Foliar Fertilizer Benefits
Organic, Water Soluble Foliar
fertilizers
Bio Based Foliar Fertilizer
Bio Based, Water Soluble Fertilizer & Seed Treatment for
Sustainable
Agriculture
FOLIAR
APPLIED FERTILIZER
Foliar Fertilization is the most efficient
way to increase yield and plant health. Tests have shown
that foliar feeding can increases yields from 12% to 25%
when compared to conventional fertilization.
Tests, conducted in different locations,
under different environmental conditions, have reflected the
following;
When
fertilizers are foliar applied, more that 90%
of the fertilizer is utilized by the plant. When a similar
amount is applied to the soil, only 10 percent of it is
utilized.
In the sandy loam, foliar applied fertilizers
are up to 20 times more effective when compared to
soil applied fertilizers.
Foliar feeding is an effective
method for correcting soil deficiencies and overcoming the
soil’s inability to transfer nutrients to the plant under low
moisture conditions.
The
effectiveness of foliar applied nutrients is determined by (1)
The condition of the leaf surface, in particular the waxy
cuticle. The cuticle is only partially permeable to water and
dissolved nutrients and, as a result, it can limit nutrient
uptake. (2) The length of time the nutrient remains dissolved
in the solution on the leaf's surface. (3) Diffusion, the
movement of elements from a high concentration to a low
concentration. For diffusion to occur, the nutrient must
dissolve, and (4) The type of formulation. Water-soluble
formulations generally work better for foliar applications as
they are more easily absorbed when compared to insoluble
solutions.
GUIDELINES FOR FOLIAR FEEDING APPLICATIONS
Use a
sprayer that produces a fine mist.
Nozzles should be turned to the back of the sprayers so the
flow of material approaches the plant at a 90 degree angle
to float on the plants.
University
of Tennessee - Prof. T.S. Osborne, Agronomist
"...
research indicated that only 10 to 12 per cent of phosphorus
fertilizers as taken up by plants in the first year; the
rest was "locked in" the soil or washed away.
Fertilizer
applied to soil is largely wasted because it is either bound
by soil particles or is washed out of the root zone. If
chemical elements could go directly into leaves and bypass
the wastefulness of soils, a tremendous saving would
result.”
“... the
foliage of plants can take in nutrients much as roots can.
Many nutrients are readily taken up by foliage, including
bark of dormant trees; even at temperatures below freezing.
Elements such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium move
both up and down from the point of application at rates
similar to those following root absorption."
University
of Michigan - Drs. Witter and Turkey as quoted in Readers
Digest magazine
"... leaves
lap up food like blotting paper and it spreads in a few
hours from tip to root. In many cases, as much as
95 percent of the food sprayed on the leaves is used
immediately by the plant, where under some conditions, the
roots take up no more than 10 percent of the same amount
placed in the soil."
Louisiana
State University - Drs. A.L. Bertrand and L. L. Rusoff
"Trader
elements were used to ascertain conclusively that plants
absorb nutrients through their foliage, fruit, flowers, and
twigs as well as their roots."
Agricultural
Chemicals Magazine
"Phosphorus
availability studies have given a ratio of 20 to 1 in favor
of foliar feeding over soil feeding. There seems little
doubt that where soil fixation exists, foliar applications
of nutrients constitute the most efficient method of
fertilizer "placement" and with plants of sufficient leaf
area, foliar feeding with ALL the elements can make a
significant contribution toward the total nutrient
requirement."
Ontario
Agricultural College - Dr. T.E. Bates
"We
increase corn yields 7 bushels per acre at five different
locations with liquid fertilizer placed directly with the
seed. The corn also received the recommended amounts of
fertilizer in a band. The most startling difference is in
the size. Some fields were half again as tall two weeks
after the core cam up."
Big Farmer
Magazine
Dr. S.H. Wittwer of Michigan State
"Farmer
should fertilize according to soil test recommendations,
follow with 'starter solutions' or 'pop-up' fertilizers and
finish the job with foliar applications."
