Mosaic Microessentials

[kirschenman]

The question not answered in the TCM article was this (and I don't know the answer). How much more ES can you put down for the same cost of AS (minus the N benefit in AS). I have no idea, but if you can put down 35 lbs of ES for the same money as 25 lbs of AS, then it may still be more cost effective to put the Elemental down.

I have no idea what the costs are of either product, so this is a math exercise with no numbers yet.

[Christian A. Herrnboeck]

Elemental was 1000/ton in 2008 when I used it.

[mbfarmer]

I'm sure it's a lot less now. Anybody know?

[keystone]

Last I heard tiger 90 was 365 a ton, so fast math says 2204lbs x 90%=1983.6 lbs of S per ton
so $365/1983.6 lbs = $.184/ lb

21-0-0-24 was @ $355/ ton so take the N out @ say $.32/ lb. So 2204lb x 21% = 462.84 lbs of N @ $.32/lb = $148.1

Now take 21-0-0-24 @ $355/ ton less the N @ $148.1 = $206.9 for the S portion so 2204lbs x 24%= 528.96 lbs of S. The s portion is $206.9 / 528.96 = $.392 /lb

So if I did it right the elemental is half price per pound of S. Now comes the whole is it available or not and when discussion. In My opinion from what I have seen and heard is if you are deficient the elemental won't do what you want but if not deficient there should be benefit from continued use of elemental in a rotation as you are only getting say 25% a year out of it. Now if you are not deficient than you wont get great response from the sulphate form either. So I like the idea of less material to handle and seed safety so We run 50/50 blend for our s requirements, so far seems to be working.

One of the biggest issues I have with official trials is many of them are carried out on deficient soils so you can measure the response, i understand why but it fails to tell what the differences are in adequate soil levels. We have been approached many times for a test site but rejected when soil tests came back in the adequate or above range.

[mx3351250]

We are paying 355 for ours MicroEssentials SZ 12-40-0-10-1

[dieseldog]

So whats the verdict on Microessentials. Looking at using the SZ (12-40-0-10-1) for my wheat and durum as a starter fertilizer. We usually put 50-60 lbs an acre down with the seed. Right now i checked prices and it is only .01 a pound more than our local supply of 11-52-0. So might as well try it and see how it does.

[bobofthenorth]

Elemental sulfur is a great product, as long as you don't actually have a sulfur deficiency. There's a lot of S & K applied in western Canada that benefits the dealer a lot more than it does the farmer. If you happen to be in that category then seed placed elemental will work just fine for you. On the other hand, if you actually need S then seed placed elemental will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

Elemental sulfur is a disposal problem for industry. It is virtually worthless unless somebody can con you farmers into buying it. If you really want to use it then look for the lowest price per tonne on straight elemental S (analysis ~ 90%). Broadcast a great bloody whack of it on your canola stubble. That way by the time you come round to canola again you MAY have available sulphate. The problem is that it needs to be finely ground in order to expose maximum surface area to oxidation and whenever you grind sulfur your grinding facility has a tendency to explode.

[Christian A. Herrnboeck]

I used it. Love it. Peas on mes were 4" taller and much healthier looking than on a p and s blend.

There's a pic on facebook that I posted a while back

Price wise today cargil has mes for $4/ tonne less than straight phos

[bobofthenorth]

Should be a lot more than $4 less for 20-40% less P.

[SouthernSK]

We have used a lot of s-15 in the past. When the price of it is similar to 11-51 you are paying a significant premium over using a combination of 11-51 and amonium sulphate. For the past few years I felt it wasn't worth the $100-200 per tonne premium they wanted for the nutrients in S-15. We have gone back to 11-51 and amonium sulphat till the price gets more competitive. Only 1/2 the sulphur in S-15 is available and the rest is elemental and likely will do very little on the year you use it. One nice thing about the product is every granule has N,P, and S. The comment about dust is real. If they do not put enough oil on it, it is terrible to work with. I have never had that problem with 11-51.