00:00 Hey there, welcome to extreme Ag and we're talking about Labs. We're talking about Labs that we're doing with agril liquid one 00:06 of our business partners. I've got Matt and Lane miles McGee Arkansas along with Molly Alexander. She's the Southeast Regional 00:12 grounds for aggro liquid wealth of knowledge. And also we're talking about some really cool stuff that we're gonna be doing at Miles Farms these Labs that 00:21 we're doing in conjunction with aggro liquid seats to solve problems to learn stuff that you can apply to your farming operation. In this case. We're talking about cotton, you 00:30 know, the only cotton production that happens among the extreme AG producers happens at Miles Farms. Chad. Got out of the game a few years ago. And so 00:39 we're going to be doing a pretty cool cotton lab down there and I want to hear all about it specifically it's addressing putting nutrients 00:48 in way of potassium sulfur in calcium to the cotton crop so Molly Alexander, what are we doing in Arkansas at the 00:57 miles farms in conjunction with Agra liquid to words teach some people how to grow better cotton infaro 01:11 Huge practice 2x2 is not a big practice, but there's so many opportunities to go over the top of cotton. And so I think that's a place that we could 01:20 actually find a fit to get some benefit out of this. So this year as well as last year based on tissue tests that I've seen all over 01:29 the area cotton reaches a plateau about when it switches from vegetative to reproductive stage in that potassium after reproductive stage just plateaus 01:38 and then drops completely off and at that point most of time farmers are looking at maybe applying just method and 01:47 they'll put in boron to feed it throughout just quickly Napa quad. That's a 01:53 quiet also called pics. Okay. And what's that right later? It stops the cotton from trying to grow into a big massive tree. Like fun fact, if 02:02 you don't kill off cotton, it will grow for two years straight into a very Woody large tree. So that's 02:09 why Rose regulator as I recall when we were at Miles Farms last may you told me that and then you taunted me that there were poisonous snakes 02:18 in a drainage ditch next to the alligator because you know, I'm afraid of that stuff. So I remember you telling me all those things in between taunting me miles Farms here 02:27 from both those guys. You've grown cotton man, you talked about growing cotton growing up. I mean, obviously it's an area that grows cotton cotton 02:36 was King cotton made more money. You told me that if you have a landlord they want you to produce cotton Cottons more profitable, you know 02:42 cotton Cottons right there man. It's what you guys do. You also told me that cotton is a plant according to your father. 02:48 Your father used to tell you that cotton is a plant that looks for a way to die every day. So I've learned more about 02:54 constants talking to you guys than I ever thought. I could possibly learn. this 03:01 Lab, what excites you about it? I mean, is it really is it really gonna change anything or you gonna be like, yeah. I don't know we still got by the same but just how 03:10 much you think. Well, the more we Farm the more the more more we've been with extreme AG the more we've tried 03:17 to start doing not necessarily high yield crops, but a better job growing what we're growing. We're starting tissue samples, you know, 10 years ago. We didn't pull 03:26 tissue samples unless we have A variable rate fertilizer, you know grid sampling. We're fine tuning the things 03:34 that when my dad grew up was just you put out this maintenance right of fertilized you put the Boron and the pigs on 03:40 there and keep the weevils and the worms out of it and that's what you get and you know something we started seeing as we've done tissue samples. What's got me 03:49 excited about this plot and is the fact and see Lang grew up with all this so as he started farming we already doing some of these practices again on 03:58 the head during reproductive stage, especially when you're starting to get heavy bolo a cotton plant will absolutely tank in calcium. 04:08 And and potassium. Those are two things when you pull a tissue sample that you cannot keep the levels up in now some of 04:17 that could be that's going into the bowl, you know, but you can tell visually the plant when it starts getting that red leaf around the bracks on the fruit that it 04:26 started. Potassium deficiency. So having AG religious recognize that and and start attacking that program for four years ago. We started attacking 04:37 it by putting out split applications of granular potassium. You know, that's expensive. It's it's 04:43 bundle some it's you know, a lot of times you can't get to it you got higher airplane to do it or whatever but the products that they're coming out with now we can I call it mandate because 04:52 you've got your base fertility down there supposedly enough to grow the crop. 04:57 And it starts running out because it's not available to land. So these these practices that we're doing here is 05:03 is got me excited because I know these things are going on and there's not been a really lot we could do to it getting calcium in a plant. 