When I went to pick up the liquid, I noticed they also had 10 bags of water soluble. These were 25# bags of 11/61/0 (I thnk I remember that right. I do know the phosphate number as 61) This sold for $28.95/bag. I did a quick calculationm in my mind and figured that at 1 gallon per acre liquid at $19/2.5 gallon vs. $29 for 25# @ 6#/acre application rate, gave me about the same cost per acre. Granted the water soluble was higher PO4 content, but the application poundage would be 60%, so the cost per lb. of PO4 added would be around the same.
We applied by diluting 4:1 and pumping into the prop wash while driving around the lake in a pattern, being careful to criss cross and overlap pumping a small stream to get equal coverage, I think we got it done okay in about 3 hours for 28 acres.
The conversation I had about the shortage of phosphate was with Texas Liquid Fertilizer. I think what he was trying to imply was that there is a shortage, but it will mostly impact the small user since most distributors will be tking care of the large customers. High demand from increased corn production combined with closueres of some of the Florida mines and phosphate fertilizer plants due to environmental issues has created a shortage at least in the near term.
