"My new 'split flow' liquid fertilizer knife places fertilizer on both sides of the seed fur-row which allows plants to use it more efficiently than with any other system on the market," says inventor Dave Primus of Mt. Auburn, Iowa.

The fertilizer knife, which is still in the prototype stage, was introduced at the recent Farm Progress Show near Windfall, Ind. It's designed to mount between Martin row cleaners and consists of a shank that bolts onto the Martin row cleaner mounting brackets. A 5-in. wide sweep welds to the bottom of the shank. A fertilizer tube runs along the back side of the shank down to the sweep where the tube splits and bends outward to deliver fertilizer directly behind the point. The fertilizer is placed 2 in. to each side of the seed furrow.

"It's an efficient, simple design that has a lot of advantages over other systems, which place fertilizer behind a coulter that mounts in front of the row cleaners," says Primus. "Placing fertilizer to both sides of the seed allows higher application rates and makes it less likely that you'll burn the seed. The sweep leaves the ground loose and fluffy without throwing soil from the seed furrow. Another advantage is that it eliminates the possibility that residue will be 'hairpinned' or jammed into the seed furrow, so seed-to-soil contact is better. The sweep leaves a nice black strip of soil that warms up fast in the spring."

The fertilizer knife is available only in limited quantities. Price had not yet been determined at press time.