With wheat prospects looking reasonably good so far this season in many areas, producers may be wondering if it would pay to add chloride to their topdressing blend. Chloride is a highly mobile nutrient in soils, so split or topdress application may be beneficial, especially in regions of sufficient precipitation or with coarse texture soils that may cause leaching.

In the chemical age of agriculture that began in the 1960s, potassium chloride (KCl), the common salt often referred to as potash, is widely used as a major fertilizer in the Corn Belt without regard to the huge soil reserves that were once recognized for their fundamental importance to soil fertility.

Deciding when to apply micronutrients [Boron (B), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni) and Chlorine (Cl)] in crop production systems is often a difficult task.