Value Microcaps Food, Agriculture and Soft Commodities

[kipp440]

nuts - Everything you ever wanted to know and more about crop fertilization is found here:

https://www.midwestlabs.com/index3.html

Open the "Agronomy Handbook" and print the tables on page 100 and 101. "Plant Food Utilization" This shows you how much nutrient each crop needs. Fertilizer uptake is not 100% efficient so more fertilizer than the plant actually needs must be applied. Nitrogen utilization is only 60-75% of what gets applied in total.

BUT, the "legumes" get their nitrogen from the air! It is free! That is why soybeans use less fertilizer overall. Well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, lentils, and peanuts. Here is more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume

There is no one size fits all answer to how much fertilizer is applied.

Wikipedia gives a good run down of fertilizer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

This should be enough information overload to keep you up all night!

Kipp