First we need to have an idea of the concentration of nutrients in the material we are going to use. And we need to analyze the litter as close to planting as possible. The cost of analyzing the litter is twenty dollars per sample. The table shows the average of a hundred samples received by the diagnostic lab. The table shows an average of fifty-five, sixty, sixty-three per ton. The use of the average can significantly under or over estimate the amount of nutrients in the material. For instance the K levels can range between twenty-five and ninety-one pounds per ton. The analysis will also give you an idea of the moisture content. You don't want to spread a material that is half water. Note that the table show moisture content as high as sixty four percent. The other very important difference from chemical fertilizer has to do with the way it is applied. We need to make sure that the spreader trucks are properly calibrated. Research in Colorado with ten spreaders show that one of the spreaders had one side with seven and half times the amount of litter on it, compared, on one side, compared to the other side. They also reported swath width ranging from seven and a half feet to sixteen and a half feet with an average of eleven feet. So in summary we need to test the litter for the amount of plant available nutrients and we need to make sure the spreaders are calibrated. Your Arkansas Soybean Podcast is a production of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and <b>...</b>