This is the Sugarbeet Report bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. The warm weather has provided an early application window for sugar beet producers. Daniel Kaiser, University of Minnesota Extension Soil Scientist will talk about nitrogen management and what to do with sugar beet fields that were not harvested. Daniel, with producers getting in the field early, how does this affect nitrogen management?

So one of the questions I've been getting has, you know, with the way the soil conditions were in March were early with the earlier application window, I mean, p and k, you know, with the earlier application window, I mean P and K, you know, phosphate potash should be the 2 things that I would really probably consider. Number 1, it's probably not as much of an issue up north. Liming also would be a good window for that but I mean certainly if you haven't gotten soil samples taken. I think it was an optimal time looking at the conditions we had in March to get out in the field and do some of that work. The main concern I had is with nitrogen.

It kind of goes back to some of the things we're looking at right now with my current trial funded by the R&E board looking at different sources specifically urea is the one that, you know, is kind of cautioning some growers. It'd probably be the last thing with these early application windows that I would do just because with urea you need to incorporate it to stave off some of the ammonia volatility that that product can have and that was one of the concerns I had is if we couldn't really get into getting the material incorporated that we could have some of that being subject to loss. It's one of the things I guess I would just really recommend delaying more than anything, that could be done. With anhydrous, I mean anhydrous we know that window is pretty wide. So early anhydrous applications you're looking at march I mean one of the questions we've been getting a few people have been inhibitors would you look at with earlier application windows any nitrification inhibitors typically with spring applications we don't see as much of a window if you had obviously I think lighter soils you may want to consider something like that if this would arise again.

But urea is really the big one and there's not a lot we can do. There are nitrification inhibitors that can be used with urea but if volatility of the ammonia is an issue, that's going to happen before we even get to the point where nitrification comes into play. So that's one of the things I've been looking at with my current study and we've been seeing some instances where it seems like some of these urease inhibitors are getting slightly higher, nitrogen uptake into the plant and yield, leading me to believe that, you know, some of these underperformance issues we have with urea could be coming from the volatility side and not necessarily where a lot of people think it's that leaching loss. So there's some just some things to consider, and that's one of the things when it comes to your nitrogen source is that, ammonium sources like map, DAP, AMS don't have the volatility. Anhydrous, if it's properly injected, shouldn't have much of an issue.

Urea is kind of that question mark, particularly with more growers going to more some of these vertical till systems are going with more shallower incorporation. It's where I have more concerns right now with that particular product in terms of management. It just it's they're not the same with all these sources, and we have to treat them differently, know what some of these lost pathways are.

Last year, there were unharvested beets. What should producers do with those fields?

Well, certainly in the valley, that's been one of the questions because there's more acreage left up there. You know southern men not as much area there where they're really worried about that, but if you're looking for information on this so the bulk if you look at the co ops they should have some information on their websites. One of the the big questions on the acreage always is can I take a nitrogen credit from the sugar beets left in the field? And it's kind of an interesting thing is actually those beets as they decompose will actually tie up nitrogen. So if you're planting a crop like corn, wheat, sunflowers or more nitrogen demanding crop, you might be looking at increasing your rate by about 30 to maybe upwards of 40 to 50 pounds depending on what the crop is.

I think the first choice in a lot of those acreage really is soybeans. If you can plant them just because you don't have to worry about some of that tie up because of the inoculation. Edibles, you know, 2 could be an issue but, you don't normally recommend some of this. And, so looking at a lot of the information, I would just look into that. Because again the co-ops have some pretty good information regarding this because this isn't the first time this has happened.

But the main thing on the nitrogen side is just that there might not be a credit there from those non harvested acres and it's something to think about it with a previous crop you're growing or the the next crop you're growing this spring, you may have to adjust your nitrogen rate accordingly.

Thanks, Daniel. Our guest has been Daniel Kaiser, University of Minnesota Extension Soil Scientist. This has been the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.