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[00:00:17] Rod: Hey guys, Rod here at A Better Way to Farm where we spend each day helping growers improve yields and increase profits. It's exciting to get to be a part of your day today. I hope you're having a happy holiday. Sporting one of my nice holiday shirts. I'd like to see some of you start showing some of yours. Tis the season. 

[00:00:34] Today is day seven. We're going to talk about Boron and we're switching. We went through the macros, NPK. We went through the secondaries. Now we're going to launch off into the micronutrients. Bear in mind, micronutrient does not mean that it's small in importance. It just means that it's small in volume and it is interesting because as I was doing reading last night on this, trying to get prepared. One of the things that kept coming up in three out of the four books was this; micronutrient deficiencies are usually visual well after yield is lost. 

[00:01:05] In other words, by the time we see the problem, we've already given up a lot of yield. So the best time to cure that is that at or before planting. Starting with some stuff, either in the row or banded by the row or at least put on pre-emerge would be the best way to take care of that because we don't want to get into that situation where we already have lost yield.

[00:01:27] The only book I want to share from today is the Midwest handbook. Just a couple of things here that I think are worthy of really noting. The importance of applying all micronutrients early, a high percentage of the micronutrient requirements are taking up during the first one third of the growing period. The first third of that plant's life. Therefore it's important to apply these micros before or at planting to get maximum utilization. And then in specifically talking about what is making this happen, that we have deficiencies for micros, but we have several things. Of the biggest two are obviously we're removing large amounts of micronutrients because we're raising higher yields. And the more yield we raise, the more micros we take out. 

[00:02:08] So we've been farming some soils in America, 150, 200, 300 years, and maybe we've taken crops we have never replaced a micronutrient. It would make sense that we have depleted those over the last 200 years. There are other things that make them hard to get a hold of and make them deficient. High pH makes it more difficult. Leaching and sandy soils can make it difficult. High rates of phosphorous, using high rates of phosphorous is one of the big contributing factors to a deficiency of micronutrients. Soil compaction is one. Cool wet growing conditions tie up by the soil. But I found it interesting that high rates of phosphorous, which we've most of us have been doing are conducive to micronutrient deficiencies.

[00:02:50] So keeping that in mind, we're going to launch off here and we're going to talk about Boron. One of the things we need to know about boron is that it is the availability goes way down as pH goes up. And when we get into those high pH soils, all of a sudden we have a real situation here. So banding or foliar feeding boron is really important. We want to get it there and get it into the plant as quickly as possible. The other thing to remember is this though, boron's the product that's used and you need it. It's used and you need it. In other words, it doesn't translocate. So you have boron early on, that plant takes a boron and it stays in that tissue. It does not move to the new tissue.

[00:03:27] So we need a supply of boron throughout the growing season. That's why those guys who work with us, I encourage them. Let's put a pint up fat. Every time we go back, let's put another dose one or two or three pints. No, we're going to, we know we're going to side dress. Let's put some in there. We know we're going to post emerge spray, let's put some in there. We know we're going to wide drop, let's put some in there. So we want to be putting boron on all the way through, because it's very hard to get enough on upfront for it to be available all the way through. When we see what it's actually doing, it's important that we understand why it's available throughout the growing season.

[00:04:02] We know from our testing that we have a boron reading, it has to be at least 0.8 parts per million. And guys, I'm looking at tests every day that the boron is 0.1 or 0.2. If your tests are under 0.8, you are suffering yield loss from a lack of boron. It's an easy fix. Our product is a liquid. You can put it in two by two. You can put it in with nitrogen. You can put it in with chemicals. You just cannot put it in the seed trench. And I would suggest to you that anyone who's selling you a boron product that goes in to seed trench needs to be looked at very carefully, because one of two things is happening, either putting enough on to do the job and you're going to have seed damage beyond a shadow of a doubt. If it doesn't cause seed damage, they're not putting enough in there to make a difference. 

[00:04:48] And so boron is really, really important, but it's important to get it on the right source at the right time and especially, in the right place. It does leach. Remember this, we have three nutrients. Three that are negatively charged. We have nitrogen, sulfur, and boron. Those three run away from us. In other words, they're repelled. They are shed out. They leach out. And so it's really important to go ahead and apply those, you know, every year. We're going to have to keep building back up beyond the shadow of a doubt.

[00:05:19] We're coming to you today, by the way, you're looking out the window of the 10th story of the Marriott in Middleton, Wisconsin. We have one of the fundamentals of agronomy training going on downstairs, and it's going very, very well. Lots of excited people, a lot of cool things that are being said and said, and learned and implemented down there. We are going to give a shout out here and we'll be in Kearney, Nebraska, Monday and Tuesday. We'll be in Bettendorf, Iowa in Thursday and Friday of next week. We would love to have you reach out to us. We really like to sit down and talk about how it is we can make a difference for you guys with this. 

[00:05:50] As I said earlier, crops require a continuous supply of Boron. Why is that? Well, there's a couple of reasons. Number one, testing has shown the boron brings back the mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal in order to be important for the plant to get phosphorus. It's funny how everything all works together. So when we have the right amount of boron, we increase the health of the mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi, they make phosphorus available to the plant. 

[00:06:16] We know that high potassium levels, some of you are fighting that. You're in an area where you have really high K. What that's going to do is that's going to increase your need for boron. It's even more important. But we're going to need to have it throughout the growing season. And here's why. There are many things boron does. As we look at all of the things that it will do. Now, boron is essential for seed and cell wall formation. It's like calcium in that matter. It promotes maturity, helps that crop to mature the way we want it to. It affects nitrogen and carbohydrate usage within the plant.

[00:06:47] So if you want to be more efficient with your nitrogen usage, adequate boron is really, really important. But the most important thing from where I sit is this, it is essential for germination. Pollen growth and the growth of pollen tubes. Guys, boron makes the bloom and the soybean. Boron makes the helps, is a huge component of the pollen in a tassel. It is a huge component of silk in the ear shoot. When we're deficient, then we end up with not enough pollen, not enough silk, not enough blooms. This nutrient is huge and we're seeing the need go up more and more and more. 

[00:07:26] And I want to encourage you to take a look at your boron levels. If they're less than 0.8, let's talk. If your soil test doesn't have a boron test on it, you probably need to get a different soil test. This is too big to let go. Guys, we love what we do. We love working with you, guys. I hope you're finding value in the 12 days of nutrients. I hope you'll share it with a friend. Feel free. 

[00:07:50] We're getting ready to relaunch the podcast and Karen's got some really cool things getting ready to go on there. And I want to invite you to find A Better Way to Farm on your podcast platform of choice and give us a look, give us a rating there. If there's anything we can do, feel free to reach out. Text, phone call (641) 919-1206. Message right here on the Facebook page. Guys, there really is a better way to do things and we're excited to be sharing some of those ideas with you. We wish you the merriest of Christmas seasons and we hope you are having a better day. 

 

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