This is a very vexed question for early February. It is early but there may be more growth now than in March in some recent years. Any decision is about whether your crop is hungry or not and this is most relevant with winter barley on hungry ground. But there is little point in applying nitrogen if you are quite deficient in P or K also.
If winter barley looks hungry you might consider an application of 5-10 units/ac, just to keep it ticking over. There must still be a high risk of N loss, which adds to the risk from an early 50-unit application. I could not give any proof that it is essential but can you afford to risk losing yield potential in winter barley? The balance of the first split could then be applied in mid to late February. Some later-planted crops are showing no sign of hunger yet though.
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This is a very vexed question for early February. It is early but there may be more growth now than in March in some recent years. Any decision is about whether your crop is hungry or not and this is most relevant with winter barley on hungry ground. But there is little point in applying nitrogen if you are quite deficient in P or K also.
If winter barley looks hungry you might consider an application of 5-10 units/ac, just to keep it ticking over. There must still be a high risk of N loss, which adds to the risk from an early 50-unit application. I could not give any proof that it is essential but can you afford to risk losing yield potential in winter barley? The balance of the first split could then be applied in mid to late February. Some later-planted crops are showing no sign of hunger yet though.
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