nitrogen, that could be an issue.
(07:20):
The reason molybdenum is very rare of a deficiency is that it doesn’t need a whole lot. There’s not a whole lot in the soil, but there’s not a whole lot in the plant anyway. The areas that you’re primarily going to see a molybdenum deficiency is when you get into extremely sandy soils, and also if you’ve got a fairly acidic soil. So you start start below 5.5 pH, that’s when you really need to start worrying about your molybdenum. It’s very rare, but it happens. If you’ve got a lot, maybe if you’re irrigating on a very loosely textured, sandy soil, that’s another opportunity for you to lose a lot. But for the most part, the soil supplies basically everything you need as long as it’s available.
Mike Howell (07:58):
Yeah. You just touched on something that I think every guest I’ve ever had on this program talking about nutrients has touched on. And listeners, you’re going to get tired of hearing me say this, but Vaughan just mentioned pH again and the pH that we need to keep our soils at to make this micronutrient become available. Just can’t stress enough the importance of pH and keeping that pH in the proper range. Vaughan what, say it again, what’s the proper range? Where do we need to keep that pH for molybdenum to be most available to the plants?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (08:25):
You really want to make sure that you’re not dropping below 5.5, and that’s for the majority of nutrients. If you start dropping off below that 5.5, you start getting too acidic. That’s really when you’re going to start running into lots of different issues, especially with phosphorus as well, talking about macronutrients. Changing your pH, adding some lime to it, making sure that you’re pretty neutral, ranging from six to seven. That’s really where you’re going to have the majority of your nutrients available.
(08:52):
Specifically with molybdenum, most of the time, if you have an idea that you have molybdenum deficiency and it’s not something that a normal soil lab is going to be able to test for extremely accurately, just because it’s so low values. It’s hard to really quantify how much is there. A lot of the times, if the reasoning is due to a low pH, if you just apply some lime to the field, even though lime takes a significant amount of time to really change the entire pH of your soil.
(09:21):
And lime application is going to make more than plenty molybdenum available for your plant. pH is extremely important. It’s really the first step in any nutrient management plan, as we really need to make sure that your pH is good to go and you know you’re ready for whatever crop you’re going to be applying.
Mike Howell (09:37):
Vaughn, if we’ve got our pH right and we’re still a little deficient in molybdenum, what are some fertilizer sources that growers could use to get the needed nutrients out there?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (09:46):
As I mentioned earlier, generally, especially with the legumes and you’re thinking about doing some inoculants, those inoculants generally contain molybdenum anyway, and so that’s one good way of applying it. There’s a couple other different sources. A lot of the times if you’re working with your local co-op and they might have source available, they might mix 20 pounds of a molybdenum oxy fertilizer and I can’t remember. But it’s extremely low solubility, so it’s a very dry, granular fertilizer. You apply that and they mix that in your blend, and so that’s one way of getting it out there.
(10:17):
There’s a couple different foliar products, and I’m just talking sources here. I don’t really have any name brands right off the top of my head, but ammonium molybdate and a sodium molybdate, those are two fertilizers that you could use. You’ve got an area that you already a little concerned with on your salts, then maybe you don’t want to apply sodium molybdate, so you can use ammonium. But those are two pretty readily available options that you could do. And like I said, it doesn’t take a whole lot. You’re not needing 20 pounds of this stuff.
Mike Howell (10:45):
Vaughn, we’ve covered a lot about molybdenum today, probably more than most people had ever thought about, but is there anything else we need to mention before we move on?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (10:53):
Probably just to go ahead and reiterate on the pH thing is that really, before you start being too concerned with applying fertilizer, if you just make sure that pH is set up for whatever your crop you’re planting, that’s going to, 99% of the time, that’s going to supply you everything you’re going to need. So just making sure that you’re doing your best management practices is going to get you where you need on this micronutrient in particular.