05:12 From a folio standpoint's tough. So and now it is starting to be where some of these products are able to get the calcium into the plant move the needle. So these are 05:21 making difference on yields as we've seen last year in our lab tell me how you're going to do this because you 05:27 just said get in calcium in any foliar thing. So real quickly for the person like me you're cotton gets planted and so good 05:36 walk me through the what you're going to do Molly or what the miles guys are going to do. They're gonna put down your product capitalize at time of planting and then come back 05:45 again and just kind of tell me what you're method is going to be for the 05:49 For this lab, so this year we actually are going to do everything in a foliar standpoint. So last year we decided to run a pulvic in the 05:58 furrow and then came back and then split it up at different critical timing points. So we did like match head Square moved on 06:07 the first Bloom third bloom and Then followed up with the next three applications of the mapquately here said that match head square. Is 06:16 that what you said? Yes. That's a growth phase is a great Lane. Listen, man. You're my buddy. Are these people just Jack with me? Because 06:25 I'm not from the south match head square is like a place where we meet have and have like drinks. Yeah Pinhead Square too. Oh for god sakes. This 06:34 is a real growth phase. Yes, a very important one. Yeah. Okay was was grown. It's growing 06:43 in the South so our terms, you know, that's like they asked me how deep I'm gonna plant corn. I'll say two knuckles. 06:49 Yeah, I'm two inches but two Knuckles because each one of those Knuckles are inch so 06:54 all right, so so imagine square and so you just said you gave me Mansion Square first Bloom Sanka Bloom Etc. So those are obviously growth phases in the cotton just 07:03 for the fun of it a roughly is that like at three weeks after planting four weeks after planting just some kind of curious how often you're gonna be going out and putting on this capitalized product. 07:13 So that was that was a plan for last year this year. Like I said, we're gonna gear it more towards closer to that first Bloom third bloom 07:22 and then later on because that's when we start seeing the deficiency more so than early on so we're 07:28 actually going to marry this product with a fulvic acid which will definitely help move that calcium potassium and sulfur throughout the 07:37 plant so last year where we put the full vic info this year since we're going heavily full year. We're gonna marry it with that full of acid that will act as a carrier. So that's what 07:46 it's gonna help address mats concern too with actually trying to physically move calcium within the plant. But you will apply it. 07:54 Fully yes everything this year is going to be full here. Okay. Yeah Lane. Are you gonna have to be going across the field 08:02 just to put on her product or are you going across the field that much anyhow, no that that's actually the cool thing about what the 08:11 way Molly's the design these Labs is you know in Cotton. We we have when I'm in multiple applications. I mean we're talking like six eighteen 08:20 different applications because we're spraying bugs so much. It's spraying. It's a lot more. I'm call 08:29 it labor intensive than say Corner beans but yes, so she's designed everything for you know, I gave her some timings on when we're gonna 08:38 go across the field estimated and you know kind of win kind of you you're asking, you know, when match head and head first bloom all that 08:47 is oh and that's the good thing about what she's done. She's paired every one of these Folgers up with a specific timing of when we're gonna 08:56 go across the field. All right. So you're gonna you think use this product nothing at time planting nothing 09:04 in the ground and this this will complement another there are other gun. They're gonna use other base level fertility. This is a confidence to that 09:13 right Molly. Yes, it is. But also I just want to make a note for people that aren't really familiar with cotton in Furrow 09:20 and 2x2 is not a widely adapted practicing cotton period so for us to do that in Furrow that might get ahead of the game and 09:29 we have that data as we need it if that practice starts coming into, you know, it's more adapted. But 09:35 as of right now in years past it's not very common. So my trials and my labs are geared more towards what fits now it might fit another 09:44 three to five years down the road and that's where the potassium deficiency and Calcium deficiency is just 09:50 been so in my face the past couple years and so we designed this lab to go after that where the farmer if they don't have infer or two 09:59 by two capabilities. This is gonna fit their practice as a