We had 14.5 inches of rain from May 1st to September 1st. Our soil probe told us our water driven yield potential was +15bu/ac at spray timing. We also ran some lower rates to see how the crop responded. The wheat was around 4-6 leaf when sprayed.
The AAC Redberry that we top-dressed stood decent, If 10 is poker straight and 1 is pancake flat I would of ranked it a 7. For farmers who came on the summer field day the spot near the weather station was estimated by a market advisor to run around 85, and the Crop Intelligence estimated the same. When combining that part of the field we found it was right around that 85-90bu mark climbing as high as 110 towards the middle of the field. You’ll notice the average for those trials was closer to 75bu/ac. The land we put it on gets light towards the south side, which brought the yield down. Those acres ran closer to 50bu/ac. This lighter area runs evenly across the south side so the treatments were all under very similar growing conditions. Overall this trail made a net profit at the 15 and 12 gallon rates.
The AAC Elie that we top-dressed did not fair well in the wind storms we had in late July and early August. The yield still shows some difference but not as much as the AAC Redberry. I believe that is due to excessive lodging, that happened in both UAN strips which didn’t allow kernels to fill out to their full potential. The untreated check areas stood better but not by much. The field overall graded lower due to lodging. It also seemed to hit all the perfect angles and directions to cause areas that had no reason to lodge to do so. I had this variety a few miles away and it stood nicely in those fields. The AAC Elie field again paid on the 15 gallon rate but did not on the 12 gallon rate.
My conclusions: On a year with 15 inches of rain the initial 100lbs of Nitrogen is adequate for high protein and yield as shown in the check areas below. The higher rates of nitrogen penciled out at a profit adding up to 8bu/ac more and half a point of protein while the lower rates were not worth it. Protein premiums are lower this year, on average looking at closer to 2 cents a tenth vs. 3 or higher which would change the net income of these trials significantly, though it still seems high rates of Nitrogen are the only ones worth application.
