Between waiting for the right soil temperatures and when the crop demand is there for the nutrients, farmers are operating in a tight window.
An application of Extract XC helps make sure the nutrients a crop needs are there when the plant needs it.
“That stover sitting on top, that’s all potential,” Calhoun said.
Extract XC’s ingredients include microbial-derived biochemistry.
And ammonium thiosulfate helps accelerate residue breakdown.
“This product contains nitrogen and sulfur, providing a balanced nutrient profile that can begin working on crop residue immediately, even under less-than-ideal weather conditions, so vital nutrition is available to the crop from the start,” Calhoun said. “We’re trying to remove the delay and make the release of nutrition somewhat more predictable.”
Farmers have flexibility when using the product.
Extract XC can be tank mixed with herbicides for fall or spring burndowns. It’s compatible with liquid fertilizers for spring broadcast and can be used pre-emerge.
Trial settings indicate the product can provide a yield boost.
Loveland Products has trials on corn, soybeans, and other crops.
“On corn we’ll see an average of about 10 bushels across all the trials we’ve done,” Calhoun said.
Extract XC isn’t just for row crop farmers.
Fruit producers could use it too, Calhoun said.
“We’ll have folks using this in cherry orchards with a herbicide spray that goes over top of leaf litter, because that leaf litter can serve as a vector for disease,” he said. “By getting that leaf litter to break down quicker, they can reduce some of the disease load that’s coming into the cherry orchards for the following year.”
Anyone interested in learning more about Extract XC can visit Loveland’s website. The product is also available through Nutrien Ag Solutions stores in the U.S.