Fertilizer and Lime Season... starting now.

It is Fertilizer season by the calendar, but the weather does not seem to cooperate. It has been a long and wet winter. I did not try to remind you about applying fertilizer and lime last year because the prices were abnormally high. If you could skip a year, 2009 was the year to do just that. Fortunately prices have declined some.

It is time to replace the nutrients that were used and leached out if the soils last year. In the past most of us have used the “do what we did last year” method for deciding what rate or analysis to use. Due to the cost of nutrients today, I would recommend that everyone get soil samples to determine their exact needs and the cost of sample testing is only $6.00. Fertilizer is too expensive to waste. It is easy to take samples and in my experience those that rely on sample information usually apply a more efficient fertilizer which saves them money.

So, what can you expect to spend on nutrients?

These prices include delivery and spreading fees.

Lime - $50.00 per ton (1 ton per acre)

Fertilizer- ranges from $490.00-550.00 per ton (depending on analysis and mix)

Normally, we apply 350-400 pounds of fertilizer per acre. This equates to about 5 acres per ton of fertilizer applied.

Here are directions for taking a soil sample. Please let us know if you have any questions about the process.

Thanks and happy sampling!