While many Corn Belt no-tillers have suspected it for years, it took researchers at North Dakota State University to demonstrate how continuously no-tilled soils require less nitrogen.

If conditions permit, there’s likely to be a lot of sidedressed nitrogen going on fields the rest of the month. Guy Swanson, developer of the Exactrix anhydrous delivery system, says that putting down nutrients at this time of the year can be your most cost-effective application, but there’s also a lot of risk involved if you don’t get them applied in time or properly.

Destructive trails left by a shank and knife anhydrous applicator are fodder for no-tiller nightmares. But new low-disturbance applicators mean no-tillers can slip the cost-effective nitrogen source into the ground and leave barely a mark.