Summer fertilizing

We started fertilizing our fallow ground today, or as neighbor Brenda calls it, "the naked" ground!  That just cracked me up when she said that.  Such a visual.

Anyway, we were going to start on Monday but rain and thunder storms were predicted, but never materialized.  Same for Tuesday, but again, not a drop fell.  Not to worry, there was plenty to do without being in the field!

But, today there was no reason not to start.  It's time.

We put the bulk of our nitrogen down now.  Mixed in with the nitrogen is some sulfur and also some potassium chloride.  We will put a starter fertilizer down with the seed when we sow in the fall, which has some nitrogen, phosphorus a little more sulfur and zinc. Then another boost of nitrogen and micro nutrients in the spring as a foliar application.  These are well fed plants!  Then of course we wait for the rains to fall!  And.........we're still waiting, and waiting and waiting.

I took a few photos today to show what the equipment looks like that we use for this application.  It will take us 10 days to go over all the "naked" ground, though it will take longer than 10 days because there will be more than one interruption between now and then, which is fine.  Probably more like 12 days in terms of days.

So, it all starts at the shop where we have two 7800 gallon holding tanks.  Semi trucks arrive throughout the day to fill these tanks with the urea fertilizer.  I fill the 3000 gallon tank on the truck from these tanks and deliver it to the farm hand that is running the tractor!

This truck is called Bertha and all she does is haul liquids of various sorts to the field, depending upon the operation we are doing.  

This is the farm hand!!!

I pull up to the cultiweeder and fill the tank cart that he tows behind the tractor.

Fertilizer tank cart.  This holds 1500 gallons of liquid fertilizer. 

Bertha pulled up to pump the fertilizer in to the tank cart.

You can see the hose coming off the truck tank, hooked to the applicator.  

The hose on the applicator is secured to the frame of the cultiweeder.  It brings the liquid from the truck tank to the applicator tank.

The hired hand unhooking the truck tank hose.

The cultiweeder is a three in one piece of equipment, actually, four in one!  1. It cultivates with these shanks that are 2. plumbed with hoses to carry the liquid urea fertilizer in to the ground.  3.  Right behind the shanks is a rod which cuts off any weeds that may be growing, at the roots and 4. a harrow follows it all and levels, smooths and spreads the straw.

Here you can see the applicator shank.  Attached to that is the hose that delivers the liquid from the tank to the shank.  There is a pump on the tank that moves the liquid from tank to hose to shank.

This is the rod that shears off the weeds below the soil

Another look at shanks, rod weeder and the harrow behind the main frame of the applicator.

Another look at the applicator.  The hired hand is walking back to his tractor after filling.  He looks like the Charles Schultz character, Pig Pen with the dust poofing up as he walks.  

And he's off.  You can see how terribly, terribly dry and dusty it is.  We covered 300 acres today.  That's a good day.