Slurry

Driver2016

Hi I have slurry put out on the silage ground I just wanted to know why you have to wait 6 or7 days before applying fertiliser

Sugarbowl

Is it to do with loss of nutrients?

BENDYBINN

The old people used to say. “ a shake on the muck will bring you no luck”

funkey_monkey

I was just going to ask a similar question about how long to leave between slurry application and fertiliser for silage ground.

bosallagh88

How long after mixing would slurry start to get thick in the tank ?

Bass Reeves

The reason being if fertlizer gets coated with slurry it will not dissolve that easy when water is present. It's especially a problem with Urea as if it fails to get into the ground it will become a gas and escape into the atmosphere

Castlekeeper

Same end result more or less, if the fertiliser lands on the slurry, the bugs in the slurry will release/ consume most of the N as part of the decomposition process.

Bear in mind that, according to Teagasc, 65-85% of artificial N is list to either the water or the atmosphere anyway, but that never stopped them promoting it!

Reggie.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120731098#Comment_120731098

Roughly 3 daysish

Silverdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120732690#Comment_120732690

Not true, the bugs decompose the nitrogen compounds in the organic matter, not Urea, (Don't bother saying CAN is different) CAN is already in ammonium form which is readily available to the plant if it can get to the roots. Urea reacts with water and the soil enzyme urease and is rapidly converted to ammonium but it has to be in contact with the soil not raw slurry!!

So by spreading fertilizer on top of Slurry it acts as a barrier to the fertilizer reaching the plant roots, so in the meantime it either evaporates or gets washed of the surface with very little soil penetration.

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736964#Comment_120736964

Thanks for your info, and I'm quite happy to stand corrected, everyday is a schoolday here, but where's the "very bad advice".

I don't see where I advised anyone to do anything, or are you just mad to throw am oul dig?

I supposed it spared the dog getting a kick.

Silverdream

I edited and took out the part "and very bad advice". Now where's that mut gone......😄

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736964#Comment_120736964

Where's my hump... ? 😁

On the same topic, what happens when you spread slurry too soon after fert?

Afaik that's not recommended either?

fulldnod

I've seen the neighbours putting the slurry on top of the fert and I never seen a bad crop of grass

Silverdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120737216#Comment_120737216

I'd say for Urea you'd be better off waiting for it to disappear first, it should only take a couple of days on moist ground. But if one needed to do both then it would have to be fertilizer first then slurry. I know farmers prefer the other way round as a heavy coat of slurry can bury grass that's already growing.

Markcheese

In the same way that slurry is sometimes injected into soil , would it be practical to inject nitrogen rather than broadcast it , ?

I know guys are spraying liquid urea as a foliar fert - but i assume a lot of that is also lost to the atmosphere - especially in summer .

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738671#Comment_120738671

Yes, but it's not advice I'm after, I just want to know what actually happens?And regardless of which goes out first, what happens with normal (not drying) slurry spreading methods and conditions would the fertiliser just dissolve in the slurry and what processes are going on there?

Would it be effective?

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738117#Comment_120738117

Yes, but which was contributing? Both?

Silverdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740588#Comment_120740588

To be honest I wouldn't know but to start you'd need to know the exact blend of fertilizer. The phosphates are highly soluble in water so I'm guessing they would become readily available to the plant if dissolved in the slurry, same with the K. But there's not much info out there with regard to mixing compound fertilizers with slurry. I couldn't find any research information on this from teagasc or others, not that it would make a difference with teagasc as they seem to be in Gouldings pocket when it comes to fertilizer research.

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120741867#Comment_120741867

Thanks anyway, thats surprising about Gouldings given that Liam Woulfe from from Grassland Agro is on their board.

Castlekeeper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120741867#Comment_120741867

There you go, I think this covers it, no pun intended...