Post Harvest Plant Fertilizer Analysis Virtually No Fertilizer, Only Carbon!
This analysis was taken in 1924 but it holds true today. Why is there so little fertilizer in a plant and i promise you as you will see in the cob.
Its because you are putting virtually no plants
on each plant. So lets explain two things. What are grams and we shall convert them to ounces. And what is the typical about of fertilizers used and treated post harvest. This was the
dry weight of a corn plant post harvest an I dare stay they tools today would of most likely found little if any oxygen. How many grams in 1 ounce its 28.345. The the numbers in the
graph needs to be divided by 28.345. If the total weight of a corn plant post harvest probably with cobbs or ears was 834.9 grams so the total weigth of tops and bottoms was 29.45 or
just less than 2 pounds. Next the other thing what jumps out is the Carbon in plant and the total weight fertilizers. 371 grams of carbon and total weight of fertilizers 39.25 grams.
That comes to about 12,79 times more carbon than all your fertilizers. It seems the plants are sequesting carbon. But they only have 39.25 grams of fertilizer you are not putting
down even at 300 lbs of fertilizer on your crops. Let me give you an example and there will be more after this first example. Lets say a typical farmer is using 300 lbs of fertilizer
or 4800 ounces. Lets say you are planting 150,000 seeds. So lets do the math of dividing plants by fertilizer! 4800/150,000 = .032 oz per plant! So that begs the questions 1 are
fertilizers even needed and why does the plant like so much carbon. Lately MSU reported that you get free from air about 12,000 pounds of carbon per acre. So looks like he plants are
getting alot. To bad you all arent getting "CARBON CREDIT" You might be making more than the crop!!! And please notice back in 1924 they used 11 elements not typically 3 and that might
acccount for the lack nutrients density in animal feeds.
Next is present day 95 years later Circa 20th Century
Corn fields help clean up and protect the
environment
Posted on June 7, 2007 by Kurt Thelen ,
Michigan State University Extension, Department of Crop & Soil
Sciences
Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the
MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any
pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.
Reports
of climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions
have been all over the news lately. What does this have to do with
agriculture? After many decades of being pointed to as a source of
environmental issues, field crop agriculture is being looked to as
one of the solutions to global climate change. The basis for this
environmental remediation affect is corn’s and other crops’
tremendous potential to remove carbon dioxide (CO2), a major
greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere. In fact, Michigan growers can
now receive payment for storing carbon in the soil via private
sector carbon credit trading managed through the Chicago Climate
Exchange.
How
much carbon dioxide does an acre of Michigan corn absorb in a
growing season? That is a question that is often asked, and the
answer may surprise many people. Our calculations show that number
to be in excess of 36,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide
per acre! Of course, much of that carbon is eventually returned to
the atmosphere as the corn crop residue decomposes or the grain is
consumed as feed or burned as biofuel, but farmers can maintain a
significant amount of carbon in the soil with proper management
including implementing reduced or no-till cropping systems.
Currently, the Climate Exchange bases Michigan carbon payments on
approximately 0.4 to 0.6 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per
acre per year depending upon your location and the specific
management practices implemented. The price paid per unit of
carbon is based annually upon current market prices.
When
used as a renewable fuel source such as ethanol, corn also
displaces petroleum-based gasoline, a significant contributor of
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Each gallon of gasoline burned
emits 19.4 lb. of carbon dioxide (5.3 lb of C) to the atmosphere.
In fact, the USEPA estimates that the average car in the United
States emits approximately 6 tons of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere annually. Current estimates put U.S. gasoline
consumption at about 140 million gallons per year and climbing.
The carbon emitted from gasoline is new additional carbon in the
atmosphere – carbon that was formerly buried deep under the
earth’s surface. Conversely, burning renewable fuels such as
corn ethanol has the potential to be carbon neutral since
emissions would be essentially recycled carbon.
Finally,
in addition to the atmospheric environmental advantage of carbon
sequestration, there are land-based environmental/agronomic
benefits as well. Increased carbon levels in the soil provide
better water infiltration, enhance nutrient cycling, help
alleviate compaction and reduce surface run off.
To
learn more about carbon credit trading, visit the Michigan
Conservation and Climate Initiative web page.
This article was published by Michigan
State University Extension . For more information,
visit http://www.msue.msu.edu.
To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email
inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters.
To contact an expert in your area, visit
http://expert.msue.msu.edu,
or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).
So in conclusion remember all that nitrogen you put on your crops and wanted to use it for the entire
time you were growing your crop. Well you always suspected it was going into the air, some in the plant and the rest into
the ground your right and maybe into the mississippi river to create the hole in the gulf of mexico. But But when you needed it the last few weeks to get maxium crop production it was long gone. You might
figure out how to get some late nitrogen on your crops. Personally I think this graph is generous and about 30 days its all
gone. Farmers have analyzed our plants and told me they believe we sequester about 5% nitrogen from the air until harvest!
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