Foliar Feeding
(Page 3 of 5)
May/June 1988
By Peter Donelan
Gardener’s Supply 128 Intervale Rd.
Room 100 Burlington, VT 05401
(802/863-1700)
RELATED CONTENT
A.M. Leonard 6665 Spiker Rd.
Piqua, OH 45356
(513/773-2694
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New Gloucester, ME 04260
(207/926-3400)
Smith & Hawken 25 Corte Madera
Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415/383-4050)
Stern’s Miracle-Gro P.O. Box 888
Port Washington, NY 11050
(516/883-6560)
Experiment: You'll see the difference in your crops yourself!
The Trace Mineral Difference
The supplemental role of foliar fertilizers helps explain why many leaf sprays are so low in the standard nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) elements that make up conventional chemical fertilizers. Some skeptics feel anything so low in NPK can't do any good, but proponents, like Lee Fryer of Food and Earth Services, argue that the variety of micronutrients in such foliar sprays is exactly what makes them effective.
Plants use some 50 mineral substances. Most are required in very minute quantities, yet a lack of any of these will have a profound impact on growth. As Liebig's Law of the Minimum—a basic principle of plant science—points out, the nutrient in least supply is the one that limits plant growth.
Ocean products like seaweed, kelp and fish are common components of foliar fertilizers because they're rich in micronutrients. These sea products also contain hormones and amino acids (cytokinins and betaines) that play essential parts in the plant growth process—they're involved in cell division, as well as chlorophyll and protein production. Betaines are particularly useful in reducing plant stress during drought and in providing some resistance against marginal frosts.
When to Use Foliar Fertilizers
Enough theory—let's get to applications. Wait until young plants have enough leaf surface to absorb a spray well before you apply any foliar feed. Plants absorb foliar nutrients best in the early morning or late afternoon. Cloudy days are also good, but not if rain is imminent—it would wash the spray off the leaves. At what stage of growth should you spray? You can experiment with feeding at different stages, but the following are the ones most often recommended: during transplanting, flowering, fruit set and drought and cold periods, when sidedressing is normally recommended.
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