What should you pay attention to when fertilizing in early spring? Mastering these key points is crucial
Spring is a busy season for farming. Crop growth and development cannot do without fertilizer, so after the start of spring comes the season for farmers to fertilize. Many crops are given broadcast applications of compound fertilizer and urea, but this practice is actually incorrect. So what should you pay attention to when fertilizing in early spring? Let's find out together.
1. Apply nitrogen fertilizer early on
Most early spring crops are in the budding and flowering stages, when nutrient consumption is extremely high, and nitrogen fertilizer is the main component of protein in crops. During the flowering stage, crop nutrient consumption reaches about 70% of stored nutrients. After flowering, branch growth, fruit setting and young fruit development also require large amounts of nutrients, so plants become short of nutrients at this time. Therefore, fertilizer must be applied once before flowering and sprouting, mainly nitrogen fertilizer.
2. Fertilize at the right time
Nitrogen fertilizer should be used during the crop's critical nitrogen requirement period and maximum efficiency period. Different crops have different critical fertilizer requirement periods and maximum efficiency periods, so they should be treated differently and applied reasonably. For example, for grass-family crops such as wheat and corn, their critical nitrogen points are at the tillering stage and ear formation stage, while the maximum nitrogen efficiency period for wheat is from jointing to booting, for rice from tillering to jointing, for corn at the large trumpet stage, and for tomato at the fruiting stage. Therefore, fertilization needs to be timed properly and treated differently.
3. Early spring is suitable for water-soluble fertilizer
The root systems of early spring crops are in the growth stage. To make the roots grow and develop faster and become well developed, sufficient nutrients are needed in early spring. However, the effective period of topdressing in spring should not be too long, otherwise it will cause the crops to become dominant and affect later growth. Generally, the effective period of topdressing should not exceed 20 days. However, the effective period of ordinary compound fertilizer is longer than this, while water-soluble fertilizer is more conducive to crop absorption and takes effect relatively quickly.
4. Pay attention to urea application in early spring
In soil, urea decomposes into amide nitrogen, which cannot be directly absorbed by crops and must be converted into ammonium nitrogen through the action of microorganisms in the soil before it can be used. The speed of this conversion is closely related to temperature. At around 10 degrees Celsius, conversion takes 7-10 days, while at 20 degrees Celsius it takes 4-5 days. In early spring, temperatures are generally low, so conversion may take longer and may not keep up with the crop's critical fertilizer requirement period and maximum efficiency period. This not only causes waste, but also leads to later lodging, excessive growth, and effects on flowering and fruit setting.
The above is an introduction to what should be paid attention to when fertilizing in early spring. We hope it helps you. To learn more related knowledge, please follow us.