Renewable Farming

Video evidence of how Bio Empruv and foliar nutrition enhanced corn yields

Crop consultant Bob Streit has made available a video showing how Dave Schwartz’s “synergistic” foliar feeding and Bio Empruv sprays added as much as 40 bu. to his corn yield in 2016.  We’ve reported details on the foliar treatments before, but this is the first video available where Bob and Dave personally walk the field and show the difference in video. 

Dec. 31, 2016 — Here’s the link to the video, which Bob Streit posted on his Central Iowa Agronomics website: http://www.centraliowaag.com/products_/

We’ve heard from several farmers who applied the Bio Empruv foliar in 2015 and 2016.  Some saw that application after brown silk kept the corn greener by a couple of weeks compared with the same numbers left unsprayed. Others could discern no difference in crop longevity. 

Field trials with Bio Empruv here at Renewable Farming are the only random-rep strip trials we’re aware of that compare Bio Empruv performance with, and without WakeUP Summer. Some of the farmer usages of Bio Empruv have included WakeUP, some have not.  Our point: Evidence indicates that WakeUP helps make Bio Empruv more effective, just as it helps other biostimulants, nutrients and crop protection products.

Plot trials probably understate potential yield differences because strips with unchecked diseases are interspersed with healthy strips, showering the healthier corn with inoculum. Broader fields which are fully protected may show earlier diedown on the field borders adjoining disease-ridden fields, but the midsection would not be showered with as many disease spores.

 

The nearby yield chart shows a 2015 plot trial at our place. In this case, a copper-containing trace element was included in the post-tassel application of Bio Empruv. The benefit with the 42Phi copper product and Bio Empruv together, without WakeUP in the tank mix, was 3.2 bu. over the control strips. Including WakeUP Summer at a rate of 5 ounces per acre averaged 11.1 bu. over the control. There were six replications. To download a PDF of the table showing the yield details on all plots, click on this link.

A year earlier, in late summer of 2014, Bob Streit asked if we had some “leftover” strips to check out the version of Bio Empruv which was then available from Ken Hamilton and his scientific consultant, Salam Awada.  We had some strips available and applied the product on the corn August 26, which by then showed symptoms of Goss’ wilt. Three strips treated with Bio Empruv alone showed a 10.1-bu. gain over the nearby three control strips.  We had four strips sprayed with Bio Empruv tank-mixed with WakeUP; that average yield difference was 17 bushels.

From three years’ experience, it looks as though a biological product which can keep a crop healthier longer can show the most benefit if the yield response isn’t limited by other factors, such as a trace element deficiency or late-season nitrogen hunger.  

The one “rule of thumb” that’s quite consistent in our experience: If a foliar product shows a profitable yield response alone, the response is almost always enhanced by 50% to 80% if WakeUP Summer is tank mixed with it for:

1. Uniform, smooth leaf coverage so all leaf cells are given product to absorb

2. Cleansing and softening of the leaf cuticle, the waxy coating, to allow the nutrient to penetrate into the leaf cells

3. Carrying through the crop’s phloem system to all parts of the plant for full metabolism.

 

We’ve learned through years of experience that the same treatment — whatever it is — can show highly varied results depending on the season, stage of application, disease pressure and other variables. One of the most widely acclaimed foliar treatments, Kip Cullers’ Compass, showed zero response in 2015 on 12 replicated strips for each treatment. WakeUP added 2 bu. when tank-mixed with Compass, but Compass alone or with WakeUP did not yield more than the controls.

Much of a crop’s response to foliars, especially those in midseason or late season, depends on whether the crop needs a particular nutrient. In the case of Dave Schwartz’s corn, a foliar feeding of stabilized ammoniacal nitrogen could have created the synergism this particular corn crop needed to keep filling.

Another new service from Streit:  He’s now posting his weekly columns on the Central Iowa Agronomy website. The current summary is at this link.

Previously we’ve posted Streit’s columns on our site. This year we will extract the “Cliff Notes” highlights and link to Central Iowa Agronomy as these reports become available.