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Switching to elemental sulfer in no till ,best way to get started

12K views 38 replies 17 participants last post by  402farmer  
#1 ·
Just as the title says we want to finally switch over to using elemental sulfer in our one pass all granular seeding system , tired of regular granular sulfer plugging up our drill anytime it gets a little bit humid when we are seeding canola and putting down 20lbs actual down ,it is very frustrating.

I've been reading that putting down s15 for instance could take years to get going in our system since banded elemental takes forever to become plant usable?
I was thinking if it takes so long maybe keep mostly regular sulfer in the canola for another year ( maybe a bit of s15) but in this year's wheat put lots of s15 down so it will be hopefully usable to the following year for canola???

Or spread a bunch of s15 down ahead of the wheat this year to get it going for the canola the following year and also spread the potash while we're at it?

Or spread s15 ahead of canola the same year is better?
Looking for all opinions on this matter, thanks!! Just worried about the first year or two of possibly shorting s for the canola
 
#2 ·
This what you want to use?
Just wondering because I didn't think this was elemental sulfur.
 
#10 ·
The reason elemental S is slowly available is that it needs to oxidize to sulfate in order to be taken up by the plant. Broadcasting it is the best way to encourage oxidization. Banding it actually slows oxidization. If it was me I would never band elemental S. Keep some sulfate in your blend but broadcast elemental and plan to phase the sulfate out. Its pretty easy to spot S deficiency in seedling canola and you can fix it with broadcast sulfate if you happen to pull the sulfate out too soon.
 
#14 ·
We have been seed placing 120lb of S15 for years now. It is a convenience thing. P and S with the seed safely, haven’t seen any burn or S deficiency.
If what bob of the North says is true, I guess seed placed with canola is probably shallow enough to still oxidize?
Also, I can’t really see why elemental would give a yield advantage over 21-0-0-24 unless it is helping prevent a seed burn scenario.
 
#15 ·
I will put in plug(again) for biosul since am getting some spread this wk. This stuff has got more expensive over the years so have to think more people using it. Compared to Tiger 90 type treatment it on the edge of being too much, but by either luck or good performance of this stuff have seemed to pull off better crops since started using - about 4 yrs ago. Love AMS and would still use for rescue type operation and do not have ability to use the s15 types with planter(think these are fine too). This will be 2nd round of biosul on some land for me.
 
#22 ·
So from what I understandIng elemental S is spread on the surface where it will start to break down and rain or snow melt will bring the sulfur to the root system. From what am reading it sounds like I would need at least 3 years before I could completely quit using ammonium sulphate and get to a system using about 30 lbs of tiger 90 a year or a hundred every 3 or 4 years.
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the insight guys. Thinking I dont want to spread and will put s15 on with a top up of ams to get my actual on for the year and maybe in 3 or 4 years cut out ams completely. To the guys putting s15 on one pass do you keep pumping the elemental on none canola years to keep the soil tests up? That's the nice thing of ams just put more the year you need more
 
#29 ·
No, we just use S15 with canola and do not apply sulfer in any other crop. Like has already been mentioned, s15 is only half elemental. I don’t even look at sulfer on soil tests, I don’t think it is reliable at all. I look at Agvises recommendations, but to monitor S levels in a field isn’t possible, at least not on our soil types.
 
#27 ·
402 if you put the elemental down with the drill then you would want to put some on every year. You can spread elemental with the spin spreaders the fertilizer dealers have. When ever you handle the elemental do not get any of the dust in your eyes. The sulfur when it touches water or moisture becomes sulfuric acid. It can burn your eyes like crazy when you are trying to go to sleep. If your eyes are burning when you head to bed the best thing to do is put a wet paper towel with a ice cub on top of your closed eye when you are laying in bed. It will allow you to get to sleep. If you get some on the hood of your coat make sure and wash it right away, if you continue to wear the coat you will develop a nasty rash on your neck that takes weeks to get rid of. We have spread lots of elemental and have learned a lot of things the hard way.