WHAT IS FOLIAR
FERTILIZER?
Foliar
fertilization is any fertilizing substance applied
in a liquid form.
Modern foliar
fertilizers are concentrated solutions using very
high grade technical elements, in which the
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are combined to
the desired ratio in a controlled environment.
The fertilizing
elements in this method are true solutions, soluble,
and thus very plant available.
This is in
contrast to soil applied (solid) fertilizer, which
is applied as a powder or granules to the soil in
dry form. This then, has to be dissolved, by
moisture (rain) to be plant available via the roots.
In other words, it has to dissolve into the soil
solution to be available.
To these foliar
solutions, trace elements in the form of chelates
are added, along with other additives to give a
balanced fertilizer, supplying not only NPK, but all
the trace elements as well as growth hormones,
vitamins etc.
Many different NPK
formulation combinations can be made, depending on
the application required. The same elements that
make up foliar fertilizer are required for plant
growth and development, and are formulated to meet
quite specific plant requirements. (see Table 1.)
Plants are
composed of the various elements in the proportions
indicated below on which modern foliar fertilizers
are based.
16 elements are
considered essential for plant growth,
Table 1.
Internal Concentrations of Essential Elements in
Higher Plants - Concentration in Dry Tissue
|
ELEMENT |
PPM |
% |
|
Hydrogen |
60,000 |
6 |
|
Carbon |
450,000 |
45 |
|
Oxygen |
450,000 |
45 |
|
Nitrogen |
15,000 |
1.5 |
|
Potassium |
10,000 |
1.0 |
|
Calcium |
5,000 |
0.5 |
|
Magnesium |
2,000 |
0.2 |
|
Phosphorus |
2,000 |
0.2 |
|
Sulphur |
1,000 |
0.1 |
|
Chlorine |
100 |
0.01 |
|
Boron |
20 |
0.002 |
|
Iron |
100 |
0.01 |
|
Manganese |
50 |
0.005 |
|
Zinc |
20 |
0.002 |
|
Copper |
6 |
0.0006 |
|
Molybdenum |
0.1 |
0.00001 |
These essential
elements are divided into two groups: the
macronutrients; those required in relatively
large quantities including carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium
and sulphur and the micronutrients, those
required in small quantities; including iron,
chlorine, manganese, boron, zinc, copper and
molybdenum.
You will see that
by far the biggest proportion is hydrogen, carbon
and oxygen which makes up 96% of the plant and are
freely available from the air and water.
All of the other
elements make up the remaining 4%, of which the
major elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
make up 2.7%, leaving 1.3% minor or trace elements.
Carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen which form the actual plant structure are
readily obtainable from air and water, specifically
carbon dioxide or water. Along with chlorine, which
is found in most water sources, these elements are
generally not considered in the formulation of
foliar solutions.
The following illustrates the
amount of each nutrient in Kgs/ Hectare, in pasture
of 2000 kg DM/ Hectare:
|
Table 2
|
| Nitrogen 90 |
Phosphorus 7 |
Potassium 44 |
Sulphur 6 |
| Calcium 5 |
Magnesium 4 |
Sodium 3 |
Zinc .03 |
| Copper .01 |
Boron .05 |
Cobalt .0002 |
Selenium .000008
|
Depending on the
application required, foliar fertilizers can be
formulated to meet very specific plant requirements.
For example a high
nitrogen formulation is used when the demand in
plants is for more nitrogen in relation to
phosphorus and potassium, but the formulation is
changed for growth periods that require higher
phosphorus and / or potassium, in relation to the
demand for nitrogen.
This often happens
when a plant is under stress, which coincides with
periods of great growth, such as when a plant is
changing from a vegetative to a reproductive stage.
At the same time,
the exact plant requirement for trace elements can
be addressed, as a result of leaf analysis.
Certain soil conditions, such as pH,
excess moisture, or cool temperatures, may render a
nutrient or nutrients unavailable to the plant root.
