¶ Nutrient Application Planner
The Nutrient Application Planner (NAP) is a feature in version 3 of SnapPlus that has carried over from previous versions, with some changes in design and functionality. The NAP can be accessed from the Management page by clicking the Nutrient Applications button in the top right corner of screen, or with the NAP column in the crop sequence data table, both pictured below.
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Both of these buttons will open the NAP with data pertaining to the active crop (the one highlighted blue). If the NAP is already open, clicking between crops will change the data displayed to match the currently active crop.
The NAP can be opened on the field view, the annual view and the template builder tabs. If opened on the template builder tab, nutrient recommendations (and applied amounts), soil test, map and compliance data will not be available.
The best way to understand the NAP, its features and uses is to understand each of the components that make it up.
¶ 1. Crop and application season information
At the top of the Nutrient Application Planner there is information about the active crop, the cropping acres of the active field (the field the crop is on) in the active plan year (the year that the crop is planted).
Beneath this basic overview is a description of which seasons nutrients can be applied to the active crop. This is based on chronological order, but starting in the fall season (the beginning of the crop year). Some examples of this principle may resolve confusion. Suppose the crops on a field are set up in SnapPlus like this:
How do we know which seasons will be available for nutrient application on the 2023 April-May Corn grain?
- The corn is planted in spring of calendar year 2023, which is also crop year 2023. Crop years begin in the fall, so the crop year 2023 begins in calendar year 20222.
- The crop preceding the 2023 corn (the 2022 corn) is in a separate crop year. So that means that nutrients can be applied to the 2023 corn starting in fall of 2022, as it is the first crop in the crop year.
- The crop following the 2023 corn (the 2024 corn) is also in a separate crop year. This means that nutrients can be applied to 2023 corn in all of the seasons in the crop year 2023. The last season possible application season in a crop year is mid-summer.
Using this logic, SnapPlus will display:
Application seasons: Late Summer-Fall 2022 through Mid-Summer 2023
¶ 2. Nutrient accounting by restricted area type
SnapPlus organizes nutrient recommendation data by the restrictions that determine how many acres are spread on by the application.
¶ Nutrient area types
Fields on a farm may have different restrictions about where and when manure may be applied. In this pictured case, there is part of the field where manure cannot be spread. There is also a manure application, suggesting that nutrients may need to be applied to the restricted area. To represent this physical scenario, SnapPlus creates multiple sections of the NAP, accessible by clicking on different tabs.
There are three nutrient area types that may display in the NAP.
- Spreadable
Manure and fertilizer can be spread in any possible season in this area. - No winter
Manure cannot be applied in winter in this area. - No Manure
Only non-manure fertilizers may be applied in this area.
¶ Nutrient accounting
The table at the top left of the NAP shows UW recommendations, generated according to A2809 guidelines, for important nutrients Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Beneath the recommendations are quantities corresponding to the amount of each nutrient applied, as well as any credited or leftover nutrient from previous crop applications. The difference between the recommended and applied nutrients on the crop will be used to determine compliance.
Manure N credit settings can be adjusted on the farm settings tab.
Adjustments to the supplied recommendations can also be proposed from within this part of the NAP. (more information needed)
¶ 3. Map features in the NAP
On the right side of the NAP, there is a minimap visible that will be zoomed into the active field. Field boundaries and restrictions are visible on this minimap. The map can be hidden with the Hide map button.
¶ 4. Soil tests and compliance messages
Beneath the nutrient accounting section, there is an overview of the soil test information that is being used to determine compliance for the data in the selected crop. If there are compliance or validation issues, or other informational messages pertaining to the crop (not specific applications), they will display here.
- Red warning icons indicate that there is a compliance issue that will show up on a report
- Blue icons indicate that there is data associated with that crop that has been entered into SnapPlus incorrectly, and will make calculating soil or phosphorous loss predictions using that crop's data impossible
- Yellow icons indicate reminders or other noteworthy information about applying nutrients to that crop.
¶ 5. Creating and editing nutrient application data
There are a few ways to save data about nutrient applications to a SnapPlus plan.
¶ Manually creating manure and fertilizer applications
Using the +New manure (or +New fertilizer) buttons above the nutrient application data table will add a new empty application to the active crop:
¶ What's required?
Source (which nutrient), Application season, Method and Rate are all required before application data will save to the plan. As with crop data, options for setting application data are limited by what is physically possible given information about the nutrient application. For example, only manures are available for Source if the application is a manure, and fertilizer can't be applied in the winter Application season.
¶ What happens when crop data is saved?
Proportional amounts of N, P and K are computed by SnapPlus when the application is saved and will be displayed in the row for the application's data, as well as added to the applied nutrient amount in the recommendations table.
Note: Saving any change to application data will trigger the recalculation of compliance, and the removal of any existing soil loss or P index predictions calculated for that field.
¶ Using nutrient systems in the NAP
¶ Applying an existing system
Clicking the Apply nutrient system button will introduce a popup matching the features in the nutrient systems tab, with a few differences in looks and behavior:
Nutrient systems that have been saved to the plan can be selected from the drop down. The checkbox will control if existing application data is overwritten entirely, or if the nutrient system applications will be added to the crop in addition to what's already there. Modifications at the individual application level can also be made in the data table, but these changes do not carry permanently into the nutrient system. In this case, whatever spices added to the atomic chili mix will be gone when exiting the popup.
¶ Creating a nutrient system from applications on a crop
If there are nutrient applications saved on the crop, selecting the dropdown arrow next to the Apply nutrient system button will reveal another button labeled Create nutrient system from applications:
As the name suggests, this will create a new nutrient system using the application data on display in the NAP at the time. Simply give the nutrient system a unique name and select Save system:
¶ Available manure by season table
Clicking the Available manure button will open a draggable pop up containing data table with information about how much manure from each source available in the plan is being spread, and how much is left, organized by application season in the active crop's year:
Expect these values to update when nutrient applications in that crop year are created or deleted.
¶ More?
Clicking the arrow toggle in the more column will, naturally, reveal more information about and options to configure individual nutrient applications.
Both manure and fertilizer applications will:
- display the amount of 'planned acres,' which should be equal to the spreadable acres in the actively selected nutrient area type (section 2).
- if it is possible, give an option to apply with a nitrification inhibitor.
- have compliance, validation or information messages as needed
¶ 6. More about fertilizer applications
- Fertilizer timing is unique to fertilizer applications.
¶ 7. More about manure applications
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CAFOs will have to specify the distance of their manure applications to SWQMAs to meet compliance standards and prevent water poisoning.
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The manure analysis data displayed will determine the amounts of specific elemental nutrient being applied to crops. Manure analysis data can be selected manually within the NAP. An application's manure analysis data can also be changed using date-based manure analysis settings in the Daily Log or on the manure and biosolids tab.
Changing any of these values may affect compliance.