Foliar Fertiliser efficiency's Explained

When 100kg/ha of Urea is applied to a paddock or crop we are advised that it is 46 units of Nitrogen however it is scientifically proven and regularly quoted by soil scientist such as Dr Christine Jones and Microbiologist Walter Jehne that only 10% to 20% of these 46 units of Nitrogen is actually plant available which reduces the units down to between 4.6 to 9.2 Nitrogen units being accessible per hectare.

Because Urea is in a solid form it needs to be broken down by moisture in the soil which is where volatilization and soil lock up occur and one of the reasons why only up to 20% at best is actually plant available. The form of Nitrogen that is applied to a plant will strongly impact the plant’s physiology, 80% of the nutrition that a plant absorbs is Nitrogen ions. Nitrate fed plants will raise the soil pH above 7.5 in the rhizosphere which has a huge impact on all other nutrients therefore farmers can impact their crop’s nutrition by the form of Nitrogen that is applied.

A root is negatively charged, and all of the positively charged cations are attracted to it via an electric charge, so absorption is mostly passive and doesn’t require a lot of energy. Nitrates have a negative charge therefore it requires the plant’s energy to be absorbed – root respiration increases by 10% to 15% to absorb Nitrate and it also increases soil pH. The energetic cost for a plant to produce amino acids is 15% extra therefore, the plant has already lost 25% of its energy to absorb Nitrates and because the form of Nitrate in fertilisers such as Urea, MAP, DAP etc, has just oxygen in it and no ammonium means that the plant requires 25% to 30% of it’s energy to access it. For the plant to convert Nitrate to ammonium and then to amino acids it will also need 50% more water molecules because four molecules are required to transfer each Nitrate molecule therefore, when crops are grown with a lot of Nitrate fertiliser, their cells are mostly full of water which makes them easily susceptible to frost and insect attack.

Nitrate based fertilisers also produce clean plant roots that cannot take up nutrients – they need to have a rhizosheath (dreadlock soil appearance) to connect to the mycorrhizal network to access nutrients. Inside the rhizosheath is a biological hotspot full of hyphae and microbes, rhizosheath’s also hold lots of moisture and have a lot of Nitrogen fixing going on because there isn’t any oxygen inside the rhizosheath which allows the Nitrogen fixing. Plants can also join together through the mycorrhizal hyphae to share nutrients and water (Jones 2019).  This explains in the briefest way possible why Nitrate fertiliser is inefficient, prevents the building of Organic Carbon in the soil and is not easily available to the plant.

A plant can and does absorb directly Organic Nitrogen through the leaves and or roots, the amount it can absorb all depends on the amount of Organic Matter in the soil, the amount of active soil microbes and the health of the soil. What is important is the availability of nutrients to plants. Over 95% of nutrients available are governed by microbial activity (Jehne 2016). 

When biostimulants such as TM Ag are added to the soil it gives a powerful agency to restore soil Carbon, increase Organic Matter and nutrient availability. Carbon is when microbes take Organic Matter and convert it to stable Carbon. It’s not about how many units or kilos of fertiliser to add, its about nutritional/nutrient availability because every gram of Organic Carbon that is increased increases the nutrient the availability of the soil by 500% so there is really no need to add fertiliser. Importantly, every kilo of excess Nitrate that is applied to the soil will oxidize (burn) 30 kilos of Organic Carbon in that soil which is catastrophic to soil structure, root growth and water holding capacity etc (Jenhe 2021).

 A long time TM Ag user recently compared a cropping area that had 40 units of Urea applied to the same cropping area that had 3kg/ha of Best Foliar Fert, TM Ag and Fulvic Plus. The Best Foliar Fert, TM Ag and Foliar Plus area of crop outperformed in yield and quality the 40 units of Urea area of the crop, which indicates that 3kg/ha of Best Foliar Fert is more than equivalent to 40 units of Urea because although on paper the Best Foliar Fert doesn’t contain 40 actual units of N – it’s ability for the nutrients in contains to be immediately taken up by the plant without any energy loss, is an example of why Best Foliar Fert can outperform 40 units of Urea.

When comparing Urea to Best Foliar Fertiliser there are many differences, the first being that the foliar is chelated meaning that it is 100% plant available within an hour of application, so the plant does not have to expend energy or water converting it across to Nitrogen. Best Foliar Fertiliser contains 15% Nitrogen and well as 10.9% Phosphate, 6.6% Potassium, 2% Magnesium and 4% Sulphur, Iron, Boron, Molybdenum and Manganese – Sulphur can give or accept eight electrons which is why when it is combined with minerals such as Boron and Molybdenum it creates a readily accessible nutrition hit to the plant which speeds up photosynthesis. Foliar’s are ideal for effectively improving plant nutrition to assist the plant to remain in the ideal Eh and pH zone to keep diseases at bay, the idea is to boost photosynthesis as a preventative for the plant against disease. When a plant is attacked by a disease pathogen, it has a burst of oxidation to try and stop the disease, which then activates the plant’s immunity and tells the whole plant to oxidize, which uses a lot of the plant’s energy because it shifts its energy to oxidation for immunity. The plant then kills the pathogen and the cells around it. The oxidation burst is what kills the pathogen, and the rest of the plant oxidizes so that the plant is no longer desirable to that pathogen. By increasing photosynthesis from the use of Foliar’s such as Best Foliar Fertiliser crops can rapidly move back to activating their immunity and producing Salicylic Acid to fend off disease. This means that Best Foliar Fert is also used as a disease preventative, and we encourage farmers to apply it to prevent having to use fungicides that kill valuable mycorrhizal fungi that drive nutrient availability for the plant.