It’s important to test a fodder beet soil bed after ploughing.
“The main message is to test the soil the seed is actually going in,” Bruce Beckingsale from Ballance Agri-Nutrients told farmers at Minzion Station’s fodder beet workshop.
“If it’s a paddock that hasn’t been cultivated for a while it will need to turned and brought to the top before testing.”
Soil tests could throw up a wide variation in key nutrient levels which was all the more reason to do it.
“If you’re going to invest the money in a crop you need to make sure the nutrient levels are right so you set yourself up for a good crop.”
The ideal soil specs and nutrient levels for fodder beet were a pH of 6-6.2, an Olsen P of at least 15, potassium 4, magnesium 10 and sodium of at least 4. An available nitrogen level was also needed from which to base post-sowing nitrogen. A crop typically required total nitrogen of 200-250kg/ha.
Based on these levels a typical programme would most likely require 200kg/ha DAP, 100kg/ha urate of potash, 100kg/ha potash, 100kg/ha sulphate of ammonia and 100kg/ha of AgSalt at sowing. Follow-up nitrogen to make a total dressing of 200-250kg/ha would also be needed.
