Seasonal Decisions – Fertiliser Application
Channel: Local Land Services NSW
Date: 2022-12-13

Every season present different challenges for timing fertiliser. For the NSW Mid-north Coast, Spring is an important time. High growth rates from ryegrass can produce growth rates of 80 to 100 kg DM/ha/day that requires sufficient fertiliser to achieve the desired result. However, Spring rainfall is highly variable and often falls below evapotranspiration in September and October. The amount of soil stored moisture coming out of winter can have a large impact on spring production in deeper soil.

Peter Beale, Senior Land Services Officer, Agronomy of Taree Local Land Services provides a snapshot of how the probes can improve fertiliser decisions, reduce losses and provide more confidence to local ryegrass farmers in Spring.

Both current and past data from 20 sites in the Hunter LLS are available to the public by accessing the Farming Forecaster platform https://farmingforecaster.com.au select the Hunter Region and the Site desired. It opens a page with a snapshot of daily weekly condition but also has past data graphed and accessible for following blue prompts.

More detail on this topic can be found at: https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1410079/LLS-nitrogen-series-factsheet-v5-1.pdf