When planning next season’s fertilizer strategy, it’s easy to focus on the big three — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. But there’s another essential nutrient that plays a key role in every stage of crop growth and yield: sulfur. Understanding how sulfur supports plant development from emergence through maturity is key to unlocking maximum yield and return on investment.
The traditional N, P and K nutrients get a lot of attention when planning for next season’s fertilizer, but there’s another critical nutrient that needs attention.
Sulfur.
In the past, acid rain contributed significant amounts of sulfur to the soil. Now, with reduced atmospheric sulfur and increased yield goals, plants need additional sulfur support.
Unlike the other secondary nutrients — calcium and magnesium — sulfur is absorbed primarily as sulfate sulfur, which is subject to leaching with high amounts of rainfall.
Plants steadily take up sulfur throughout the season and require a carefully planned crop nutrition program that includes adequate availability during key growth stages. Supplying multiple forms of sulfur, including both sulfate, which is immediately available, and elemental, which oxidizes for late-season uptake, can help ensure sulfur is available when plants need it throughout the season.
Take a look inside sulfur throughout the growing season to see just how it works for growing crops and for your Return on Fertilizer Investment.
Germination & Early Vegetative Stage
Corn:
- Supports early enzyme activation and chlorophyll formation
- Promotes growth and early root development
- Helps young plants uptake nitrogen
- Sulfur deficiency here often mimics nitrogen deficiency with pale yellow leaves. Learn how to identify and address them here.
Soybeans:
- Aids early nodulation and establishment of nitrogen fixation
- Needed for early synthesis of amino acids
- Supports canopy establishment and photosynthetic capacity
Wheat:
- Helps rapid tiller formation and leaf expansion
- Ensures strong vegetative growth and foundation for yield potential
- Prevents chlorosis (yellowing) in young leaves, especially in cool or wet soils
Vegetative Growth / Midseason
Corn:
- Fuels chlorophyll production and photosynthesis efficiency
- Enhances nitrogen use efficiency
- Supports rapid stalk and leaf development
Soybeans:
- Drive nitrogen fixation through nodules
- Maintains high photosynthesis rates and leaf area for maximum energy capture
- Supports key building blocks (amino acids) that are needed to produce high-protein seeds
Wheat:
- Sustains tiller survival and leaf area
- Supports ongoing protein and enzyme synthesis
- Improves the plant’s resilience to stress and disease pressure
Reproductive / Flowering & Grain Fill
Corn:
- Contributes to enzyme systems that drive energy transfer for pollination and kernel formation
- Maintains nitrogen assimilation and protein formation in developing kernels.
- Improves grain quality and test weight
Soybeans:
- Essential for protein synthesis in seeds — a major determinant of soybean quality
- Supports continued nitrogen fixation
- Enhances seed oil and protein content
Wheat:
- Critical for grain protein synthesis and gluten quality
- Affects baking quality
- Late-season S deficiency reduces both yield and grain protein concentration
Maturity
Corn:
- Residual S in tissues supports final grain fill and contributes to overall nutrient remobilization efficiency
Soybeans:
- Ensures full protein accumulation in seeds up to physiological maturity, and promotes balanced N:S ratio for high-quality grain
Wheat:
- Maintains grain protein synthesis through final filling stages
- Ensures desirable grain quality characteristics for milling and baking
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