Overcoming Field Zone Challenges: Fertilizer Application Ideas for Low Productivity Areas
Nov 7, 2023
This fall we zone tested our fields. We just got the results back and many of our low productivity ground doesn’t need any additional fertilizer. We typically use a Case boom spreader so I’m wondering if we had a 0 value for certain zones if the machine will be able to adjust that much quickly enough? Could be going from 0 to 300# as we cross over the zones. Are there other ways or ideas to handle zones that don’t need any fertilizer spread on them? We have our fields broke down into 5 zones so there will be some transition from the lowest to the highest producing zones.
Answers (2):
Nov 08, 2023
Your as applied map will always have some differences from the prescription map around the zone boundaries. The controller will be looking ahead to anticipate the rate changes, so as you come to the end of a 300# zone the rate will begin to drop and as you enter the 0 rate zone you'll see some product applied initially most likely. If you have settings for the look ahead distance or time you could try adjusting to see if you can dial it in as best as possible, but really provided your zones aren't really small it'll probably be fine at default settings.
Nov 07, 2023
Modern rate controllers are designed to handle the changes in rates even if they are significantly different. There is a feathering effect that the rate controller implements at those boundaries. As long as you give it a prescription map to apply, it will execute the rates as prescribed.