whole regardless. Matt you said that when the 10:06 cotton plant starts to put on those bowls, it's when you have a huge calcium deficit that's what you said. And then you also mentioned sulfur but you didn't miss and mention 10:15 potassium but this product capitalized from agril liquid spelled with a K is obviously all about potassium. So it seems like it's a 10:21 potassium load and has it has a couple other things tossed in for the fun of it. Those are the two that you mentioned which ones 10:27 most important now. Yeah. I thought I mentioned the potassium also when I was talking about the red bracks on the bowls 10:33 where you are physical deficiency, that's that's the potassium. I mean come I've been in Cottons I take her it's never 10:42 a giver. It's one of the bigger to fertility of any crop. We grow rotating behind cotton is not an advantage. Okay all the 10:51 nutrient it also luxury user of some some nutrients but potassium in my opinion other than nitrogen. Is it passing or 11:01 not dreams? Your nitrogen and your potassium at the top two phosphorus would be next but you can't forget these micronutrients for 11:08 instance calcium. If your plants always deficient when it's trying to put on its fruit load of any particular micro or 11:17 macro, you know. That stress and mainly the game is reducing stress about the lab that you're going to do here. We always 11:25 talk about compatibility. You're going to be putting this stuff Molly in with 11:30 herbicide or more importantly, it sounds like insecticides because they fight bugs great Lanes. You 11:36 said you fight bugs starting like in June July. Is that roughly we're talking about somewhere in that hot part of the summer all year, right? 11:45 From Penn Ave squared diamond until I get in trouble Angus mad after permission your name because he says you get mad at me too. So I that's a 11:54 whole nother podcast, but from Pinhead Square till just prior to defoliation. Every seven to ten days we have 12:06 an insect problem. Yeah. Oh and that Molly give us a dates on that. What would you say average? That would be how many weeks probably? Oh, yeah, 12:15 we're talking about we talk about from Spider-Man to thrips all the way through to plant bugs and volleyballs. well, I mean it's it's literally from 12:25 planting to I'd say three to four weeks before Harvest. So if we plant in May and decide to harvest say in October, yeah, August 12:34 September a six months worth say you got an easy four months. So are you going to be putting this stuff in we're gonna be putting in with herbicide and for sure with inside the side 12:44 possibly you do fungicides right on. okay, that's something that wasn't what normally either that's something that's it's a new practice and 12:53 I don't on this lab what we're doing different from their normal practice Molly is what the dosage or the frequency or what are 13:04 we doing differently than what they're going to do on their non-lab cotton Acres. 13:12 Applications into a liquid application and then we're breaking this liquid application up into a spoon feed approach instead of saying oh we 13:21 put a little Dash and nitrogen on Mid season and then we try not to do any fertility later on now we're going to 13:30 do for fertility throughout almost every application that they go across in a spoon-fed approach wasn't that 13:36 I think things with that one big things we heard we were in Louisville Matt and Lane that you talked about his met 13:42 the method miles Farms used to be go out just broadcast dry fertilizer and then be done with it and now because of 13:48 working with business partners. Like I really liquid you're learning it's more labor intensive, but the benefit is there to 13:54 justify the dollars to do it. Yes. Oh, yeah, we we feel like even this year we run some numbers yesterday and and 14:03 the cost of nitrogen and granular which would be urea versus the cost of nitrogen liquid, which would be a UAE and type product. 14:12 Is about $40 an acre difference. So we're going to spend $40 an acre this on corn more on our nitrogen than we would we can go out there and spread this granular easier. 14:22 Yeah cheaper faster and faster Emily. It was less man hours less labor. But but we're putting this fertility at the base of the plant. 