June 10, 2010

Late spring high rainfall amounts in western Nebraska may cause nitrogen deficiencies for corn later in the growing season. This is especially the case for farmers who applied all of their nitrogen at pre-plant or side-dressed large quantities of nitrogen previous to recent rains. The high rainfall amounts may lead to nitrogen leaching deep into the soil beyond where the corn can reach it.

The potential for leaching is increased in sandy or light textured soils. In heavier textured soils where water can pond for significant amounts of time, nitrogen also can be lost through denitrification.

Extension Soils Specialist Richard Ferguson addressed this issue previously in Crop Watch and has several suggestions on how to determine if deficiencies exist and how to deal with them. For more information, see his article Assessing Nitrogen Loss Due to Saturated Soils.

Tim Shaver
Nutrient Management Specialist, West Central REC, North Platte