5 Reasons to Recommend a Nitrogen Stabilizer This Year
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As your customers are thinking about ways to improve nutrient management programs this year, now is a great time to remind them of the importance of protecting any nitrogen fertilizer applications with a proven nitrogen stabilizer.
Heather Vosburgh, nitrogen stabilizer strategic account manager, Corteva Agriscience, shares five reasons to recommend N-Serve® or Instinct NXTGEN® nitrogen stabilizer when discussing nutrient management strategies for the upcoming growing season.
- Unpredictable weather calls for an insurance policy. Moisture and temperature are two key factors that impact the speed of nitrification. Unfortunately, both factors can be unpredictable. That’s why it’s important to be prepared. Incorporating N-Serve or Instinct NXTGEN into your customers’ nutrient management program can extend availability and ensure nitrogen stays in the ammonium form for better plant uptake, even if weather conditions aren’t great.
“We like to think of a nitrogen stabilizer as an insurance policy,” Vosburgh says. “Would your customers consider farming without crop insurance or purchasing a new vehicle without insurance?”
- Risk of nitrogen loss isn’t tied to one season. No matter when or how nitrogen is applied, it’s susceptible to loss. A proven nitrogen stabilizer can help protect fall applications — and is just as beneficial when used with spring applications.
“There is often a misconception that a stabilizer is only needed with fall-applied nitrogen because the application is made so far ahead of the growing season,” Vosburgh says. “However, as we head into the Midwest winter, soil temperatures are on the decline and there is very little soil bacterial activity. The fall-applied stabilizer really starts to pay off in the spring when soil temperatures and moisture are on the rise.”
That’s also why it’s important to use a stabilizer with any applications made in the spring. All it takes is a period of warm and moist soils for the nitrification process to begin. In addition, research shows that soils can lose more than 20% of its total nitrogen after just one or two spring rainfalls.
- Stabilizers can provide greater application flexibility. As you know, being able to get into the field is largely dependent on the weather conditions. A nitrogen stabilizer can help provide your customers peace of mind when a window of opportunity for fertilizer application presents itself.
“It’s nice to get fertilizer applications checked off the to-do list and feel confident that nitrogen will be there for when the corn needs it,” Vosburgh says.
- Stabilizers can help simplify complex nutrient management programs. As you and your customers continue to look for ways to optimize nutrient use efficiency, you may be making multiple applications to “spoon feed” the corn plant throughout the growing season.
“Using a proven nitrogen stabilizer may help simplify nitrogen programs or make it possible to eliminate one of those applications by extending nitrogen availability later into the season,” Vosburgh explains. “In fact, N-Serve and Instinct NXTGEN have been proven to extend nitrogen availably in the soil for up to eight weeks.”
- Numerous studies and on-farm trials continue to show yield potential benefits. “We’ve conducted hundreds of trials over the years and continue to see positive yield results with N-Serve and Instinct NXTGEN across all application timings, from fall to spring and sidedress,” Vosburgh says. “When these products are left out of nitrogen programs, bushels are left on the table.”
Instinct NXTGEN® is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Do not fall-apply anhydrous ammonia south of Highway 16 in the state of Illinois. Always read and follow label directions.