14:32 So by the time you figure the efficiency in there, this is gonna go for you to make you pay but we still think we 14:38 still think it's gonna pay to have the liquid So speaking of thinking it's gonna pay Lane, you're the numbers guy last year's 14:44 lab and then this year's lab numbers from last year and what you hope to see this year on cotton and I don't know much about cotton, but you said something about 86 cents or 86 pounds or 14:53 just give me the 86 there. Yeah, so it was 88 but yeah, so we had an 88 pound positive yield on our lab last year 15:04 which with long story short would be a positive Roi on on dollars per acre, you know of what we spent most of what we got even 80 pound 15:14 80 pounds in excess of cost 88 pounds of of profit. Yeah pounds 88 pounds of yield gain in in those two against those one versus the 15:24 other and that's it. And that's it. Roughly how much pound Last year was a just a dollar dollar ten. 15:31 Okay, so which is not a normal normal deal. But I mean it normally I would say it's around that 90 Cent. Mm-hmm. 15:39 Just like rain. It depends on how you book it. So 88 bucks. So 88 bucks of benefit of bonus yield you got from the lab and 15:48 then if it costs you, what do you think in the cost is to get you that 80 bucks a third of that? 15:55 That's probably a Molly question. Okay, remember exactly what it was but I think it was in the 40. Yeah. 16:02 I want to say it was. Not having it in front of me, which is my fault. But roughly between the 42 to 47 dollars an 16:10 acre game. So we took we took that we we doubled we we got we got two two to one on our investment, you know one is a very fair way to say that yes. Oh 16:20 To your Damian. So even at 80 cents, you're still getting a positive Roi, you know, if you look at what you know, $70 acre it 16:29 cost us 40 to 50. You're still getting you know, I don't have to have a two to one if I can get my money back plus I mean if you give me a hundred I'll 16:38 give you a hundred twenty back every day. You're gonna do it every day. Yeah. Hey one thing Molly about this lab and I wonder 16:46 if this is where you and Agri liquid are looking down the road the old style method of just going out and flinging tons and 16:52 tons and tons of dry fertilizers are out there. We know it wasn't as efficient. We know it's easier as laying talked about we know 16:58 it's less Manpower and it's cheap, but I think the environmental issue is going to continue to make it so we cannot do that. Is that one of the reasons we're doing this lab. 17:08 Yes, so one of the things that I love to say is dry feeds the soil liquid feeds the plant but they are a hand in hand marriage. There 17:17 is no reason to cut out one or the other and because the environmental standpoint is starting to 17:23 come down the road rather quickly and they're starting to test for runoff and things like that. They're gonna start pushing these mandates to more or less feed the plant 17:32 at the time. It needs it versus keep putting so much input into the soil and then you run the risk of it leaching out 17:38 and things like that. So to answer your question. Yes, this is a way to combat that in the 17:44 future and get ahead of it when it does finally hit these Farmers what success gonna look like. How will you feel success? I hurt from 17:50 from Matt Lane. He said if I give you a hundred bucks and you give me 120 back, I'll do that every day, but you want to do better than that. What's this? What's gonna be success in your mind. What will you 17:59 look at this lab and say regularly that worked? I mean, I'm can't say that that he didn't hit the nail on the head. I mean if you if you can 18:08 get me more than what I gave. I'll take that any day. I mean if you give me a hundred and five, I mean 105 more than 100. Well, we we will know this Wednesday cotton get 18:17 harvested September. Let Mouse out over yes, October. All right, and then I want to do a revisit on this sometime the mid-season some way if I'm down there because 18:28 I want to know well we see well we see the results like in August July will we see it or we not know until the cotton picker 18:34 goes? It depends so I mean right at that point. You got to remember cotton switches from vegetative stage as a small tree to reproductive. 18:44 So you'll be able to see Bloons you'll be able to see like overall plant Health maybe color height difference. And then when you see the Bowl start to set 18:53 is when you can really start going ahead and almost measuring your yield from when the bowl set. 18:58 Okay, so a month a month before the cotton Pickers go at least we're gonna start to know that this is working unless unless they get hit with a hurricane and 19:07 all the sudden, you know all bets are off, right? All right, her name is Molly Alexander. She is a regional Southeast Regional agronomist for agri-liquid conducting 19:16 two big Labs at Miles Farms from McGee Arkansas. We're doing a row rice nitrogen change and 19:25 we're gonna see what that does which is kind of a big deal and another episode we recorded about that. And then the one we just talked about potassium 19:31 sulfur in calcium product product name again, Molly capitalize spelled with a K and that's gonna be for cotton and it's the idea. 19:40 There is we're spoon feeding nutrition at all all full here all post emergent way through the season and we're doing that to see if it 19:49 works. But also see if we can get maybe a more environmentally compliant liquid spoon-fed option on 19:55 fertility to feed the plant. His name is Matt miles joined by Lane miles defender of Damian Mason. I appreciate 20:01 the hearing that until next time. This is Extreme egg, and we're making you smarter with our Labs. Thanks for being here.