Save money on fertiliser when a drought breaks
16 May 2007
Phil Barnett
Much of Australia has experienced drought conditions during the last few years, with some areas having their driest three or four years on record.
Soils with very little effective ground cover are highly prone to wind and water erosion, especially if they are powdery on the surface. It is ironic that drought breaking rains can be major cause of topsoil loss in some areas.
The NSW Dept of Land & Water Conservation estimates that 90 per cent of the total soil lost in a 20 to 30 year period is due to runoff following drought-breaking rains.
The priority therefore is to get pasture or crop cover on bare paddocks as soon as possible after the opening rains to stabilise the soils. It is vital that you give them a good start with your fertiliser applications.
There is no doubt that there will be some residual nutrients left from fertiliser applied to earlier crops, however the amount left will depend on whether the crop was removed by grazing or baling hay, or the nutrients lost through wind erosion.
Slash your fertiliser bills
It is therefore more important than ever to soil test and determine fertiliser requirements accurately as it may be possible to slash the fertiliser bill
The dry conditions do present some other opportunities as well, with sodic and clay soils developing wide and deep cracks.
The right amounts of lime or gypsum broadcast in these conditions before the cracks close up will allow the deep incorporation of the calcium and improve the structure faster than spreading it on the surface.
An APAL test will always give you the lime or gypsum required, so test early to take advantage of the opened up soil.
Beat drought with balanced soils
Looking to the future, it is possible to make your soils and crops more resilient to dry conditions by supplying sound, balanced nutrition.
Growers consistently report that crops grown under the APAL program of Albrecht soil management will stay green for longer and produce significantly higher yields in tough seasonal conditions.
This is a result of many factors, but a balanced soil will have a better structure allowing deeper root penetration and greater root mass meaning the crops are farming a far greater volume of soil.
Elements like potassium and zinc are also critical for crop water use efficiency because they control the leaf stomatal openings. Balanced nutrition provides an effective “Clayton’s irrigation” !
Base your soil and fertiliser programs on comprehensive soil audits so that your fertiliser budget is spent where it will be most effective.