Nutrient demand
curves indicate that there are stages in a plant's
life-cycle when demand for some nutrients may be
greater than its physiological capacity to supply
itself, even when these soil nutrients are available
in abundant supply. This often occurs during the
development of fruit or grain.
Data from trials
on crops, show that increases in yield and/or grade
results from applications of foliar nutrients during
these periods of peak demand.
Foliar fertilizers
can be designed to meet a plant’s specific needs for
one or more micro and macro nutrients--especially
trace minerals and enables you to correct
deficiencies, strengthen weak or damaged crops,
speed growth and grow better plants, which is of
course, the bottom line.
Foliar
applications can be targeted to a particular stage
of crop development to achieve specific objectives
and is an excellent way to "fine tune" a high
fertility program.
EFFICIENCY OF UTILIZATION OF
FERTILIZER SPRAYS:
Here are some striking
examples of comparisons of foliar fertilizers
versus soil applications.
Such ratios favoring foliar
applications exist only under extreme conditions
of soil fixation. Nevertheless, they single out
the effectiveness of leaves as organs for
absorption.
Related to the marked
efficiency in absorption of nutritional sprays
may be indirect effects of this method of
applying fertilizer on other plant processes.
Comparative efficiency of
foliar and soil applications of fertilizer.
|
Approximate ratios of
amounts required for comparable
Authority responses |
| Nutrient
and salt |
Type of
Crop |
Foliar |
Soil |
Authority |
| Zinc
(ZnSO4) |
Annual
crops |
1 |
12 |
Lingle &
Holmberg (1956) |
|
Phosphorus (H3PO4) |
beans,tomatoes |
1 |
20 |
Wittwer,
et al. (1957) |
| Iron
(FeSO4) |
grain
sorghum |
1 |
25 |
Withee &
Carlson (1959) |
| Magnesium
(MgSO4) |
grain
sorghum |
1 |
100 |
Krantz
(1962) |
| |
celery |
1 |
50-100 |
Johnson,
et al.(1957, 1961) |
Where isotopes
showed that it was 8 -10 times more effective to
foliar feed a plant as far as the amount of
nutrients required and the speed with which
those nutrients were utilized, the above
authorities found the figure to be between 12
and 100 times more effective.
The readily-
available nutrients are more easily utilized, as
they are directly available to a plant and
because they do not have to be dissolved by
moisture before going into the soil solution and
where they may be subjected to insolubalization
by incident anions such as carbonate,
bicarbonate, hydroxide, etc, known as fixation.
Also important
in foliar fertilizers, is whether or not the
products being used are chelated. Chelation,
allows a nutrient to "maintain its own identity"
within the spray tank, and not get tied up by
other nutrients or pesticides being used with
it.
These days we
have materials available which are ideally
suited to spray applications.
Plant hormones
Plant hormones,
are specialized chemical substances produced by
plants. Foliar fertilization is a particularly
useful technique: and are the main internal factors
controlling growth and development.
Hormones are
produced in one part of a plant and transported to
others, where they are effective in very small
amounts.
Depending on the
target tissue, a given hormone may have different
effects.
Auxin, one of the
most important plant hormones, is produced by
growing stem tips and transported to other areas
where it may either promote growth or inhibit it.
It also retards
the abscission (dropping off) of flowers, fruits,
and leaves.
Commercially,
synthetic auxins are used to initiate adventitous
roots from plant cuttings eg. in nurseries.
Weed control by
another synthetic auxin, 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic
acid (2,4-D), is widespread as a selective herbicide
against broadleaf weeds.
Producers have been
using foliar fertilizer since the early 1950's. Even
though the subject of foliar fertilization was little
understood, 'experts' told farmers that they shouldn't
use them, because in comparison to solid type
fertilizers, foliars contained less nutrient.
Nutrient demand curves
indicate stages in a plant's life-cycle when the need
for some nutrients may be greater than its physiological
capacity to supply itself, even when these soil
nutrients are abundantly available. Highly soluble
potassium and nitrogen-based fertilizers can be easily
washed out from the soil, and phosphate fertilizers can
attach themselves to ions of potassium, magnesium,
aluminum and iron into chemically insoluble form for
plants.
