Fert/Lime prices

[rgood]

Guys, I'm checking into buying Fert and Lime early to save some money. I'm finding that Lime is about the same $22 a ton.

Fert has gone from $13 a bag to about $20

I know you do the soil tests and all of that. But my question for you is are there somewhat "Generic" mixes of fert you can buy that are less expensive.

May not get all the right exact #'s I need but in my operation of spreading the fert, there's a lot of guesswork anyway.

 

[dmccarty]

Go talk to your county extension service. Our agent just sent out a newsletter about fertilizer and liming. First and foremost was getting the soil test so you know exactly what you need to add and how much. Adding too much fertilizer is a waste of money. Not having the soil correctly conditioned can prevent plants from using the fertilizer that was applied and thus is a waste of money. Seems like there might have been a blurb on alternative fertilizers but I suspect that is going to be a very local item. What I might be able to get cheap here might not be cheap in your area.

Your extension office should be able to help. Our is extremely helpful. The extension office is one of the places that I do get value for my tax dollar.

Later,
Dan

 

[rgood]

I will be doing a soil test - In fact I just did my own with a kit I bought, but I'll do another through the extension agent.

I'm just wonder though if there are popular combinations of NP&K that are more cost efficient rather than getting the exact #'s the test will say to get.

 

[Stimw]

I finally got around to testing my soil with a kit. I have been putting 10-10-10 on it every time I plant for 7 years now. The test says my N and P are depleted!!
I have been reading about fertilizer on the net and I found out that a 40lb bag of 10-10-10 contains 12lb of fert. and 28lb of fill- clay/sand! That's right, 10 means 10% so 10%-10%-10% leaves 70% fill. My nephew is a Chemistry Major and confirmed this! He said he did a fertilizer analysis in his first year of college.

 

[jimg]

I just started looking today at what I might wind up paying for fertilizer and it looks better than last yr but I think its still (too) high: N (urea) is $375/t, P $561/t and K $756/t. Thankfully I only need to put down N this spring.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Im glad I live next to a quarry ag lime is around 7.50 a ton on my fertilizer to make it not so terrible for my hobby farm Ill buy a bag a week starting this week. right now Im trying to get my row mulcher done amongst other things trying to find the Farmshow Issue that had the integrated drip tape and plastic mulch they had a MFG list.

 

[N80]

I'm planning on planting clover for food plots this year. No nitrogen necessary. I wonder if the 0% nitrogen mixes (0-20-20) cost less?

 

[jimg]

Looking at it from just an ingredients POV yes it should be less expensive. In practice it might not be that way. If its not a common mix you might get charged a premium. Most bagged fertilizer goes on something that would benefit from the N so theres always some amt in the bag. I havent purchased bagged fertilizer in a while so dont keep track of whats available. If you have a coop close and youll need some substantial amt Im sure theyd mix up exactly what you want.

 

[N80]

We have a good Farmer's Exchange. Owned by a friend. They'll have it in bags, but they've never been real cheap (compared to Lowes, Home Depot, etc. But, its a local,old, family business with very knowledgeable employees so I bite the bullet and pay a little extra. Service and friendliness are worth it I think.

I was just wondering if, for instance, a bag of 0-10-10 is less than a bag of 10-10-10. As you say, seems like it would be. But, I have to wonder if the high price of fertilizer is in part due to shipping costs. The stuff is heavy and 50 pounds of 0-10-10 costs as much to ship as 50 pounds of 10-10-10.

Seems like shipping costs when up when gas was $4 a gallon but did not go down now that its $1.65 a gallon.

 

[charlz]

I haven't looked at bagged prices around here but with natural gas prices coming down nitrogen fertilizer should be coming down at some point. Not sure how much 'lag' there is in the system e.g. all the nitrogen fertilizers currently for sale were manufactured when NG was higher.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I will be doing a soil test - In fact I just did my own with a kit I bought, but I'll do another through the extension agent.

I'm just wonder though if there are popular combinations of NP&K that are more cost efficient rather than getting the exact #'s the test will say to get.

Tripple 19 (19-19-19) is the best bang for the buck you can get with fertilzers. Every fertilizer dealer I have talked to (2 of them I trust 100%) have told me this when I have inquired about various mixes.

 

[jimg]

We have a good Farmer's Exchange. Owned by a friend. They'll have it in bags, but they've never been real cheap (compared to Lowes, Home Depot, etc. But, its a local,old, family business with very knowledgeable employees so I bite the bullet and pay a little extra. Service and friendliness are worth it I think.

I was just wondering if, for instance, a bag of 0-10-10 is less than a bag of 10-10-10. As you say, seems like it would be. But, I have to wonder if the high price of fertilizer is in part due to shipping costs. The stuff is heavy and 50 pounds of 0-10-10 costs as much to ship as 50 pounds of 10-10-10.

Seems like shipping costs when up when gas was $4 a gallon but did not go down now that its $1.65 a gallon.

If they have a mixing plant then theyre buying bulk and its coming in via RR or truck. Id think that would reduce shipping costs + theyre getting a bulk rate on the fertilizer itself. Around here the bagged stuff at the big box stores is limited to certain mixes. At one time long ago I inquired about getting something non-std and while they could accommodate me it would be expensive. Come to think of it last yr I did get K in 50# bags at the coop and the price / lb was considerably more than buying bulk at their mixing plant. For whatever reason they only bagged at a certain location (not mine) and shipped it to the various stores. So while all stores (almost) have mixing mills not all would be able to give you bags of custom mix.

How much fertilizer do you est youll need for your acres? Here when I buy bilk I can also rent a spreader buggy.

 

[N80]

I don't need much at all, so buying bagged is the way to go for me. I probably don't need more than 400 pounds. Maybe less. Food plots are small.

 

[jimg]

BTW when I got prices the other day I asked where they thought prices were headed. They had no idea and mentioned the prices are only good for that day. Anyone heard anything about where fertilizer prices are likely to go...up, down or its anyones guess??

 

[jimg]

This week everything is up:N $440/t, DAP $570/t and potash $788/t.

 

[N80]

I have impecable timing. I need to buy this weekend. Rats.

 

[jimg]

Im sure prices will differ in your area. Ive seen them from all over and there seems to be little rhyme or reason to how prices are set. Some are well above what I can get and others about the same. To me the prices seem well out of line.

 

[bumpercrop]

Bulk Fertilizer on the open market is down (%50 from last year). However, many fertilizer companies built up their supplies last fall when prices were thru the roof. They cannot charge $700 for urea when the current market is $350. So they are trying to buy (which they don't need) new inventory to offset their loss.

Fertilizer Co's and large scale farmers are currently playing a cat and mouse game.

 

[charlz]

I was just in the local farm store and a 50# bag of 46-0-0 is $40..... it was $28 when I bought some at the end of June last year. Good thing I have plenty left over for this year.

 

[rgood]

Well here is an update on my post - Tomorrow, I'm getting 300 pounds per acre of 21-7-14 for $86 an acre on the ground. That is about $100 more than I paid last year and I put it on the ground myself.