Best Buy Nitrate Water System

Best Buy Nitrate Water System Carson Kahler, Martin County, Minn., says he invested about $10,000 in a Green Lightning system to produce about 6,000 gal. of nitrate water to fertilize his corn (www.greenlightning.ag; ph 859-577-8005). Kahler says his strategy is to use the nitrate water to supplement synthetic nitrogen rather than as a direct 1-to-1 replacement. He modified his 12-row planter to place 5 gal of the nitrate water in furrow per acre as he plants. He’s comparing it in test strips with different amounts of UAN. To further test the product, he used a 70/30 blend of UAN to Green Lightning for side dressing. He thinks the nitrate water, with a pH of 2.7, may be an excellent carrier for corn fungicide. Kahler says the lower pH should allow the plants to take up the fungicide more quickly than with regular well water and AMS.  Kahler says that although research in Illinois has shown that replacing UAN with nitrate water definitely results in yield loss, he’s running test strips with modified recipes on his own farm. Harvest results will provide data to help him plan for next year. Kahler says his cost to produce the nitrate water is about 4¢ per gallon, which equates to 20¢ per acre, far less than conventional starters, which may run $20 to $30 or more an acre. He says the dollars and cents have to make it worthwhile for him to continue using it and at what application levels.

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