First Impression Sauce

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, the first time you use a product the success is immediate and conspicuous? A while ago, I opened a box that contained a new bar of soap and took a shower. Right away I noticed how well the soap lathered up in our hard desert water. The effect was impressive. I compared the new bar to an old bar of the same brand. I had to really work at the old one to get it to lather. Showers are normally known for singing, but this got me thinking. Why was I so impressed with the new bar, when I had been using the same old soap brand for years? I think proctor and gamble or whoever made the bar sprayed a solution of calgon (sodium hexameta phosphate) on the surface to soften the water and make it lather well right away. I have given this effect a name, it is "first impression sauce".

I remember when I was just out of school with my Undergrad degree (20 years ago now), I had a sales meeting with a salty older Agronomist that gave me a pretty hard time initially. As the meeting went on, I noticed he had a bottle of Vitamin B1 on top of his filing cabinet. Vitamin B1 is sold as an amendment, used mainly in the ornamental industry to be applied during transplant of young plants. In a little sarcastic smart-ass tone, I said, "Wow Vitamin B1! Do you use alot of that?" He told me "You know as well as I do that that stuff is worthless, but I manufacture it." He went on, "I just add a little iron and zinc chelate in the solution, the grower sees the plants green up when they first use it. They don't know any different, they think it is the Vitamin B1 is great." There is my definition of "first impression sauce".

There are others. Dr. Paul Eberhardt of IAS Labs in Phoenix discovered years ago that calcium levels in the cotton plant really respond to boron applications. Flower pollination- boll retention increase dramatically in cotton to boron fertilization. About the same time, a plant growth regulator used in cotton changed it's anion chemistry from chloride to borate. This borate is considered a foliar fertilizer when the pgr is applied. Is this a co-incidence or "first impression sauce"?

Nitro-sul is a liquid fertilizer applied usually as a water run in furrow/border strip systems. It has a stinky rotten-egg-sulfury smell when applied. Stanworth Crop Consultants has never recommended the material. We believe that there are more economical alternatives to increasing soluble calcium on calcareous soils. I believe growers like the "first impression sauce" as they observe the stinky milky white emulsifier move across the field in the irrigation water.

Can you think of any "First Impression Sauces" in your life? If so, you may want to consider why the company adds it. Maybe you would be better off to buy just the sauce and not the product.... Me, I just put more salt in the water softener.

FRESH PIX FROM LONDON

Michael Mullion had an excellent idea. Why don't you blog while you are on your trip to Saudi Arabia. Well, I am not long winded or fluent with words. But I am having a pint of London's Pride at the Robert Inn. It is a traditional English pub in Hounslow London. And, I can post pictures with a little explanation below each. So here Goes.....



This is the Boeing 777 loading at the Jetway at LAX.



This my isle seat, Eric Edlund, from Stockholm Sweden next to me. He is returning from a business trip to LA. His sister lives in Smaland Sweden, the Quist ancestral home. He was married in an 800 year old church, Lutheran of course. He commented that many Swedes left Smaland in the mid 1800's because of hard times and even hunger. He related that the soil there is very rocky and not very productive. He said the people from there have a reputation of being hard working.



These ladies are from the Netherlands. Many of the plane passengers are Scandinavians going home from vacationing in the US. I overhead them speaking in Dutch, it is a beautiful language, it sounds like the a bubbling brook flowing through the forest. They had just finished a joint-family vacation with 8 kids and parents spanning 4000 miles across the US. I apologize for the quality of the print.



Picture of London Heathrow Airport. Side note now, they are serving green peas with my fish and chips here at the pub. Yes Teresa, other people in this world do enjoy eating green peas, thank you.

Next up, A cute Bobby, a shrubbery, and a dark Cloak Room! Later, AQ

Irrigation Management- Nitrogen Efficiency

As I am reviewing last seasons Wheat agronomic reports one fact keep appearing. Good irrigation management pays in savings on nitrogen applications. Part of our service is to review the previous seasons agronomic reports with growers. But this year, the pressure of increasing fertilizer costs are causing us to scrutinize more closely the efficiency of fertility programs. Good management pays, this is nothing new. But as I look at these reports I see that growers that monitor the soil moisture and irrigate accordingly irrigate their fields less often than those who irrigate by calendar.

Whether reduction in Nitrogen efficieny is due to leaching of the fertilizer (out the tile drain) denitrification (loss of N to air in saturated soils) I cannot quantify. I can tell you that fields that have excellent production and protein (4 ton plus yields and 14% protein) generally were irrigated less often and used less nitrogen than comparable yielding fields of comparable soil texture that were irrigated more often.



Tile Cleaning Crew on the Vail Canal system near the Salton Sea (loss by leaching).



First turn off the fertilizer tank, then the head gate (just plain lost).