Top dressing small grains

Top dressing your small grains (adding nitrogen, generally after the three leaf stage of your crop) can substantially improve your crop’s yield potential. However, nitrogen is expensive and if there is dry weather after you have applied the top dressing it could reduce your yield. Your money could be wasted. In order to hit the higher yield jackpot you will need rain on your fields after the top dressing, before your small grain plants make the six leaf stage. That rain will take the nitrogen down into the soil just where your plants need it. Deciding whether to apply a nitrogen top dressing and when is crucial.

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