Relative Merits of Fall‐ and Spring‐Applied Nitrogen Fertilizer

THE band placement of fertilizer on the plow sole has proved to be an. effective method of increasing crop yields on many Indiana soils. Since the investigations with this method had been conducted on spring-plowed land, one of the first questions asked was whether this plow-sole fertilizer technique would be as effective on fall-plowed land as on spring-plowed land. Many farmers find it desirable, because of technical and economic reasons, to do part or all their plowing in the fall or winter months. Consequently, the question as to whether fall-applied fertilizer on the plow sole may be efficiently utilized by a crop the following year is of considerable importance in Indiana. Of the three main fertilizer elements, nitrogen presents the greatest danger of loss. Fall applications of nitrate might be leached from the upper soil horizons during' the winter, while nitrogen in the ammonium form might nitrify during the winter and then be leached as nitrate. Therefore, this study of fall applications of fertilizer was concerned more with nitrogen than with phosphate and potash.