Using sprayer drop tubes to sidedress corn

This is nothing new to the industry but it's fairly new to our area there's only a couple people trying it. I got some tweaking to do to hold the hoses in position better but otherwise I absolutely love it!

[@TwoHappyChildrenFarm]

After a few years of doing this I folded in my booms a bit so I didn't do as many refills. I also dragged the hoses a bit more on the ground, didn't have much splash problems. Here I'm seeing big gains in N efficiency on soil that has been improved K levels. I do 70% of my N at the sidedress. For the last two years I used 26-3-0-3, I figured a bit of P wouldn't hurt as it's close to the roots and liquid.

[@ryanminielly3318]

Drop your boom a little more and drag a more hose. Works better that way from what I've tried

[@PennsylvaniaFarming]

Just found your channel. I am going to try that this year

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

If coming from broadcast you will love it!! Try a couple strips at a reduced rate. This winter looking back I probably could have cut the rate maybe 25%? Compared to the nitrogen credits I was Broadcasting. Next year we'll do some trials

[@matthewbonnot9877]

What have you changed in last couple years? How many gallons are you applying at each pass? Are you doing more than one pass?

[@PAFarms]

Nice! I do it the same way. You going to split apply? I put on 30% with stabilizer

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

Yep 2 passes, amthio is a good stabilizer but sometimes add more. If i could get back to strip till i would be tempted for 100% pre plant N. If i could get my rotation going i would only plant corn where legumes or lots of manure go

[@grote66]

Did you use a 3/8” hose or 1/2” hose? Did you also use an orifice in each nozzle?

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

3/8 hose and then a barb tip that goes in the cap. Yep each nozzle gets an orifice based on rate, I can always go to a higher rate and just slow down to miles per hour but let's see if I wanted to go to 10 gallons per acre I would have to go 1012 miles per hour to carry enough boom pressure to make sure that the tip nozzles are getting the proper flow.

[@mikekrisjones6121]

How much water do you add and how does that work? I have never added water just straight 28 and have to pray for just enough rain to push it down.

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

Yep same here never add any water. Usually at side-dress time to ground us already went or rain is on the way

[@danw6014]

Five years later, are you still doing this? How well has it been working.

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

Yeah I am. Works good hoses are getting a little thin from dragging. Next year I wouldn't mind making a more true why drop design

[@FarmallFanatic]

Only way the pellet urea would get to the roots is cultivate, which nobody does unless its sweet corn.

[@lovetofly32]

I do it. Just cultivated 35 acres today with my 6 row row runner. Dry spread it on then cultivated it in last year but Im gonna try liquid this year

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

A vast majority of guys here is dry urea over the top and just leave it lay . They will put Some stabilisers on it but if you do it ahead of a rain it will get in

[@FarmallFanatic]

@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 good luck timing it just perfect lol

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

@@FarmallFanatic yep thats fhe fun part. For the big guys that have to broad acre farm it what they do or they put 100% up front. In our soil banding weather its strip till or coulter is a huge gain.

[@brummell1988]

John, How did this go? Just converting our boom to do this for the first time! Your an inspiration

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

Worked good. The sprayer covers 3 planter passes, if I was on an rtk guidance system or the bloom with matched the planter it would have worked spectacular

[@brummell1988]

@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 Awesome mate. What rates do you play around with now that your more confident.

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

I have been consistently running twenty to Thirty per-cent less than broadcast recommended rates of nitrogen The nice thing of using the sprayer is you can do so many raid application trials on each field. Do most of the field at the recommended nitrogen rate and then do a bunch of Trials at increments going down and see what happens

[@brummell1988]

@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 awesome mate. I’m gonna do up a video and send it to you of all the stuff we’ve done. You’ve seriously helped me out so much. Very greatly appreciated

[@lovetofly32]

🙆‍♂️ I wanna do this but I have 20 inch centers!!😣 I dont wanna change so much on my sprayer..🤔

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

I am on 20" Nozzle spacing. If you're doing a cheap job host like I'm doing then you do 2 nozzles Then shut one nozzle off pattern across the boom You know how they have them fibreglass whip antennas the kids ATV's. I was thinking of doing a system like that where you have a Spring mounted to the boom and then a little fibreglass rod and at the bottom of the rod you have a Y. Then you would just run a feeder hose to the nearest noz zle

[@lovetofly32]

@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 yeah but i saw a KZbin video where he had hoses on every 4th nozzle, thatd be 60 inch so then i could just pick one of the two between and then tie off the hose 10 inches over to get it on 30 inch centers. I was just going to find a size of pipe to stick my hoses in and have a short piece like 10 inches near the bottom for a weight. I dont think a guy needs any kind of rod or anything to keep them rigid downward between the rows, just maybe some weight unless you are using a heavy hose.

[@paulenglish1769]

Injection Is better!!

[@paulenglish1769]

BS. That is the same as broadcasting.

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

It is literally by definition and observation different than broadcast. To broadcast that product I would have all the nozzles on like spraying herbicide, By all means please tell me how putting a band next to the plant is the same as broadcasting