Foliar nutrients on
the other hand are mobilized directly into plant leaves,
which is the goal of fertilization to begin with,
increasing the rate of photosynthesis in the leaves, and
by doing so stimulate nutrient absorption by plant
roots.
Foliar fertilization
is by far the most effective way to apply micro
nutrients or trace elements, and supplement the major
elements. The readily available nutrients are more
easily utilized, because they do not have to be
dissolved by moisture and go into the soil solution.
Foliar fertilizers
used in conjunction with solid fertilizers, can be used
to quickly correct a nutrient imbalance and stimulate
increase in root uptake. In addition, foliar
fertilization can correct deficiencies, strengthen weak
or damaged crops, speed growth and grow better plants,
which is of course, the bottom line.
Fertilization:
Tissue studies of
plants have found more than 60 different mineral
elements, although it has generally been accepted
that 16 -17 elements are essential for plant growth.
Many farmers are
well aware of the consequences of low levels of
copper or cobalt in pasture, and in some areas
selenium, as well as magnesium (grass staggers),
even iodine and zinc and in many cases calcium (as
in milk fever).
There are many
cases where several of the nutrients are missing or
are at such low levels that supplementation of the
animal is necessary, otherwise the animal would die
or be severely undernourished.
Subclinical trace
mineral deficiencies occur more frequently than
recognized by many livestock producers and can be a
bigger problem than acute mineral deficiencies,
because the specific symptoms that are
characteristic of a trace mineral deficiency are not
seen.
Instead, the
animal grows or reproduces at a reduced rate, uses
feed less efficiently and operates with a depressed
immune system. The end result is inefficient
production and lower profitability.
When
micro-nutrients become a limiting factor, water,
fertilizer and other high-energy production inputs
are wasted.
In most cases the
elements needed by the plant are also needed by the
animal which feeds on the plant.
Some elements
needed by the animal are not required by the plant,
but plants takes them up and makes them available
to the animal, and therefore plays a significant
role in animal health. Selenium, iodine and cobalt
are examples.
Seven trace
minerals, have been shown to be needed in
supplementing animal diets. They are iron, copper,
zinc, manganese, cobalt, iodine and selenium.
Soils:
Soils are derived
from weathered parent material.
If the original material was low in a particular
element or non existant, so too is the resulting
soil.
Soils can become
depleted of minerals and trace elements which too
are absorbed into the likes of meat, milk, bone,
wool, vegetables and fruits, as well as the major
elements, and many soils are naturally deficient in
one or more of these elements.
Soils can be
radically different, with localized deficiencies of
trace elements like copper, cobalt or selenium.
Because our supply
of minerals comes through the food chain, from the
plants and animals we eat, and because these same
minerals are essential ingredients of these same
plants and animals, any that are missing can have
serious implications for plant, animal and
ultimately our own health.
One has to conclude then, that this
is where fertilization should start.
Even though the
major element solid type NPK fertilizer is required
in the largest amounts, if used exclusively, sooner
or later a deficiency of a minor element can occur
in soils low in that particular element, and it too
should be replaced.
Foliar nutrients
can quickly correct a nutrient imbalance, and are by
far the most effective way to apply micro nutrients
or trace elements and supplement the major elements
, because foliar nutrients are readily available and
more easily utilized by the plant than soil
nutrients.
|
EcoChem
offers all natural liquid foliar fertilizers that provide
unique advantages over conventional fertilizers. Our
products are soluble in water, non-precipitating at pH 1.0
to 14.0 and can be used alone or in conjunction with
chemical inputs in any Standard Crop Management Program. In
addition, EcoChem foliar fertilizers are environmentally safe and are not harmful
to animals, plants and humans. EcoChem foliar fertilizers
will not burn or damage crops. Over application can be a
benefit.
|
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PROVIDING YOU WITH THE FINEST PRODUCTS BACKED BY SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
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