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Here’s our question of the week.

Question: Where do you stand on banding vs. broadcasting nutrients?

 A: I have been strip-tilling with banded fertilizer for three years and am very happy with the results. You can easily see smaller crops where I missed the strip with the planter or ran out of fertilizer with the strip-till unit.

I have a few nutrition concerns going forward. I am deep banding with a shank and hear people talk about having a hot zone as being a bad thing. I’m also getting an accurate soil test when banding.

               -Mike Ruff, Bloomer, Wis. 

 A: That brings up a great point about soil testing. Our history of soil tests were based on the top 6 inches because we were spreading fertilizer on top of the ground. Now we are applying our fertilizer where some of the applied product is below our soil testing zone.

               -Jon Stevens, Rush City, Minn. 

A: Let me begin by first stating I have switched from no-till to strip-till in the last two years. When we were no-till, we would broadcast dry phosphate in the fall/winter and apply some starter in-furrow at planting. This led to nutrient stratification in our soil profile.

Some years with the dry phosphate application we would get quick snow melt or heavy rain in the spring and we would lose some of our fertilizer. With strip-till, we can do a better job of precisely placing our fertilizer to help prevent loss due to erosion.

We also run Yetter Devastators across the entire width of the corn head, which has helped with the evenness of early spring stands. This helps minimize drifting of trash within the field. With less drifting of trash, we’ve been able to get the desired stands to maximize yields.

               -Mike Schardt, Carleton, Neb. 

One of Strip-Till Farmer's most popular articles of all time is "Banding vs. Broadcast: Nutrient Placement Benefits, Techniques & Management, and we're curious to know what's working for you. Click HERE to sign up for the free Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group and chime in on the conversation.