Mike Howell (11:18):
Listeners, it’s time again to talk about our tailgating. I hope you’ve been enjoying listening to our tailgating tips. We’ve really been enjoying bringing these to you and enjoying the food that we’re getting to cook and eat in preparation for the football games. But Vaughn, do you do a whole lot of tailgating? I know you went to Oklahoma State and we had Dr. Arnall on last week, and he talked about how much better the tailgating was at Oklahoma State than it was at Oklahoma. Did you get to experience any of that at Oklahoma State?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (11:45):
Yeah, I got to experience a good amount of Oklahoma State tailgates. I don’t really know a whole lot about going down to Norman and doing any tailgating. I tried to stay away from Norman as much as possible. Yeah, I’ve got to do a little bit at Oklahoma State and excited to do some here in Starkville. Had one good game already. Didn’t get to go do any tailgating, but I’m hoping the weather cools down a little bit. We’re going to be able to do a little more tailgating.
Mike Howell (12:07):
Well, I know the agronomy department there on campus used to have a tailgating trailer and they would always do a big tailgate right there outside of Dorman Hall. I’m not sure if they’re still doing that, but they always created some pretty interesting dishes at their tailgate. Scared to know what some of those tailgates were actually made of, but always had a good time doing that. Hope y’all can keep that tradition going. What’s your favorite football team?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (12:28):
Well, this might give me… I might not want to say this too loud, but I did grow up in Kentucky, and so I’ve always been a huge Kentucky Wildcats fan, even though I never went to school there. And our football team has been really good this year, and so, I’m actually going to Knoxville in about a month to go watch the Kentucky-Tennessee game, and I’m really going to be doing some tailgating there.
Mike Howell (12:48):
Sounds great. At least it’s in the SEC. We can’t all pick the best team in the SEC, but that’s what makes it interesting. So let’s get into our menu for this week. I’m going to be cooking Philly steak sandwiches this week. We’re going to get some ribeyes and slice those real thin. We’re going to throw those on the griddle and fry them up, get them to a good medium texture there, and going to have our vegetables that goes with that. And we’re going to have some onions and bell peppers and tomatoes, and cook those down on the grill. And when all that gets ready, we’re going to cover it with some cheese.
(13:18):
Now, I know technically, you’re supposed to use a mozzarella cheese in a Philly cheese steak, but we’re going to do things a little different. I like to experiment with all different kind of cheeses. We’re going to have the mozzarella cheese, but we’re also going to have some pepper jack cheese, we’re going to have some cheddar cheese, whatever else I can find to go on there, but we’re going to have a bunch of different options as far as cheese goes. But we’re going to do that.
(13:38):
We’re going to fry some french fries up to go along with that, and we’re going to use my wife’s best dessert recipe this week. She calls it a punch bowl cake. But what it is she takes a pound cake and cuts that up into about one inch squares. She’ll put a layer of that, and then she’ll put a layer of blueberries and strawberries and mix some cream cheese in that and keep layering that through the dish. Top it off with a little bit of cool whip and it’s really hard to beat.
(14:04):
But the main dish this week is going to be our Philly cheese steak. And growers, as you know, we always like to focus in on one commodity in our tailgating recipe. This week I thought we would talk about the peppers, and the peppers that we’re using are going to be bell peppers. We grow a lot of bell peppers here in the United States. Was doing a little research, found that the United States is actually fifth in production of bell peppers.
(14:26):
China is the leading producer worldwide in terms of bell pepper production, followed by Mexico. When we start breaking down the United States, most of the bell peppers in the United States are grown in three states, and those are California, Florida, and Georgia. Vaughn, have you got any experience with bell peppers or anything you want to add about bell peppers?
Dr. Vaughn Reed (14:45):
No. I was wondering whenever you started to know where a lot of the bell peppers are grown. It doesn’t surprise me too much. I grew a little bit as a kid, but that’s really interesting that I didn’t realize the United States grew that many peppers.
Mike Howell (14:58):
Well, folks, we had a great Friday night this week, had a really good tailgate. Guys really enjoyed tailgating this week, continuing our corn hole tournament, and just having a big time at the ballgame. And the football team is really putting on a show. They say offense sells tickets and defense wins championships. Our offense put another 42 points on the board this week. The defense allowed only six points. So once again, we’re doing good, doing what it takes on both sides of the football.
(15:28):
So Poplarville has defeated the Pass Christian Pirates, a score of 42-6. Looking forward to next week when we start district play. Poplarville will be traveling to Purvis to take on the Tornadoes in their first district game of the year. I hope everybody will tune in next week. We’ve got some more exciting agronomic information we’ll be bringing you. We’ll be talking about our tailgate next week, as well as giving you some updates from the football team. Until next time, this has been Mike Howell with The Dirt.
