Benjamin Davies, Soil Science PhD Student Paulo Pagliari, Extension Soil Scientist Spring is right around the corner. Do you have a nitrogen management plan in place? The rate and timing of nitrogen application should depend on your soil type, crop rotation and historical management practices. Recent University of Minnesota research funded by AFREC found that in coarse-textured soils, producers should split apply urea and in finer textured soils, plan to apply urea in the spring or as a split application.