# Grasshopper fertilizer



## porksplace (Mar 6, 2011)

The hay ground I have is either steep or a swamp so I tried some .I don't think it is a joke but will report back when I get started on the hay.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I'll be honest, I ain't never growd hay in a swamp, don't think that grasshoppers gonna do much for swamp land, just my opin...


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Grasshopper fertilizer is legitimate liquid fertilizer. As long as you understand the limitations and realities of using a foliar fertilizer and you are willing to pay the higher price and long-term cost, I hope you're successful. I've never tried to pull a baler with an airboat or a mountain goat however, so I can't comment on your choice of farmland. I guess that's one way to get it to pencil out though.....


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Mike120 said:


> Grasshopper fertilizer is legitimate liquid fertilizer. As long as you understand the limitations and realities of using a foliar fertilizer and you are willing to pay the higher price and long-term cost, I hope you're successful. I've never tried to pull a baler with an airboat or a mountain goat however, so I can't comment on your choice of farmland. I guess that's one way to get it to pencil out though.....


Dad was part of a study with Purdue years ago, foliar does work as long as your not making a separate trip just to apply the foliar. If we could apply it when spraying for leaf hoppers then it penciled out (barely), if applied in a separate application then the cost of the foliar with the slight yield increase was a wash compared to the cost per/acre of running the sprayer.

Have found the same to be true with soybeans. We use a foliar feed that has micronutrients but it only pays if we can apply it when spraying roundup, insecticide or fungicide if needed. It doesn't pencil out if it's applied alone in a separate trip.

Pull soil samples and tissue samples and adjust soil fertility accordingly will usually give you the greatest return per dollar spent.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Everything I've seen indicates foliar fertilizer only has an advantage over soil fertilizer when the plant demand for nutrients exceeds the capacity of the roots or when conditions limit the effectiveness or prevent the application of nutrients to the soil. I've also seen it used very successfully for plants that need more trace elements. Typically though, foliar fertilizer is usually unable to meet the total plant requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Around me one of the guys that sells it, targets really sad looking fields where either the pH is way out of whack or it been hayed a bunch without any fertilizer. He applies Grasshopper and like magic the plants start growing and the owner starts singing his praises to other idiots who let their soil go to hell in a hand basket. I expect he can keep them going that way for a while but I sure wouldn't want to take over one of those fields.

There were also guys that tried it during the drought. Got a little bump in the growth but they might have gotten the same results from blowing all the dust off the leaves so the plants could see sunlight. I have no problems with foliar feeding. I just think that with hay fields, you can get a lot more bang for the buck focusing on getting your soil right for what you're trying to grow.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I concur, alot of fellas will just put down N around here, especially on leased fields, without a copious amount of potash that stand won't make it long....I always check soil samples before leasing a field mainly to check ph but also for potassium and phosphorous levels, they are significant in terms of cost and slow to react in the soil before appreciable gains are seen...
I've seen ph levels on fields around here as low as 3.5-4.0, gonna take a good bit of time and a lot of money to get those fields back to optimum production....if the former tenant scrimped on lime, they a scrimped on everything....
My input costs are sky high, but my fields look very healthily and soil tests back it up. But, it takes the same amount of fossil fuel, time, logistics to produce 5 tons per acre as it does to make 2-3 tpa, just costs more money for inputs, payoff is easy to see, although not as easy as when fertilizer companies hadn't fiqured the game out yet, they got it now.....hence the reason you see all of these miracle products....btw a magnet in your fuel delivery system can save you 15% in fuel costs.....and I have some swamp land that.....wait, didn't this thread get started with swamp land.....I'll leave it at that...


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