Starter Fertilizer: Pros and Cons
As the spring season approaches, it’s time to think about what you can do to help your crops get off to the best start possible. From understanding your field’s soil type, considerations based on your crop rotation, and constantly checking the weather forecast, spring is a season filled with growth, but can often get overwhelming. Starter fertilizer should be one of your considerations—Dr. Cristie Preston, CCA, explains the benefits and disadvantages of choosing to apply starter fertilizer.
What is starter fertilizer?
Starter fertilizer is fertilizer that is applied in relatively small amounts either with or near the seed. Generally, you would be applying during planting to assist in early growth of the plants. There are various options to how you’ll apply a starter fertilizer, but Dr. Preston describes the top three: in a 2×2 band (two inches below the soil surface and two inches to the side of the seed), using a surface dribble, or in furrow with the seed.
The Pros
Dr. Preston describes one of the benefits of a starter fertilizer at planting time: “We’re not having to make another application across the field. So, I can apply the starter with my planter and not have extra application costs.” You’ll also get the benefit of immobile nutrients being more readily available to the plant. “Since phosphorus doesn’t move, if you apply in a band, surface dribble or in furrow, more than likely that fertilizer will be close enough to the seed and the emerging plant that it can be taken up,” Dr. Preston says.
Using a starter this spring could also support uniform emergence and early growth of the plant. This has to do with the uptake of nutrients available to the plant. Dr. Preston explains the timeframe when nitrogen and phosphorus are most needed in a corn crop: “If you don’t have the nutrients available to the plant at that time, you could be potentially limiting your yield.”
In Dr. Preston’s dissertation research, corn grain yields were shown to be significantly higher when applying a starter versus without over a ten-year period.
Dr. Preston explains various other pros of using a starter fertilizer, like having an earlier maturing crop and quicker grain dry downtime, and for circumstances where you’re replanting a failed crop and want that early emergence as you replant later in the season.
The Cons
While it may seem like you could do no wrong with a starter fertilizer application to help your plants get off to a great start, there are some considerations to take to ensure the benefits of a starter don’t turn into issues. Applying fertilizer close to the seed increases the chances of seed injury due to the soil concentration. Whichever way you’re applying your starter, the fertilizer will be close to the seed. Seed safety is essential when we’re thinking about what direction to take during planting season, so be sure to verify the salting effect of your fertilizers—particularly nitrogen and potassium—to keep your seed safe.
Further, Dr. Preston goes on to explain the implications of soil stratification when applying starter fertilizer year over year. While soil stratification will occur naturally, starter can exacerbate the stratification and lead to potentially unreliable soil samples—even in deep-banded applications, as the soil stratification becomes more vertical.
Overall, there are benefits and possible drawbacks of applying a starter fertilizer. Understanding your soil and what your crops need is the best start to determining whether a starter fertilizer application could be beneficial to your operation. Use the eKonomics Nutrient ROI Calculator to help in your decision making and learn more about the lesser-known benefits of starter fertilizer.
