From an agronomic standpoint, uniform N application is more important for wheat than for corn, but harder to obtain. Misapplication frequently shows up as streaking in wheat fields, whereas misapplication is usually masked in corn fields, especially at higher rates. Dempsey Rein is operations manager for the Valley City, South Dakota, branch of Fertilizer Equipment, Inc., a major distributor of fertilizer equipment. He sells a lot of the new vertical dam manifolds to dealers who retail them primarily to wheat producers. If three or more manifolds are required, a separator, similar to the vertical dam body, is needed.
Barbs are extra on old-style units.
Davis Equipment Corporation, a major distributor of fertilizer equipment in Iowa, is adding the vertical dam manifold to their catalog this winter and started promoting it in August. The vertical dam manifolds performed much better than old-style manifolds in the Successful Farming tests, but distribution wasn't perfect. The highest amount from one outlet was 129 pounds and the lowest was 52. Many large applicators have two or more manifolds to facilitate folding even if additional outlets aren't needed. In this test, one vertical dam manifold had six outlets and the other had seven.