Food Plot Fertilizer and Lime

When you purchase fertilizer, it is sold by the gallon, 25# bag, 50# bag, or ton. The first number is “Units of Nitrogen” the middle number is “Units of Phosphorus” the last number is “Units of Potash”. To understand what you are getting, or what a crop needs you need to know how to figure out the difference in application rate, liquid vs. dry. First thing you need to know is the units on a bag, jug or even ton of fertilizer are per 100#, liquid is about 11# per gallon. Example If I were to apply 300# of 9-23-30 dry fertilizer, how much liquid would I have to apply of 9-18-18 liquid to get close to equal. First thing is there are about 9 gallons of liquid fertilizer in a 100#, granted they don’t match up perfectly but you need about 500# of liquid or 45 gallons of liquid fertilizer to equal the 300# of Dry. When applying liquid Fertilizer with post emerge Roundup you can only apply a very small amount 3-maybe 5 gallons per acre without burning or injuring the plant. A soybean plant needs little or no nitrogen, but needs around 40-60 units of Prosperous, and 60-90 units of Potash!

Applying too much fertilizer can actually kill your food plots by feeding them too much. Excess fertilizer is also a major cause of poor water quality, as unused nutrients run off fields and into streams, rivers, and lakes. The heavy load of fertilizers creates algae blooms, which ultimately deplete oxygen levels in the water, stressing or even killing fish and other aquatic life.