Data backs farmer-developed sealers

CATLIN, Ill. — John Miller was walking through his cornfield 15 years ago, saw a problem and wanted to use his machinist skills to rectify it.

His discovery in that field has led to commercializing his own Nitrogen Sealing Systems that now has data to back his goal of keeping the fertilizer available for the plant.

“I walked out into the field at what was going on and I was just amazed at how much nitrogen was splashed around,” Miller said of what he found after an applicator had sidedressed liquid nitrogen on an 80-acre field.

“It was an injector type of coulter assembly. So, it had a coulter cutting a slot down and then a high-pressure injector shooting liquid nitrogen at the slot in the ground, but in several rows the nitrogen never even hit the slot. It was off-target out to the side of the slot and inch or so and then when it hit the ground under pressure it splattered everywhere.

“I’m a machinist. I’ve got a little engineering degree. I’m not dumb. I’m not saying I’m smart either, but I’m smart enough to know that this isn’t right.”

He began building sealers in his shop designed to lift and redirect the soil overtop of the injection point of nitrogen, collapsing and sealing the trench to protect nitrogen that could otherwise volatilize.

Once his system was developed over three years of work, Miller was in contact with Beck’s Hybrids Practical Research Farm and Jason Webster, then-Beck’s PFR innovation lead.

“We got involved with Jason’s invitation to do some testing. I supplied him with sealers that I manufactured in my shop,” Miller said.

“We put sealers on equipment in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky and did replicated tests side-by-side — sealers versus no-sealers.”

“They had annual reports and we were always doing better. It was always a positive. At the end of four years, they gave me a Preferred Beck Product Award and a 4.7 bushel per acre average increase.”

With that field trial data, Miller loaded up his old pickup truck with nitrogen sealers and hit the road to sell them.

“When Beck’s published all of that research, that was really a good shot in the arm,” he said. “Then they supported me in conversations that they had at their grower meetings and suggested if you didn’t have a sealing on your applicator you were giving up almost 5 bushels of corn per acre.”

Trial Data

Field trial data to prove the sealer’s value is important to Miller, and when Webster moved on as Precision Technology Institute director and Precision Planting agronomist at Pontiac, that research continued.

In the 2024 PFR trials, the system had a yield gain of 6.9 bushels per acre for an additional $28.29 per acre in revenue over the check strips.

Over five years of PFR trials, Miller’s nitrogen sealers provided an 8.1-bushel per acre advantage, corresponding to economic gains of $37.91 per acre.

At a cost of $335 per row on a 15-knife side-dress applicator, the breakeven would occur at 133 acres of corn, according to PFR results.

“It’s been 15 years of product refining and development. I now have some really neat stuff. You do things better and you improve. I have a real nice sealing system for about every manufacturer that builds an applicator today,” Miller said.

“I’m a farmer. I look at things and if I can make it so it benefits not only covering up the nitrogen, but maybe it can also stop the soil from flaring out away from the coulter or the knife.

“It you’re cutting the ground at 8 miles an hour, that soil is moving at 8 miles an hour and it’s going to go someplace. It’s going to go on top of the corn and if the corn is 2 inches tall it’s going to knock it down and cover it up.

“My sealers are designed not to let that happen. We capture the soil so you can run quicker through the field more acres per hour.”

N-Place

Miller most recently designed a precise fertilizer application tool — N-Place — that can deliver two rows of dry or liquid fertilizer per unit, positioning the fertilizer at the base of the plant and cover it with soil.

N-Place units will fit most pull-behind applicators and high-clearance machines that use standard coulter knives or coulter injection systems.

“It’s a surface sealing system where we are bringing the nitrogen to the soil right ahead of a coulter that is angled from inside to out,” Miller said.

“The reason we’re doing this is if we want to put the nitrogen on the soil and then roll it with the soil so we safeguard it as we incorporate it.”

Rather than the typical nitrogen application in the center of the row, the N-Place system applies nitrogen closer to the plant, without damaging the roots.

Each unit has its own independent down-pressure settings, adjustable gauge wheel and coulter angle adjustment.

N-Place can be used to apply liquid or dry fertilizer and other materials needed in the root zone for greater nutrient-use efficiency.

Learn more at nitrogensealingsystems.com, or call Miller at 217-304-1109.