Make sure you use enough Sulphur for grass growth
- 19 Dec 2022
- 0 Comments
The role Sulphur plays in maximising grass silage
The evidence that most grassland soils require applications of sulphur from fertilisers to maximise grass silage and grazing yields still mounts. Most farmers now understand that various soil types, such as medium and lighter soils, and even now some heavier loam soils, do not release enough sulphur from organic matter to allow grass growth and quality to meet potential. They also realise that there is not enough available Sulphur in slurries and manures to meet demand.
Results of Cheshire trials from 2020
A reality that should stop us all to think is that the biggest responses to Sulphur now seem to be in 1st cut silage and in the initial three rounds of grazing. It used to be that advisers would recommend Sulphur applications from mid-season and beyond, but our soils are now so deficient in this major element that spring growth across the country is now responding. This can be seen in the 2020 results from trials in Cheshire.
According to the latest data from AHDB, an extra 1.4t DM/ha in silage is worth £240 in replacement bought-in feed value and an extra 0.8t DM/ha of grazing is similarly worth £200.
How Much Sulphur Do You Put On Grass Crops?
In terms of deciding how much sulphur to put on grass crops, it’s really simple. If you decide there is a requirement for sulphur, purchase grassland NS, NKS or NPKS products according to your soil and crop PK requirements and they will have the right ratio of nitrogen to sulphur.
Prime examples are CF MutliCut Sulphur (23.4.13 + 7) or KayNitro sulphur (25.0.13 + 7) for silage and SingleTop for grazing (27.0.0 + 12).
