The 2023 Specialty Planting Guide

• Placing small amounts of key nutrients in starter fertilizers may increase corn yield potential.

• Starter fertilizer can help meet the early demands of seedlings until the development of plant nodal root system.

• Fields with cool soil temperatures, low phosphorus (P) levels, soils low in organic matter, and high pH soils are more likely to show a positive response to starter fertilizer applications.

TRIAL OBJECTIVE

• Historically, researchers and agronomists have recommended increasing seeding rates to attain satisfactory yield potential when planting later in the growing season.2 This research was conducted with a goal of understanding the interaction between planting date and seeding rate.
  

• Another objective was to understand if seeding rate and planting date affect ultimate plant height since taller plants tend to lodge more.

• Widespread adoption of soybean seed treatments has led to an increase in early soybean planting by growers across the midwestern United States. As an example, Illinois growers planted 41% of the soybean crop by May 2, 2021, compared to the five-year average of 14%.1