Other PFI Trials

Published Feb 3, 1990

There were several trials in 1989 that belong in categories by themselves. Three of these are reported in Table 7.

Steve Leazer has been told by his neighbors that rootworm insecticides are advisable even in first-year corn if it has been heavily manured. In 1989 he put this story to the test, and for the second year in a row there was no detectable difference in yields.

Jerry Carlson used molasses with his sidedressed nitrogen. Compared to corn that received plain nitrogen only, yields were significantly lower in the molasses treatment.

Cooperator Carlson also wanted to test a commercially marketed high frequency sound generator in conjunction with the grass herbicide PoastTM. The sound is said to increase uptake of foliar sprays. Carlson feared any effect of the sound would carry over into adjacent strips. With the on-farm trials coordinator, a procedure was developed that could give a reasonable test of the method. The “sound” strips were to be sprayed one day and the non-sound strips the next. Numerical grass control ratings by four people were averaged to score the two treatments. By this measure, weed control was significantly better in the treatment that used sound with Poast.

It was recognized that any treatment differences could be confused with differences caused by spraying on different days. However, this method was the best one that could be devised given the resources. If the trial is repeated, strips will be placed in two fields. One field will receive the sound on day #1 and the non-sound on day #2, while the order in the other field will be reversed.